Buying à la carte from farmers

Some ranchers choose to sell individual cuts or packages of ground meat directly to you through their own online stores, at farmers markets, or directly from their farm store.

In some cases, farms and ranches have banded together under one brand and even invested in their own processing facility. In other cases the farm/s partner with a processor to make available the cuts they want to sell directly to people like you. This model means farmers are getting paid more for their product because there’s no middle man (save for the processor) between them and you.

Here are some factors to consider when doing a cost/benefit analysis for this buying method:

1. You'll typically pay a lower per-pound cost than buying from some retail sources.
2. You may get a larger variety of cuts.
3. This option may not be available in all areas, especially if a farmer doesn't have access to a USDA-inspected processing facility