Fourth-generation rancher David Evans remembers the "tidal wave of demand" for pasture-raised meats that followed Michael Pollan's 2006 book on the U.S. food system.
"We got inundated," he recalled of the publication of "The Omnivore's Dilemma."
Evans has spent years building a regional system to serve the small but growing number of Bay Area residents who want an alternative to conventional meat production. As the owner of San Francisco-based Marin Sun Farms, he takes an approach that differs markedly from the mainstream meat industry, which typically relies on antibiotics, cattle feedlots and poultry warehouses.
Evans' recent purchase of a recall-shuttered slaughterhouse in Petaluma has allowed him to add a critical piece to his meat production system. With his plan to reopen the former Rancho Feeding Corporation plant, he seeks to tie together a food chain that includes local ranches, a San Francisco meat cutting plant and two Bay Area butcher shops - essentially moving beef, pork and other meats from pasture to plate.
For North Bay ranchers who feared the region's last slaughterhouse would never reopen, reaction to the plant's purchase is largely positive, albeit some privately worrying how Evans will treat rival businesses.
Evans maintained he will treat everyone fairly and said the plant's reopening will allow beginning and veteran ranchers to take the next step forward in a niche business that can be far more profitable than selling cattle and other animals for commodity meats.
Under his control, he plans to add organic processing to the services he can provide ranchers. However, unlike the former owners, Evans doesn't intend to purchase older dairy cows and other cattle for the conventional meat market. That means dairy farmers and possibly some other ranchers will lose a key buyer of their animals.For Bay Area residents, Evans predicted the plant will provide more healthy, sustainable meat choices and can help transform the nation's food system that often boils down to "bigger, faster, cheaper." He insisted he isn't "anti-conventional" production, but he also told KQED radio that "the food system is way behind the times, and there's so much room for improvement. Let's make that happen."
For Evans himself, controlling the plant will help him reach a goal of expanding his business to $50 million annually in revenues within six years.
"With risk comes rewards," he said. "There's a lot of risk in this. I'm a risk taker."
Evans, 41 and a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate, belongs to a small group of Marin County entrepreneurs who grew up on family farms but branched out to satisfy a growing demand for niche food products. They include organic dairy and creamery owner Albert Straus, grass-fed beef and lamb rancher Loren Poncia and Evans' sister, Julie Rossotti, a grass-fed veal and goat rancher.
"They really are thinking much differently than their parents or my generation," said Mike Gale, 72, who with his wife Sally owns Chileno Valley Ranch, a grass-fed beef operation west of Petaluma.
For years, Evans has pursued vertical integration in his business - essentially controlling as many steps as possible of meat production, from raising the animals to killing them, cutting up the meat, packaging it and selling it directly to customers.
"Going vertical, as Dave has, has been the smart thing and the very successful thing for him to do," Gale said.
Evans started raising pasture-finished beef in 1998. He opened a butcher shop and restaurant in Point Reyes Station in 2005, later added another butcher's shop in Oakland's Rockridge Market Hall, and last summer took over what is San Francisco's biggest facility for cutting up, or "breaking," animal carcasses.
He sells his ground beef to Stanford University Hospital and his meats to a variety of Bay Area restaurants.
Marin Sun items cost substantially more than what's sold in a typical supermarket meat case. Evans told public radio listeners that he considers his "a completely different product."
His website lists $24.95 for a pasture-raised chicken, $10 for a pound of ground beef and $35 for up to 2 pounds of pork tenderloin.
About three years ago, Evans put forth a proposal for purchasing the Petaluma slaughterhouse to a group of potential investors. He said recently he made the pitch because he was unsure of Rancho's future but dropped the idea when the processor announced plans to slaughter hogs and take other steps to boost its profits.
Last month, Evans was able to put together a group of investors to buy for "several million dollars" the former Rancho plant. The deal closed Feb. 28, he said.
The purchase comes amid ongoing federal investigations of the closed plant, which is under recall for all 8.7 million pounds of beef processed there last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has asserted that Rancho "processed diseased and unsound animals" without a full inspection.
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