Whole Story

Saddle up – it’s that time again! All of our U.S. stores will help shoppers celebrate Labor Day by offering ground grass-fed beef at a sale price of just $4.99 per pound this Friday, September 2^nd, only. It’s a one-day only sale and there is a 10 pounds per person limit. This is the perfect way to try out grass-fed beef if you haven’t yet; and if you have, a perfect opportunity to stock up! So what does it take to be a grass-fed beef supplier for Whole Foods Market? In addition to being rated through Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step™ Animal Welfare Rating program, their beef cattle must also meet these criteria:

• Cattle must be born and raised on pasture or rangeland;
• Cattle are fed forage consisting of grass (annual and perennial), forbs (e.g. legumes, Brassica), browse (woody plants like shrubs and bushes), or cereal grain crops in the vegetative (pre-grain) state, with the exception of milk consumed by calves prior to weaning;
• Cattle are not fed grain or grain by-products;
• Cattle can be fed hay, haylage, baleage, silage and crop residue without grain during periods of low forage quality or bad weather.

As you can appreciate, it takes a lot of skill and expertise to manage cattle and their environment to bring you grass-fed beef. Most grass-fed ranchers are either independent, selling beef from their own property, or they join small, locally focused producer groups. We've sought out partnerships with a variety of regional and local grass-fed ranchers, including many family farms, with the goal of helping bring grass-fed ranching back into the mainstream because of its positive impact on the cattle, the environment and how it supports local communities. One of these partnerships is with our friends at Panorama Organic Grass-fed Meats – a supplier of local, organic, 100% grass-fed, Step 4 (pasture centered) beef to Whole Foods Market stores in the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, and the Rocky Mountain regions. Back in 2005, Panorama began selling five head of organic grass-fed cattle each week to our Colorado stores and we’ve grown together over the years. And we continue to support new ranches raising grass-fed cattle, like our recent partnership with Hearst Ranch Grass-Fed Beef, another Step 4 (pasture centered) beef producer. Their cattle graze on the San Simeon Ranch, which surrounds the world-famous Hearst Castle along the California coast, and on the 73,000 acre Jack Ranch located sixty miles inland. One of the great things about grass-fed beef is the connection to local and regional ranches. When you visit our stores this Friday, September 2^nd, for the one-day sale, you’ll be getting grass-fed beef from these ranches: Baldwin Beef Grass-fed beef from Baldwin Family Farms is available in our North and South Carolina stores. Cold Spring Ranch Grass-fed beef from Cold Spring Ranch is available in our store in Maine. Eel River Organic Beef Organic grass-fed beef from Eel River is available in our Southern California, Arizona and Southern Nevada stores. Grassfed Livestock Alliance Grass-fed beef from Grassfed Livestock Alliance is available in our stores in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Hearst Ranch Seasonally available in southern California stores; limited availability in Arizona and Nevada stores. Hickory Nut Gap Meats Grass-fed beef from Hickory Nut GAP Meats is available in our Greenlife Ashville store. Lasater Grasslands Beef Grass-fed beef from Lasater Grassland Beef is available in our Colorado Springs stores. Maui Cattle Company Grass-fed beef from Maui Cattle is available in our stores in Hawaii. Panorama Organic Grassfed Meats Organic grass-fed beef from Panorama ranches is available in our stores in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah stores. Simply Grazin’ Organic Farm Grass-fed beef from Simply Grazin' is available in our stores in Western Connecticut, New York and New Jersey (excluding Marlton and Princeton). Whisnant Family Farm Grass-fed beef from Whisnant Family Farms is available in our stores in central Connecticut (Glastonbury and West Hartford), Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. White Oak Pastures Grass-fed beef from White Oak Pastures is available in our stores in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and in Washington, D.C. and Princeton and Marlton, New Jersey. If you love grass-fed beef or are just trying it for the first time, tell us what you think! We’ve got more details along with recipe suggestions on our Grass-fed Beef page.