MAHA Pt. 6: Convergence
From Rural Abundance to Urban Scarcity: Restoring Market Access to Beef and Health
We want to ask you this question again: Where is the value of the cow?
The answer to this, as Texas Slim often reminds us, reveals just how far we’ve strayed. It’s not in the meat alone, nor the leather or the milk. The value has been hijacked—tied up in USDA insurance policies, federal grants, and centralized market manipulations. This distortion has severed the natural connection between land, rancher, and community. But we are finding a way back.
In Canyon, Texas, a quiet revolution is taking place. Through Ranchers Storefront and community-based processing, we’re returning to the land and reclaiming the lost value of the cow. We’re restoring market access, not just for ranchers, but for every community that deserves nutrient-dense, locally-sourced food.
The Playa Lakes of Local Food Systems
Just as playa lakes naturally form in the high plains of West Texas, local food systems are a natural human endeavor. They are resilient oases that flourish when given the chance. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, New York City’s neighborhoods—like the South Bronx and the Meatpacking District—were sustained by robust systems of ranchers, slaughterhouses, butchers, and markets.
This wasn’t an anomaly; it was the norm. These hyperlocal networks anchored communities, giving people direct access to food and the hands that produced it. But with the rise of Robert Moses and his grand vision for highways and high-rises, this natural order was disrupted. Expressways like the Cross Bronx Expressway displaced over 60,000 residents, fragmenting neighborhoods and severing them from their food sources.
In the Meatpacking District, hundreds of butchers and packing plants thrived until the late 20th century. Now, the district is home to high-end boutiques and cocktail bars. The last meatpacker, John Jobbagy, whose family worked there for over 120 years, will close up shop in 2024. His departure marks the end of a chapter—but not the end of the story.
The infrastructure remains. Less than an hour off every major highway in America is cattle country. The land is ready. The ranchers are ready.
All we need is market access.
The Battle for Truth and Access
Mark McAfee, CEO of Raw Farm, reminds us that truth and access are intertwined. His fight against Big Dairy lies and overregulation mirrors our fight for local beef. As Mark says, “They may have the guns and the money, but we have the truth and the moms.” The power to reclaim our food systems lies in human-scale relationships—mothers, ranchers, and communities choosing real food over industrialized substitutes.
The USDA’s policies have distorted value, favoring consolidation over community. But initiatives like Ranchers Storefront and movements like Raw Farm reveal a different truth: market access is natural, necessary, and achievable. Just like the playa lakes that form in the desert plains of West Texas, community-based food systems arise naturally when people are free to connect, trade, and nourish each other.
Read the Raw Farm Op-Ed on Beef News
Justin Trammell and the Ranchers Storefront Revolution
In Canyon, Texas, Justin Trammell is showing us the way forward. Co-owner of Tir Bluen Ranch, Panhandle Meat Processing, and the Ranchers Storefront, Justin embodies the modern-day sovereign rancher. His work is a blueprint for restoring market access by anchoring food systems back into local communities.
The first Ranchers Storefront, located in Amarillo and attached to Panhandle Meat Processing, is more than a butcher shop. It’s a community hub where locally-raised beef, milk, vegetables, and handmade goods are sold just steps from where they’re processed. Customers can even use EBT cards to buy nutrient-dense foods.
A second Ranchers Storefront opened in Canyon’s town square, just a block from where Texas Slim was born. This location showcases beef from Trammell Cattle, Tir Bluen, Texas Slim’s Cuts, and others. Products like Born To Be Free’s tallow skincare, crafted in NYC with tallow from the Shenandoah Valley’s Redbanks Beef Farm, bridge rural production with urban craftsmanship.
A third storefront in Amarillo City partners with a leather furniture store, a nod to the whole-cow philosophy where nothing goes to waste. These hubs are more than retail outlets; they’re beacons of community self-reliance.
Read Ranchers Storefront: The Blueprint for Local Beef Access
Restoring Integrity and Health
This isn’t just about beef. It’s about giving market access to health itself.
We see this in the journey of Ajalah Efem in the South Bronx, who is reclaiming her health by accessing nutrient-dense foods through I Am Texas Slim Foundation and Texas Slim’s Cuts. Guided by Dr. Mariela Glandt, a doctor sidelined by centralized medical guidelines, Ajalah’s story underscores the importance of decentralized food and health systems. Less than an hour from every major city, ranchers are ready to supply this life-giving food.
By supporting community-based processing, we’re also supporting doctors like Dr. Glandt, who are fighting the debased nutritional guidelines that have plagued our health for decades. We’re giving urban communities access to local food sovereignty, restoring the connection between ranchers and city dwellers.
Lessons from the Past, Hope for the Future
The collapse of NYC’s local food networks is a wake-up call. Robert Moses’s expressways and urban centralization shattered resilient food systems. With the last meatpacker closing, we stand at a crossroads—revive local food or lose it forever.
Through the Ranchers Storefront, we’re rewriting this narrative. We’re building a future where market access means:
Locally processed beef just steps from where it’s sold.
Skilled jobs that keep money circulating in communities.
Health sovereignty for people like Ajalah Efem.
This is what it means to return to the land. To revalue the cow. To restore simplicity and self-reliance.
Mark McAfee, Justin Trammell, Ajalah Efem and countless others are showing us that the path forward is not new; it’s a return. A return to integrity. A return to health. A return to each other.
All it takes is market access.
Shake your rancher’s hand.
Crowdhealth is our Partner:
CrowdHealth, a revolutionary consumer-centric, parallel system of individuals crowd-funding healthcare expenses without insurance, aligns perfectly with our mission of supporting local, sustainable ranching practices. By choosing CrowdHealth, you’re not just opting for a smarter way to handle medical expenses; you’re joining a movement that values community, health, and sustainability.
CrowdHealth recently launched the Carnivore Crowd, for metabolically healthy meat eaters exclusively funding each other’s healthy lifestyles. Joining the Carnivore Crowd goes beyond healthcare, as the Carnivore Crowd is dedicated to supporting initiatives that bring high-quality, sustainably sourced beef to your table and help promote the well-being of our dedicated ranchers. Discover how CrowdHealth & the Carnivore Crowd can make a difference in your health and in the future of our family farms.