The Patient Capital That Saved Our Farms
Friends, I’m continuing our transparency series about what it really takes to rebuild our food system.
Last week, I shared that after more than a decade in business, we had our first profitable quarter. What I haven't shared is how we even survived long enough to reach that milestone.
Heifer International believed in us when traditional lenders wouldn't touch us. They brought a long-term mindset, the kind that understands farming isn't a get-rich-quick business like tech.
Repairing our broken food system takes big investments with long paybacks - we've put millions into connecting farmers directly to eaters through cold storage, training, processing partnerships, and logistics networks. The payback? Measured in decades, not quarters.
We recently concluded our partnership with Heifer, and while that might sound scary, it's actually a milestone worth celebrating. Their investment did exactly what it was supposed to do - give us time to prove this model works.
Heifer didn't just invest in Grass Roots - they also backed Cypress Valley Meat Company to build critical processing infrastructure. Together, we're creating real alternatives for small farmers who've been shut out by the handful of corporations that control meat processing.
Their investment helped prove something crucial: regenerative agriculture can work. Our model pays farmers $1.00/lb for chicken versus the $0.06/lb they'd get in the industrial system. Cypress Valley's expansion - now the nation's first employee-owned meat processor - gives thousands of farmers a place to process their animals while ensuring the artisan butchers who do this essential work become owners, not just employees. That's the kind of systemic change we're talking about.
This shows what's possible when investors think in decades, not quarters. When they measure returns in soil health restored and farm families sustained.
A look inside Cypress Valley Meats in Arkansas, where skilled, certified butchers expertly craft every cut to perfection.
In the spirit of Heifer's model of Passing On The Gift, their investment is multiplying through:
- Every new farmer we bring into the co-op
- Every acre converted to regenerative practices
- Every customer we connect directly to the source of their food
We're still finding our footing. But we're standing. And now we get to help others stand too.
That's how you rebuild a broken food system - not with quick fixes, but with patience and persistence. Heifer's investment in us and Cypress Valley is becoming something bigger: a network of farmers and artisan butchers proving there's another way forward.
Your farmer (grateful for those who see the long game),
Cody