At a time when America’s meat industry faces increasing consolidation, fragile supply chains, and the closure of rural processing facilities, Better For Butchery’s acquisition of the Princeton Kentucky plant represents a rare, forward-looking investment in independent meat infrastructure. Backed by USDA Rural Development financing, the facility will serve as a scalable, high-integrity co-packing and processing hub designed to help farmers, ranchers, and emerging meat brands reach market without sacrificing quality, transparency, or control.  USDA Rural Development played ia critical role n enabling the acquisition. The facility was financed through an MPILP loan backed by the USDA  aimed at strengthening rural economies, expanding domestic meat processing capacity, and supporting independent producers seeking alternatives to large-scale industrial packers. the facility now serves as Better For Butchery’s centralized processing, packaging, cold storage, and fulfillment hub. Purpose-built to support third-party brands, the operation enables consistent quality, reliable scheduling, and national distribution for farmers and food businesses that have historically struggled to access scalable processing. Better For Butchery’s acquisition marks a turning point for the company—from turnaround operator to platform-scale processor—and formally launches its co-packing and third-party processing services for emerging and established food brands committed to ethical sourcing and operational transparency. Chris Roach, CEO of Better Butchery joins Farm To Table TAlk to share what’s possible when public investment and private execution align. “With USDA Rural Development’s support, we’re rebuilding meat infrastructure in a way that works for farmers, workers, and brands alike—right here in rural Kentucky. Our approach is proving that modern, compliant, and values-driven meat processing can be decentralized to establish a new meat economy that is better for farmers, better for animals and better for all of us.” www.BetterForButhery.com  www.porterroad.com

For the first time in 30 years America’s top Agriculture state, California, finally has a member on the Agriculture Committee of the US Senate, Senator Adam Schiff. Speaking to over a thousand farmers at Eco Farm, Senator Schiff called on farmers and consumers to engage and to make their voices heard. Senator Schiff spoke with Farm To Table Talk and addressd over 1,000 farmers at Eco Farm.

There is something good about local farms supporting schools, distributingCSA (Community Supported Agriculture), hosting a market at the farm and selling organic produce at area Farmers Markets. A farming program that delivers goodness in all these ways is aptly named Something Good Organics. Carolyn Givens shares why they do what they do and why the school and local community they supply are glad they do.  Carolyn Givens says they take pride in supporting John Givens Farm’s commitment to cultivating Certified Organic Produce for their community.

Each year, about 32% of the food produced across the world is lost or wasted. Tackling food loss and waste has been on the global agenda for decades, with policymakers citing it as a contributing factor to issues like food insecurity and environmental degradation. Despite this attention, food loss and waste remain a challenge across the world.A new book from researchers at the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) provides an evidence-based framework for addressing food loss and waste as a means to improve access to healthy diets. In “Wasted Potential: Tackling Food Loss and Waste Across Transforming Food Systems,” TCI alumna Jocelyn Boiteau and Director Prabhu Pingali set forth a policy agenda that builds demand for diverse, nutritious foods in order to incentivize food loss and waste reduction while mitigating tradeoffs between food security, environmental sustainability and socioeconomic welfare. In addition to stimulating demand for safe and nutritious foods, they call for investments in value-adding innovations like processing, packaging and cold chain infrastructure, as well as public infrastructure and financial services that improve market access.“Wasted Potential” was published by Springer as part of its Sustainable Development Goals Series. It is available to download through open access.

Farmers across America are beginning to worry that 2026 is bringing a Farm Crisis comparable to the early 1980’s when Willie Nelson launched Farm Aid to draw attention and support to the plight of farmers.  Ray Yeung has been farming for over 40 years in northern California and although recently experiencing really good yields, he sees farming costs exceeding returns and that is simply unsustainable. A farm crisis could  be felt beyond the farms to farm suppliers and consumers.  Viable farms are ncessary, so what is to be done? Yeung always knew he’d be a farmer. His father, Joe Yeung, started farming near Woodland CA after returning rom the Korean War in the 1950s. Ray worked on his dad’s farm for decades before branching out on his own to grow processing tomatoes, pumpkins,  winter squash and other commodities. Yeung sold his heirloom tomatoes at farmers’ markets, and by the early 2000s, the heirloom craze was in full swing. Today, he grows about 20 varieties, including pineapple, pink brandywine, green zebra, and Cherokee purple. (Processing tomatoes are profitable today.)

While nutrition science knows about 150 well-documented nutrients, there are approximately 135,000 additional molecules in foods that have health impacts but are not tracked in nutritional databases. Laszlow Barabasi, a physicist and network medicine researcher at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School, explains how these compounds work in the body, noting that many have therapeutic effects when consumed in specific concentrations. Certain food combinations, like those in the Mediterranean diet, can mitigate negative health effects of red meat, and  ultra-processed foods contribute to health issues despite their popularity.  Understanding these compounds is important for treating specific conditions, yet the basic principles of a healthy diet remain simple: eat plenty of vegetables, exercise, sleep well, and maintain a balanced diet closest to the Mediterranean model. www.barabasilab.com         www.truefood.tech

While nutrition science knows about 150 well-documented nutrients, there are approximately 135,000 additional molecules in foods that have health impacts but are not tracked in nutritional databases. Laszlow Barabasi, a physicist and network medicine researcher at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School, explains how these compounds work in the body, noting that many have therapeutic effects when consumed in specific concentrations. Certain food combinations, like those in the Mediterranean diet, can mitigate negative health effects of red meat, and  ultra-processed foods contribute to health issues despite their popularity.  Understanding these compounds is important for treating specific conditions, yet the basic principles of a healthy diet remain simple: eat plenty of vegetables, exercise, sleep well, and maintain a balanced diet closest to the Mediterranean model. www.barabasilab.com www.truefood.com

Farmers are supoosed to share $12 billion dollars to make up for lost markets, higher costs and lower prices due to President’ Trump’s global trade war. The Wall Street Journal editorial said President Trump said he was “delighted to give American Farmers $12 Billion” in economic Assistance. The President of the the American Soybean Assoiation told CNN  that this was just “a bandaid on an open wound” because what farmers want is an opportunity to make a living, to make a profit from the market, “not being dependant on the next program to keep us from bleeding to death.”  Blake Hurst, Missouri soybean farmer, substack author, sometime guest editorial writer to the Walls Street Journal and friend of Farm To Table Talk has some strong feelings and insights he shares with Farm To Table Talk.