There’s has been a lot of change in a very short time in the rural industry. I was raised on the land and have been involved in agriculture all my life in various parts of Australia. It concerns me greatly to see what is happening in our society in relation to food and in agriculture generally.

We are quickly following the model set before us by America, where the connection between the producer and consumer has been lost. Consumers are told what to eat by clever marketing campaigns, women’s magazines and other mass media. Huge companies, driven by profit margins, rather than a genuine interest in consumer health, are filling our manufactured foods with any number of chemicals. There are fillers, emulsifiers, flavors, preservatives, artificial sweeteners – the list is endless – many chemicals that are bombarding our bodies through the food we eat.

We need to say no to the over processing of our food. To take back control of our health and get our diets back to traditional basics with good quality protein, eggs, dairy, vegetables & fruit from trusted chemical free sources. However, it is hard to source such products easily.

At Mitchell Grass Meats, we hope to get the connection back between the producer and the consumer. A direct link. You need to know what is really happening in the production of your food. Are you aware of the processes/practices involved in the husbandry of the animals and therefore the meat you eat?

Decisions made by governments, many unrealistic and unwarranted regulations of every shape and size, are steadily killing off the family farms and other related small industries. Family farms are then purchased by larger companies, become amalgamations and the mass producing of an average controlled product begins. The changes in our area alone over the past 25 years have been huge. Especially when we consider that there were at least 6 butchers in our region, each with their own slaughter houses to process local animals. Now there are none. Despite being a region that produces large amounts of beef, most of the meat sold locally is from interstate.

Feedlots have become very popular part of meat production. Anyone interested in true health would not enjoy the sight and smell of a feedlot, let alone looking at the health of the individual animals, the use of various antibiotics, chemicals & grain in their production.

If the small rural farms/ industries are not encouraged and supported, food in general will become more mass produced, expensive and the quality will continue to disappear.

The push to import food from overseas will become stronger. Without the enforcement many of the positive standards and quality controls we have in Australia, to govern food production, it will be difficult to control the production practices of overseas food products.

We urge you to support the family farmers who are trying to make a difference. They need your help to swim against the tide of large companies and governments.