Bringing Old Methods Back To The Farm | Tufts vet promises guilt-free veal dinner
Blue-green eggs and pink veal may sound unusual, but they may end up beings keys to keeping some family farms in New England economically viable.
Raising the chickens and calves to get these somewhat unique products also means reintroducing more humane livestock raising methods that resonate with consumers who want good taste that does not come by way of mistreating animals. And by helping family farms prosper, it also means that existing open space will remain that way.
Helping those local family farms is George Saperstein, department chair at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, where he is also the director of contract research and environmental and population health.
He researches and raises farm animals at the veterinary school grounds until he’s sure the end product, whether it’s meat or eggs, has the right taste and texture. Food chains like Whole Foods and high-end restaurants in New England are some of the main customers for these products.
Federal Funding
After Saperstein came up with the idea of creating a brand of premium foods raised by New England farmers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the school a $480,000 grant to carry it out.
Family farms in New England have been under siege thanks to rising supply costs and decreasing market prices.
“In any program, particularly when you’re asking farmers to change what they’re doing, you have to be able to talk about profitability. Most projects that academics bring to farmers are more nice projects around environmental measures that are more from an aesthetic angle than a financial angle.”
When Saperstein began pitching the idea of raising bull calves for veal by letting them nurse from their mothers and run around the pastures, farmers were very skeptical, he said. But some of them were willing to give it a shot.
The blue-green eggs of Ameraucana chickens, a cross-breed involving Chilean Araucana chickens, are a little larger with a slightly larger yolks and taste better due to the exercise and diet the birds get, he said.
The veal is rosy, in contrast with traditional white veal, which comes from the calves’ borderline anemic diet coupled with almost no exercise, he said.
Animal rights activists have convinced many people not to eat veal, since most calves are fed milk substitute and kept chained to very small containers so they don’t develop their muscles. They’ve also made the public aware of poultry farms that raise chickens in packed cages and that never go outside.
But it isn’t just the change in farming methods, or more correctly, a return to older methods that’s crucial to making these niche products successful.
“The first thing I did was to hire a full-time marketer. It’s easy to alter production methods, but it’s much more difficult to sell products,” Saperstein said. The marketer came up with a number of names and Saperstein chose Azuluna for the first product of blue-green eggs and the overall company brand as well.
The veal and the eggs are successful and Saperstein has been working on lamb and pig at the school to find the right taste, texture and price for new products. The pigs may not come to fruition because it’s a good taste, but it’s not a premium product that can get top dollar like the eggs and veal do.
Saperstein is negotiating with Whole Foods, which already sells the eggs in some of its New England stores, to be the only outlet for the lamb. With a guaranteed market for the lamb, it would be a great way for farmers to be able to use their rocky, hilly land that doesn’t make the best pastures or crop land.
My personal favorite is a project Saperstein has in the idea stage: get free expired foods from supermarkets and use solar power to dry, cook and mix the food. Couple that savings with a wind turbine for energy to run irrigation pumps to help grow pasture grass, and farmers would be well on their way to a much less expensive system to raise pigs.
It could all be part of an ongoing, constantly improved “farm of the future” that would help farmers find more profitable ways to run their farms. It would also incorporate Tuft University’s engineering students who would develop cogeneration units and other energy-related projects for farms.
So now, a full five years after he started Azuluna, Saperstein is working hard toward the brand reaching “a tipping point” with consumers, where demand for the products drives the business and he can return to what he loves the best.
“The business is heading toward an Azuluna farmers cooperative, where they elect a leader and run things. I want to get back to research and development and come up with new products.”
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