CALF_News_Feb_March_2019

9 CALF News • February | March 2019 • www.calfnews.net It is strictly a no-hormone, beta-agonist- free, all-natural program. Another brand, Imperial Valley Ranches, involves cattle from other area ranches that are also hor- mone- and beta-agonist-free.We think the future is more in all-natural cattle and have the plant to process those cattle.” The company’s Brawley Beef brand is for conventional Holsteins and is a tribute to the original cattle feeders who helped create the original packing facil- ity. Another brand is Baja Beef, which features desert Southwest or Mexican cattle. One World Beef acts as the exclu- sive agent to export all of these products to restaurants, chefs and distributors throughout the world. In addition, One World Beef mar- kets products from its Kagoshima Beef program – Japanese Wagyu beef – which enjoys niche markets. OWB also markets high-quality veal products from Peter’s Farm and Apeldoorn, both out of Holland. And Brandt Beef Jerky is becoming a hot item. “One World Beef is a channel for our brands and any brand to get products from the producer to the consumer the best possible way,” Brandt says.“It oper- ates entirely under the philosophy that transparency in everything we do is cru- cial to maintaining strong relationships with clients, customers and partners. We pride ourselves on a level of transparency not often observed in the meat industry.” Brandt notes that most cattle fed in Imperial Valley yards are processed through JBS in Tolleson, Ariz. But One World Beef and the plant are also seeing more local cattle harvested.“We have cattle coming in from the Moiola Bros. Cattle Feeders and Mesquite Cattle Feed- ers in Brawley, and have had some from El Toro and other feedyards,” Brandt says. “But we have to earn our way into the market. We think it’s important that there is continuous competition down here. JBS is a healthy market, and we must chip away at getting more supply.” Community involvement “ I’m proud that we have proven we can be a good partner to the community,” Brandt says.“We do things right.We’re highly involved in the community. The tax dollars that go back into the community and jobs created speak volumes themselves. “There’s nothing more important to an ag community than to have ag manu- facturing jobs that are tied to being part of the community. “I’m thankful for all the people involved in helping get this facility back in operation. No. 1 is my family, and a lot effort put forth by the manag- ers here. Kudos to our CFO, Armand Nicholi, who helped navigate the deal and put our financial structure in place, and to the community supervisors who awarded us some favorable financing in exchange for us creating new jobs. ONEWORLD BEEF Continued from page 6 Some 2,000 cattle are harvested weekly and those numbers will likely increase. “The Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation was really instrumental in helping us identify Cali- fornia state programs that were enor- mously helpful in getting the deal done.” The monumental steps Brandt and his team have taken illustrate the dedication they had to bringing an idled packing plant back to life in a community that needed the jobs. Their efforts also magnified their drive to diversify beef production and processing measures to provide better markets for producers and better products for their customers.  So “Where from Here?” hasn’t really changed. It has just become more compli- cated. Dr. Del Miles told me years ago that as science advances, parts per million would become parts per trillion, and we would have to keep in step with consumers’ evolving demands in order to prove, time and time again, that our product is safe to eat. Nutritionists change their minds daily about what’s “in” and what’s “out” of fad. What’s good for you today may be bad for you tomorrow. Trade agreements are up in the air, and one still hopes we don’t have a catastrophe on a slow news day – we don’t do this for the fun of it. We proudly feed the world, one steak at a time.  GYPSYWAGON Continued from page 5 Betty Jo Gigot bjgigot@calfnews.net