How To Start A Grass-Fed Beef Cooperative

New York State is losing a farm every three days and with it a way of life, generations of farming knowledge, small town infrastructure and a whole landscape. When a farm closes, the fields return to scrub within a year. In Washington County, New York, a group of 8 farmers is attempting to stop this from happening to them.  They’ve banded together to form a cooperative to sell beef to local restaurants in an effort to save their own farms and perhaps bring others back.

“Grazers: A Grass-Fed Beef Cooperative“ is a documentary film being finished by Sarah Teale and Lisa Jackson have spent the last two years filming the farmers and their struggles to create a successful cooperative.  They’ll be setting up viewings of the final product with elected officials across the country who are in a position to aide farmers and ranchers.  They’ll also be sharing it with consumers to help them understand more about where their food comes from and how hard farmers work to feed them.  The documentary will also be a good learning tool for other farmers and ranchers interested in their own cooperative ventures.  By seeing the challenges this cooperative faced and how they approached solutions, you can skip their mistakes and create some new ones of your own.

Watch the Trailer

Update!

Sarah and Lisa used Kickstarter to raise the funds to finish the movie. According to AI you can watch it here: You can watch Grazers: A Cooperative Story on several streaming platforms, including Fandango at Home (Vudu), Apple TV, Kanopy (with a library card or university login), and Prime Video. The documentary is also available for free on Tubi.

Here are the specific platforms where you can find it: