Wall Street's in the Chicken Coop Again

Farmer Andrea starts the day with a morning wellness check in our brooder, where happy, healthy chickens are cared for every step of the way.

You've probably bought Vital Farms eggs. The fancy black carton. The premium price. The promise of pasture-raised. I don't blame you. The marketing is good.

But this week, that image took a hit. Independent testing revealed their eggs contain 23.5% linoleic acid, comparable to canola oil. Pasture-raised, it turns out, doesn't always mean pasture-fed. And a lot of people are now asking what they actually paid for.

Here's what I find myself thinking: when BlackRock owns 12.1% of your company, you answer to analysts, not eaters. Spreadsheets, not soil. Margins, not mission.
Vital Farms never hid that their hens eat corn and soy. It's right there in their FAQ. But most people assumed a premium price and a "pasture-raised" label meant something fundamentally different from the conventional system. It doesn't.

A lot of folks feel duped. I get it. But I can't help but think this is what happens when we're forced to trust labels instead of people. A pretty package and a high price tag aren't the same as knowing your farmer.

This is what happens when Wall Street gets into the chicken coop.

We don’t hide how our food is raised. Watch our pastured poultry farm tour and see every step of regenerative chicken farming, food production, and processing.

We built Grass Roots as a cooperative, owned by farmers. No investors breathing down our necks. No billion-dollar growth targets. Just us, trying to get good food to folks who care where it comes from.

I've never been comfortable with marketing. What I actually want is a relationship.

In a perfect world, I'd live just down the road from you. You'd swing by the farm, and we'd actually know each other.

But I live in a county half the size of Rhode Island with 8,000 people and one stoplight. And you probably don't have a farmer nearby either. That's why we built Grass Roots.

Here on the farm, you can see how the animals live, thrive, and are cared for. What would help you trust a farmer you can’t visit? What do you wish you knew?

I've been at this for almost 20 years now, trying to help people bypass the factory food system and connect directly with the farmers and ranchers who raise their food. Taking the guesswork out of eating well.

But this Vital Farms mess is a reminder that "taking the guesswork out" is easier said than done.

So what would help?
What do you want to know that you don't?
What would make the difference for you?

I don't want to be better at marketing. I want to be better at this. At the relationship part.

I don't know what the right answer is. But I figure you might.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Your farmer,
Cody

Looking for resources of where to shop? 
Read the next chapter: Finding Eggs Worth Eating