Russ Kremer: Growing a Good Food Movement - A Story of Hog Farming, Human Health & Alternatives

Russ Kremer and his cooperative are at the epicenter of the good foods movement; he supplies Chipotle and Whole Foods with antibiotic-free pork. His personal story is widely held to be the basis of Chipotle's award-winning animated short film depicting a farmer tossing industrial ag ways and going "back to the start." Fifteen years ago, Russ Kremer ran an industrial hog confinement operation in Frankenstein, Missouri. Following standard practices, he fed his pigs daily doses of antibiotic for growth efficiency and to ward off illnesses. Then, one day Russ was gored by one of his hogs and nearly died from an antibiotic-resistant infection. He realized the danger posed by the overuse of antibiotics, and immediately transformed his farm. Today his hogs are antibiotic-free. Russ is the founder of the Ozark Mountain Pork Coop and the president of the Missouri Farmers Union. Hear his story and learn more of the small-farm movement he has helped propel. Learn about the Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative and how it is helping farmers gain access to markets, and markets obtain quality, clean products from farmers. He will depict through example and inspiring stories one of the solutions to the current industrial farming/food crisis. An inspiring speaker and innovative farmer and marketer, Russ Kremer will movivate and entertain as well as inform.

Dubbed the “Pope of Pork,” Russ Kremer is a fifth-generation Missouri diversified pork producer and a driving force in the movement for antibiotic-free livestock. After a near-death experience with an antibioticresistant bacterial infection Kremer contracted from his Yorkshire boars in 1989, he realized the dangers of conventional production and made wholesale changes to his operation. Kremer began to raise pigs the natural, old-fashioned way — free-roaming, pasture-raised and without pharmaceuticals. Kremer leads the thriving 52-member Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative.

Recorded Thursday, December, 14, 2013