Resilience Built into the System

I've been flooded with messages about bird flu and mRNA vaccines making headlines lately. It’s time for an honest chat about what's really happening and why it matters more than you might think. I'm not just saying this as some farmer with a business – I'm saying it as someone who wakes up at 4 AM wondering if our way of raising food will still exist for my kids. When I walk through our pastures at dawn and see our chickens doing what nature intended, I remember exactly why this fight matters to all of us.

First off, let me be crystal clear: we have NO plans to use mRNA vaccines at Grass Roots. Our approach has always been about getting back to basics - focusing on helping animals build the healthiest and most resilient immune systems possible by giving them the good life out on pasture. We believe in taking a preventative approach by building immunity the old-fashioned way - through sunshine, fresh air, and space for our animals to be actual chickens - a method backed by scientific studies showing that pasture-raised birds develop stronger immune systems.

But here's the thing that should be keeping us all up at night: this bird flu crisis isn't just about sick birds - it's exposing the terrifying fragility of our entire food system. The numbers are staggering: in December alone, 13.2 million laying hens died or were culled. In just the first six weeks of 2025, another 23.5 million were gone. Over the last three years, more than 159 million poultry have been wiped out by this virus.

Our pastured-raised chicken is 100% regeneratively farmed, which ensures ethical treatment for the animals and sustainable agriculture practices that support plant and soil biodiversity. Good for the land and good for us.

I've talked about this before, but it bears repeating - just four companies control around 60% of America's meat-chicken market. And surprise, surprise, five companies own 50% of the laying hens in America. That's not just bad for farmers - it's a disaster for food security. When those massive operations pack 10,000+ birds into warehouse-like conditions (or 4 million birds in a single Iowa facility!), we're basically creating the perfect breeding ground for disease. It's like trying to prevent a cold in a kindergarten class where all 30 kids are forced to share one tissue!

The numbers tell the horrifying story: since 2022, over 82 million birds have been culled because of H5N1 outbreaks. Remember those egg shortages? Egg prices just hit an all-time record of $4.95 per dozen - with restaurants paying up to $7! Waffle House even added a 50-cent surcharge on every single egg they serve. And don't expect prices to drop anytime soon - experts say even if the virus disappeared tomorrow, prices will stay high for at least 12-18 months. That's what happens when we put all our eggs in just a few corporate baskets.

Our chickens are moved to fresh pasture daily to scratch and peck on variety of grasses, bugs, grain and legumes.

The industrial food system's answer? More tech, more chemicals, more vaccines - just slapping band-aids on a fundamentally broken system.

This bird flu situation isn't just a hiccup in the system – it's like watching the Titanic head straight for the iceberg while the captain orders more champagne. The industrial food system is quite literally designing its own demise, and they want us all to go down with the ship.

Our answer? Simple - let's build something different.

Here's what a resilient, decentralized food system looks like - and while I might have a degree in physics, this ain't quantum mechanics:

1 Thousands of small farms instead of a few giant ones (studies show that larger farms increase the risk of massive outbreaks)

2 Birds raised in small flocks on fresh pasture (studies demonstrate that they develop healthier, stronger immune systems better equipped to fight off pathogens)

3 Local and regional processing instead of national supply chains that can collapse with one disruption (remember the meat shortages during COVID when just a few processing plants closed?)

While industrial agriculture falters, diversified small farms stand strong—weaving resilience into every acre of land. Industrialized, highly concentrated supply chains are being devastated by disease outbreaks, while small pasture-based operations remain remarkably resilient. We saw this during COVID-19, when massive meatpacking plants shut down and meat production dropped 40% nationwide. Local farms like ours kept feeding our communities. That's not a coincidence—that's resilience built into the system.

I won't sugarcoat it - our approach isn't the cheapest or easiest route. But those seemingly "cheap" supermarket prices? They come at a hidden cost—to consumer health, farmer livelihoods, animal welfare, and our national food security.

So every time you choose pastured meat from farms like ours, you're investing in a food system that bends but doesn't break when challenges come. You're supporting farms that don't need experimental measures because we're not creating the conditions for disaster in the first place.

Your farmer (and fellow food security fighter),

Cody