A New Year

written by

posted on

January 14, 2025

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here on the farm, we're reeling from the equivalent of a run on the bank. A combination of things created a run on our inventory after mid-season, 2024.

Unlike industrial food systems, we don't go out and buy inventory in the market when our inventory runs low. We grow our animals, harvest them, store them, and it's a seasonal cycle that has a replenishment lag if we misjudge.

At Polyface, we try to plan to grow enough animals to meet the market, but not too much over that. Feeding eggs to pigs is expensive. We've done that.

As 2024 moved into late summer, we realized we had underestimated our market. In a perfect world, we'd hit our inventory expectations on the nose, every time. But this isn't a perfect world.

I'm here to explain, in full transparency, how we got into a deficit inventory.

Be assured that the 2025 season will see some major production increases to respond to this exciting new reality.

So here we go, three things.

First, our new website.

Throughout 2023, we invested in revamping our website to make it more intuitive, to flow better, and to capture more precisely all the different faces of Polyface. We had no idea how that investment would pay off.

Once those improvements were made, a trickle of efficiency turned into a gusher.

Second, MAHA.

MAHA is Robert F. Kennedy Jr's (known as RFK Jr) movement to "Make America Healthy Again".

The media, podcasts, and conversations surrounding the MAHA agenda created an unprecedented interest in everything health-related, especially the "unorthodox". People found us.

The entire alternative health community, from crunchy moms to herbalists to naturopaths to functional medicine doctors to acupuncturists and iridologists is enjoying new interest like never before.

On the heels of Covid, the quest to bolster immune function awakened a new cultural search for wellness. People are asking: What is wellness? How do I stay well?

The MAHA discussion is now launched in earnest, and it's not over by a long shot. At Polyface, we did not foresee the magnitude of this discussion nor the effect it would have on our late summer sales.

Third, reputation and podcasts.

I'm lumping these together because they are absolutely related. The podcast phenomenon, or what is called non-mainstream media, is taking over Americans' informational conduit.

Joe Rogan's podcast reaches millions more people than all the mainstream TV networks combined.

RFK Jr. told a funny story about something he'd seen on TV news and his son asked, totally serious, "Dad, is there news on TV?" For real. People under 40 don't get their information from TV.

The Polyface brand is now a sought-after voice in the podcast world.

Often the podcast hosts ask "Where can people get your stuff?" The answer is simple: "Polyfacefarm.com."

Suddenly, we see a bump in sales.

Here's a Polyface fact:

Our "production pipeline" is long. This is the time it takes to start with a young animal and end with food on the shelves or the website for you.

For beef it takes three years. Pigs are nearly a year. Chickens are about four months old.

Right now, we're planning all the animals we'll raise for all of 2025.

The fastest item we can "restock" is broilers (meat chickens). They grow the fastest once spring arrives. Second is pork and third is beef.

We have the capacity to increase everything except beef. (And we're continuing to work on the issue: enough land to raise them.)

Both over- and under-inventory are problematic, so it's a delicate balance. Be assured we are doing everything in our power to adjust; to eliminate disappointment without creating an overage problem.

Thank you for hanging in there with us. This is a good opportunity to try something perhaps you haven't used before. We always have some things; just not everything at every moment.

Be adventuresome and try a new cut, a new product. You might be surprised what a joy it is to add it to your culinary portfolio. Feel free to reach out to our team if you need ideas for how to use one of our meats. We have so many cooks among us.

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you for your loyalty and faith in us. Polyface is working hard to earn and keep your trust.

Blessings to you and yours in the coming year.

-Joel

inventory

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beef

Pork

Chicken

poultry

Short of Turkeys and Beef

For the first time in many years, we’ll be short of turkeys for Thanksgiving. Consistent with our policy of full transparency, here is why. And we’ve been short of beef now for some time. The underlying theme of this explanation is to inform you completely about why and what we’re doing about it. Unlike many businesses, we don’t call up other outfits to supplement ours when we’re short. We figure out how to produce more and until then, simply run behind. Because of that, when we explore new markets, we can’t adjust our inventory instantaneously.We’ve had a couple of incredibly exciting market developments this year. We’ve always tried to experiment with new opportunities when markets request product. You never know which ones will be long term, short term, positive, or negative. Over the years, we’ve given away turkeys when we overproduced due to assuming a certain market opportunity would come through; that’s not financially viable. As a result, we’re pretty careful about expansion. Three years ago, a large corporation in Virginia asked us to supply turkeys and Christmas hams to their 300 employees. We had no idea they would hang with us this long, but here they are, happy and showing unbelievable loyalty. We’ve been reluctant to count on them simply because these kinds of things normally don’t last. But isn’t it exciting and even exhilarating that a big company is buying our kind of turkeys and hams for their employees? The other thing that developed—and these things develop slowly—was Azure Standard asked us to supply them with 1,000 turkeys as a trial to see if their customer base would like them. By the time that deal was formalized, we were too late to order more turkeys and did not have the full number for them, but we we did the best we could. Some of you who are Azure Standard customers will no doubt see our turkeys pop up on their sales platform. When an engine going somewhere wants to hook to us, we always try to at least collaborate in an experiment. That’s where we are; if all are happy, this could be an extremely positive strategic client for us in the future. In the same way, we’ve been contacted by a new internet marketing outfit wanting some of our beef. We’ve agreed to let them have five in 2027. We’re hoping ongoing discussions will lead them to carry our poultry and pork as well—right now they’re only beef. None of this is about building an empire. It is about collaborating with the cutting edge of authentic food and circumventing Big Food, Big Ag, and Big Pharma. Innovation comes in many ways. Polyface perhaps leads the world in the production element. But processing, marketing, and distribution are also undergoing innovation and staying relevant is a daily objective. That some of the most creative significant players in the integrity food movement are asking us to play with them is wonderful. They could just handle industrial organic meat poultry, which doesn’t see pasture and doesn’t enjoy the happiness context of Polyface livestock. But they’re talking to us, and that’s awesome. All innovation carries a ragged edge as it develops, refines, and hopefully becomes efficient over time. Thank you for indulging us the freedom to explore these new venues and to collaborate with some of the best players in the good food movement. As you can imagine, growing and experimenting create their own sore muscles. Being short is not fun for either of us, but be assured it’s not because our animals are sick or we’re getting tired of being farmers. You can laugh at that. It’s because, true to our history, we are committed to putting food worth eating on plates held by friends. We count you as friends; that’s why we’re taking you on this little explanation behind the curtain. Hang in there and thank you, thank you for your loyalty and patronage.

A New Year

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Short of Turkeys and Beef

Interview with the 2026 Stewards -- Part 3!

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