Beef, Bitcoin and Decentralization

It's about freedom, health promotion and a sound monetary system to ensure food security for decades to come!

Beef, Bitcoin and the 2022 US Cattlemen’s Annual Meeting Nashville Tennessee

The United States Cattlemen’s Association (“USCA”) recently held its annual meeting December 8-10, 2022, in Nashville Tennessee. From 2019-2022, it has been my honor to serve this great organization as its President.  It certainly has been time consuming and a lot of work, but I’ve gained so very much. I’ve grown as a person and have had the opportunity to serve the American cattle producers alongside some of the finest people I’ve ever known, and who I consider my friends.

Some of you may be wondering just exactly who or what is the USCA? Founded in 2007, we are a relatively young organization made up of grass roots cattlemen and women from across America. Our members consist of cow calf producers, backgrounders, livestock truckers and independent feedlot owners. We are a major voice for the cattle production side of the cattle & beef industry. Our mission, to restore competition and true price discovery in our live cattle markets making cattle ranching profitable and sustainable. This and only this will ensure a safe, healthy, and wholesome food supply for America and the world for years to come. Unfortunately, the free market system in the cattle/beef industry is, and has been, broken for a long time. Free market laws of supply and demand no longer exist. Consequently, large numbers of cattle producers have been forced out of business by many years of low prices. And the alarming fact is there is inadequate interest from younger generations that see no future in the live cattle industry. They see the long hours, hard work, and large capital investment that is required as well as the very low return and have opted for less risky and higher paying jobs in other sectors of the economy. This will eventually cause a national food crisis if not addressed.

The Reason:

The Beef industry is dominated and monopolized by 4 multinational packing companies that control over 85% of the Beef that is processed in the world. No wonder these very same global corporations are seeing record profits while cattle ranchers are forced out of business at an alarming rate. Generational farmers and ranchers are selling out or going broke every day because of these 4 corporations using monopolistic and anticompetitive practices to suppress live cattle prices and sell beef to retailers at large and sometimes obscene profit margins.

I see this crisis in rural America as a national security issue. Rural America is depressed economically as it depends so much on agriculture made up of family farms and ranches. Poverty levels in rural America have skyrocketed as has the opioid epidemic. This is a huge problem for not only rural America but our entire nation and the world. If the trend continues, we will become dependent on multinational conglomerates and foreign countries for food production as we have with energy and manufactured goods.

The Solution:

At this year’s annual USCA meeting we discussed solutions to restore a true free market economy in the cattle industry. In addition to hot button issues such as competition in the marketplace, true price discovery and labeling issues a spotlight was shone on a growing movement at the grass roots level to connect ranchers to consumers and decentralize our currently monopolized and so very unhealthy food system. Fix the food, fix the money, and help fix America!  (More on this to come.)

(Ann, me and Dr Shawn Baker: The very best Beef spokesperson in the world)

My daughter, Amanda, and her husband, Matt, were in attendance, making this meeting even more special to Ann and me. I had never been to Nashville, and it certainly lived up to its billing.  This city is filled with history and great entertainment, with a small-town feel. The weather was warm, making getting around for the music nightlife easy and enjoyable. This is the first year we have held our annual meeting in a city east of the Mississippi river and I’m sure the nice weather and venue were welcome changes for our northern and western members in attendance where winter was starting to be brutal.

President of USCA Justin Tupper

The first 2 days were more business related where we elected officers for the coming year as well as nomination of directors which will be voted on by our entire membership in January.  After three years in this position, I am happy to be passing the Presidential baton to my good friend and fellow cattleman, Justin Tupper of St Onge, South Dakota.  Justin is the right person at the right time to lead our organization to greater heights.  I could not be more confident about his qualifications and ability to lead USCA in the coming years. I will now move into the role of immediate past president and continue to serve on the board of directors.

Day 3 of the conference was power packed with information and education. The part that I was most excited about was the panel discussion that we set up for Saturday afternoon: Bitcoin, Beef and the Decentralization of Our Food System.

Over the past few years, I have come to be familiar with Bitcoin and what it represents. It is through my son-in-law, Matt, and daughter, Amanda, that I owe the opening of my mind to the freedom and possibilities it represents. Matt is an attorney (as is Amanda) and works in the Bitcoin space. They have introduced me to many of their friends and associates that I have grown to know, like and respect. Their morals, goals and mindset are very much in line with mine: Freedom, health promotion and a decentralized control of our lives through the pursuit of truth, healthy whole foods (BEEF) and a monetary system that cannot be manipulated and controlled by the ruling class (Bitcoin). These freedom loving, innovative people align quite well with the independent minded, freedom loving American rancher, where hard work, self-reliance and personal responsibility are cherished traits. They are the younger generation that sees the large monopolies of the world as a threat to our health, freedom, and pursuit of happiness.

For too long large corporations have captured the media, government agencies, food supply chain and healthcare system. Government sponsored dietary guidelines are a great example of the dangers that come from centralized control of our food system: a monumental healthcare crisis.  These ineffective dietary guidelines have been corrupted by special interest groups with agendas that are unrelated to health and nutrition, but rather are motivated by environmental extremism, animal rights activist propaganda, and profits for big food and big pharma companies. As a result, our society has moved away from a healthy whole food diet towards fake processed food which has addicted more people to sugar than any drug on the face of the earth. This has caused an explosion of obesity, chronic inflammation, chronic illness, and disease. Cheap processed foods that meet the dietary guidelines have bloated corporate profits, bloated American’s waistlines, and caused an epidemic of diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and mental illness!

In June of 2022, Ann and I traveled to Texas to speak at the Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas annual meeting (ICA). On the way, we stopped in Austin to meet Marty Bent and do a podcast. We hit it off instantly and had a great time just talking while taping. (TFTC #340 Truth in an Insane World with Dr. Brooke Miller). It was through Marty, Matt, and Amanda that I met Texas Slim, the founder of THE BEEF INITIATIVE. Slim is a visionary who’s aim in life is to bring local ranchers and consumers together in a partnership to improve not only the economy of ranching, but also ensure a sustainable food supply for centuries to come and improve health and wellness though eating real foods produced in a healthy and wholesome manner. The Beef Initiative seeks to empower people and ensure life, liberty, and freedom!

After much thought and consideration, I asked Matt, Marty, and Texas Slim to put together a panel to discuss and educate our organization, and anyone in the cattle industry with an open mind, on Bitcoin, the Beef Initiative and the power of a localized food system that bypasses the mega monopolies.  By putting the control of our food system back into the hands of the real people that grow our food, live on the land they love, and live in the communities that they love, we solve major issues plaguing rural America and the nation. We get away from junk food that is causing the world to be overcome with chronic disease. We help reverse the alarming trend of young people leaving the farms and rural America, who we will need to grow our food in the decades to come.  And most importantly, we ensure our economic freedom and sovereignty though the adoption of Bitcoin as a viable and sound currency that the Globalists cannot control or manipulate.  (Like Justin Trudeau and multinational companies did when they froze the bank accounts of all involved in the truckers strike in Canada.)

The panel consisted of the following:

Matt Kita: full-time Bitcoin attorney, part-time rancher at Ginger Hill Angus www.gingerhillangus.com

Marty Bent: Founder of TFTC.io, Host of TFTC and Rabbit Hole Recap, Venture Partner at Ten31, and Director of Cathedra Bitcoin, Inc.

Jason Wrich: Owner and Operator of Wrich Ranches Wrich Ranches - Regenerative Cattle Ranch Focusing on Holistic Practices in Crawford, Colorado (business.site)

Texas Slim: Founder of The Beef Initiative

Cole Bolton: Owner and Operator of K&C Cattle Co. (kandccattle.com)

Matt Odell:  Host of Citadel Dispatch, Rabbit Hole Recap, Co-Founder of BitcoinTV, Open Sats, Bitcoin Park, Bitcoin Dev List, and Final Message, Venture Partner at Ten31, Advisor of BottlePay, Bitcoin Magazine, Hoseki, Pleblab, Hexa Wallet, Swan Bitcoin.

https://mattodell.keybase.pub/

Much like our food system, which is controlled by BIG FOOD and the Packers, our government has complete control of our money, which they consistently devalue through money printing and poor monetary policy.  If you use those dollars at a grocery store to buy beef, you are paying an inflated price (meaning your dollar gets you less year after year), for a product that is routinely mislabeled, and you likely have no idea where it came from or how it was raised.  What’s worse is that most of the inflated price that you pay does not go to American cattle ranchers or stay in rural America.  As I stated above, the beef industry is controlled by 4 multi-national corporations that have monopolies in place that harm both the American rancher, small businesses, and the American consumer: they pay less for the cattle raised by ranchers, and charge more in the grocery stores.

For example, when the Covid 19 pandemic hit hard in 2020 there were several large packing plants that were forced to shut down due to outbreaks in these large facilities. The supply chain was broken with shortages of beef available at the meat counter. Live cattle prices plummeted but consumer prices skyrocketed, as did packer profits. There was no shortage of cattle or protein, but a shortage of available beef in the grocery stores. Our economy suffered terribly all the while the multinationals made record profits

Buying directly from a rancher bypasses this broken system.  If you buy beef directly from a local producer, you know exactly where your food comes from, along with the work, stewardship, and animal husbandry that is required to raise that animal.  You also are receiving a superior product and your money is directly benefiting your neighbor and community.  

Bitcoiners see the value of this circular economy and improve upon it by paying in Bitcoin—a censorship-resistant money that requires no third-party interference.  Bitcoin can pass instantly from buyer to rancher, without involvement or permission from any banks, credit card companies, or more importantly, the government.  It is important to note that ranchers are not required to hold their money in Bitcoin if they don’t want to—if they so desire, they can immediately convert the Bitcoin they receive as payment to the dollar.

These panelists did a great job of fielding tough questions from some experienced cattlemen who were understandably skeptical of this new payment system. The panelists weren’t selling anything; they merely wanted the platform to explain the value that Bitcoin can provide to the American rancher.  What I personally have witnessed is the value of the Bitcoin community and how Bitcoin and ranchers can provide mutual benefits.

The Beef Initiative is a trade group and network of ranchers, producers, and cattlemen that is free to join and to access.  In addition to panelists Jason Wrich and Cole Bolton, Ann and Weldon Warren, of Holy Cow Beef (members of USCA and the Beef Initiative) were also at the meeting in Nashville. Through participation in the Beef Initiative, all these ranchers have benefited from a new network of customers: Bitcoiners that want to buy beef from a rancher. They were happy to share their positive experiences with selling beef to Bitcoiners and accepting bitcoin as payment.

The Bitcoin community shares our values.  They love freedom, value relationships, practice extreme ownership, and recognize that the government is not coming to save them.  Bitcoiners have already embraced the American Rancher, and I believe it would be beneficial to us all to support them as well.

If you have not researched Bitcoin, I implore you to learn as much as you can (any of the above-listed panelists will be happy to talk to you and share their knowledge).  Let’s keep this conversation going, and work together to build a better world for our children and grandchildren that is based on beef, sound money and freedom.