E51: The Future of Real Food and the Beef Herd of America | AJ Richards of From the Farm

The future of real food in America depends on ordinary families choosing to understand where their food comes from. In this episode, AJ Richards shares why our current food system is more fragile than it seems and how both homesteaders and everyday consumers can be part of restoring it. From the impact of big corporations and foreign imports to the growing need for local connection and community resilience, this conversation sheds light on what is really at stake AND how each of us can spark meaningful change. This is an important conversation you won’t want to miss out on!

In this episode, we cover:

AJ’s southern Utah ranching roots, Bundy family heritage, and winding path from Army deployment to city life to running a USDA slaughterhouse in Wyoming
Why the 2020 food supply crisis became the catalyst that inspired FromTheFarm.org
The story behind building a platform that reconnects consumers directly with local farmers and ranchers
How the mission has grown into nearly 100 producers across 35 states with a heart for ministry and stewardship
Why decades of beef industry consolidation left independent ranchers struggling to survive
How social media has become a tool for exposing corruption and educating consumers about the food system
The ripple effects of imported beef policies and how they’re impacting American producers
A discussion on new hope for first-generation ranchers willing to innovate and build community connections
Why the NCBA’s alignment with big industry has created frustration among small producers
Thoughts on land and water buyouts across the West and how corporate control is reshaping agriculture
The importance of USDA partnerships aimed at restoring grazing rights and strengthening local processing
What to know about the screw-worm threat at the southern border and ongoing prevention efforts
A reminder to follow God’s prompting, stay grounded in community, and keep using your voice for change

Thank you to our sponsors!

KubotaUSA.com | Providing the right equipment to keep us moving, shaping, and growing America’s farms, fields, and construction

Premier1Supplies.com | Your one-stop shop for a variety of homesteading supplies and expert advice

About AJ

Co-Founder of From The Farm, is passionate about sustainable food systems. Raised in a family with deep agricultural roots, AJ transitioned from urban life to homesteading in Cody, Wyoming. His journey began by selling beef directly from his family’s ranch, when Covid started and the supply chain began to show its fragility, AJ heard God call him to create a software to connect consumers directly with farmers. Mentours advised him to do lots of research which led him to oversee a USDA meat processing facility and start multiple DTC meat companies. They now have over 100 farmers, ranchers, homesteaders and cottage makers on From The Farm across the country with more than 1,000 orders.

Resources Mentioned

Learn more about the rancher advocacy group mentioned in this episode, R-CALF

Connect

The Future of Real Food and the Beef Herd of America Transcript

Amy Fewell Welcome to the Homesteaders of America Podcast, where we encourage simple living, hard work, natural healthcare, real food, and building an agrarian society. If you’re pioneering your way through modern noise and conveniences, and you’re an advocate for living a more sustainable and quiet life, this podcast is for you. Welcome to this week’s podcast. I’m your host, Amy Fewell, and I’m the founder of the Homesteaders of America organization and annual events. If you’re not familiar with us, we are a resource for homesteading education and online support. And we even host a couple of in-person events each year with our biggest annual event happening right outside the nation’s capital here in Virginia every October. Check us out online at HomesteadersofAmerica.com. Follow us on all of our social media platforms and subscribe to our newsletter so that you can be the first to know about all things HOA (that’s short for Homesteaders of America). Don’t forget that we have an online membership that gives you access to thousands—yes, literally thousands—of hours worth of information and videos. It also gets you discount codes, an HOA decal sticker when you sign up, and access to event tickets before anyone else. All right. Let’s dive into this week’s episode.

Amy Fewell Welcome back to this week’s episode of the Homesteaders of America podcast. As I always do (I never do podcasts alone anymore), I have a guest this week and a lot of you might know him. We have on the podcast this week, AJ Richards. Welcome to the HOA podcast, AJ.

AJ Richards Yeah, thanks for having me, Amy. I’m excited to be here.

Amy Fewell So I know who you are and I bet a whole lot of our listeners know who you are, but inevitably there’s always someone who doesn’t know who you are. So who is AJ Richards? What do you do? Who are you? How’d you get here?

AJ Richards Good question. I’m from southern Utah, a place called St. George. We’re right outside of Zion National Park. My family homesteaded there in 1916. Back, you know, some of the last homesteading available in lower 48. We call it the Arizona Strip because it’s on the north side of the Grand Canyon, so that side of Arizona is cut off from the rest of Arizona. So we lived in Utah, but we would drive down or, you know, they would ride horseback back and forth into St.George back then. My family heritage, I’m part of the Bundy rancher group, so many of your listeners may have heard of them. So it’s inherent in our blood that we fight for our food sovereignty and our right to grow food. So yeah, I grew up there, deployed to the Army with the Army National Guard in 2005, was deployed for a year and a half. Came home, ended up in the big city of Phoenix, Arizona, for quite a while, hated every second of it. I’m a small town guy, but that’s where life took me for a minute. Anyway, now I live in Cody, Wyoming with my family on a small homestead. We moved up here to actually run a USDA slaughterhouse that was part of God’s calling for what I’m doing now with From the Farm. In 2020, I was called to help fix the food supply chain, was way over my head. Asked a lot of questions, did a lot of praying, and ended up running a USDA slaughterhouse, which when those first promptings came, if you would have said, “Hey, this is part of what you have to do,” I would have not had the faith. So that’s how we ended up here.

Amy Fewell That’s awesome. So I didn’t know that you used to be in the military. So that’s pretty fun because we have a ton of homesteaders that are coming out of government and military. So I always love meeting someone who’s had that experience cause it’s just super cool to me that people out of this, you know, kind of American culture are coming into this for a reason—like you’ve seen the system in every possible way, and you know, I don’t want to be a part of that. So I love that. Okay. So we could get into all kinds of things on this episode. I’m going to try to keep it lined up, but I’m gonna go through some questions with you first because I want people to… Let’s talk about From the Farm first. I love how you said in every situation you were called. I love that because that’s true. Like nothing is by coincidence. We are called to do the things that we’re doing. Our passions are not a coincidence. They’ve been given to us for a purpose, so kind of dive into that. What happened, we all know what happened in 2020, but what kind of set you on that path and what is From the Farm?

AJ Richards So, like I said, I’m from the Bundy ranching family. There were 1,100 of us at our last reunion, so it’s a big clan. And their last names are not all Bundy. And so growing up as the city slicker cousin, right? My mom married a guy from the city. I always joke and say, “If my mom was my dad, I would be a rancher.” And I definitely look back and see how God works in mysterious ways because had I been, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now. I would have been too in it to see from outside of it. And so I spent all of my young adult life trying to make a bunch of money to own a ranch. And that’s what ended up, you know, put me in Phoenix and all these things because I just tried to make a living enough so I could go buy a ranch. It didn’t work out, so I ended up back in southern Utah. And so I just called my cousin. I said, “Can I sell beef for your ranch?” Like instead of beating around the bush, trying to get into agriculture, let me just jump in. And so I was working, you know, night shift at Walmart Distribution Center, throwing concrete during the day and selling beef on the weekends cause, you know, nobody really makes money in agriculture, unfortunately, which is what we’re trying to change. So I’m doing all of that and COVID hits, and for a brief minute, our online subscriptions started growing. And then things tanked because we couldn’t get slaughter. We called to get our next round of processing and they’re like, “Yeah, we can get you in in 12 to 18 months.” I was like, “What?” And so I’m driving down the road and I’m hearing the news talk about empty store shelves and I see fat cows in this field. And I’m like, well, there’s food for consumers. They just don’t know how to connect with the farmers and ranchers. And just this bolt of lightning download was like, build the Airbnb of local food. And I’m like, I know nothing about software. I’m trying to be on a ranch. I do not want to be in tech. So I ignored it for a long time and God wouldn’t let me sleep. He kept showing me the face of a man in Iraq when we took care packages to him. And I hadn’t thought about that moment in 15 years. And I was now seeing me as him watching other men feed my family. So I just posted on Facebook and I said, “Who can help me?” Met some folks, he’s still a mentor and a business partner to this day, and he told me, “If you’re gonna do this, one in 2,000 make it in software. So you better know for sure that there’s a need and you know how to solve it.” And so I spent the next three and a half years just interviewing as many farmers and ranchers as I could, asking them about this idea and how to make it work. And in 2024, we launched fromthefarm.org. We very much see ourselves as somewhat of a ministry because the powerful connection of a consumer shaking the hand that feeds him is… I mean, it’s the most important thing as a human being that we have access to is our food. So that’s where we’re at. We’ve got almost a hundred producers in 35 states across the nation and we’re still growing and going.

Amy Fewell Yeah, it absolutely is a ministry because, you know, we did a survey a few years ago, and I think it was like 95% of our audience that homesteads or farms is Christian, and they believe in taking care of… Or some denomination of that. Like, you know, there’s multiple denominations of Christianity. And so it is. And so this is something that I’m on a kick of right now is like, when you look at the Church of Acts, they were doing it. They were feeding thousands of people, and they had this network. We think they were some kind of ignorant culture, but they weren’t. I mean, you have to think of the tens of thousands of the people they were taking care of. So what you’re doing is a ministry, and I’m sure you have story after story of connection after connection of how that’s working. And so that’s really cool. So you guys, we’ll link that information down below so that you can kind of check it out whether you’re a consumer or a producer. I assume that there’s both, like people can find people on there or they can sign up to be a producer.

AJ Richards Yeah, that’s the whole vision is that the work it takes to produce food, and then you add on top of that the marketing, the sales, the distribution, the customer service. So from the farm, you know, you could easily describe it… Some people connect more if we say it’s the Etsy of food, but the reason I describe it like Airbnb is because what Airbnb did so well is they took care of all of the complications in the middle, to simplify that process. And so our vision is to drive millions of consumers to fromthefarm.org so the producers just have to be there and the customers can connect with them. And we don’t take any commission. We’ve found other ways to drive revenue to be successful. Now, success for us does not happen until we serve the producers. It’s by design. So we don’t make ours first and then the producers make theirs. Producers make theirs and then we become profitable. And it’s for that reason is if you’re producing food, you add all the other tasks on top of it, it becomes very overwhelming. You might start an Instagram channel and do really well for a minute, but a year, two years in, you’re now a slave to Instagram because the second you stop posting, the algorithm drops you and you’re no longer found. And so yeah, we’ve done over a thousand orders since we launched. It’s not where we’d like to be, but all the money we’ve raised has gone into software development. That’s very complicated. So those orders have just come through collaborations and organic reach. And as soon as we can raise our next round of funding, we’re gonna put half of it into marketing to really drive more sales for our producers that we serve.

Amy Fewell Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s so cool and so needed right now all across the nation. Okay. So talking about social media, that was kind of my next question: you have found social media success. And of course, I’m sure most of it’s because sometimes you talk about controversial things. So the most recent thing being the beef industry and everything that’s going on with that, the top four packers, driving prices, all those things. Why don’t you talk a little bit to our audience about that? Because I have found that homesteading and farming is quite a bit different. I mean, we have a lot of overlap, but a homesteader on a couple of acres with a milk cow and a garden may not really realize what’s happening in the market that will absolutely touch them. Like, even though they’re living on a homestead and they’re not buying beef and they are not doing these things, it can be an issue for them too. So maybe talk a little bit about what’s going on in the government with that right now.

AJ Richards Yeah, and you know, this has been a multi-decade issue. It’s affected where we’re at. You know, President Reagan in the 80s changed the antitrust laws that have allowed for four major corporations to take over 85% of our beef supply, which is why we’re at the lowest numbers we’ve ever had since 1940s in terms of cattle. And that’s why if you’re a homesteader and you think, you know I want to go buy a couple head of cows and raise them on my homestead, right now they’re very, very expensive and it’s because of the consolidation. And so now we have four companies, JBS, Cargill, Tyson, and Marfrig. JBS and Marfrig are actually Brazilian-owned, so two of the four that control our beef supply in America are not even American. From that, other entities have spun up that make a lot of money working with those big four. And, you know, people are out typically for their own benefit and their own bottom line, not looking at the nation as a whole and how it’s affecting us. And so, yeah, social media has been a great tool to educate consumers. And for the first time, consumers are interested in what’s causing this problem. And so it gets a lot of attention. Which is scary for those entities that have been doing it corruptly for a long time because now people actually care about who they are. And usually they could fly under the radar and keep manipulating and controlling things for a long time because it was only this dwindling number of ranchers that were calling them out. And now consumers are backing the producers and going, “What the heck? How could you do this to us?” So yeah, it’s a big issue. Social media has allowed me to get to a point where I can actually work with the Secretary of Agriculture directly and start helping influence policies that would make a difference. And I’m also very grateful that during this time, God has called somebody to that position that’s actually listening for the first time. I mean, we’ve been talking about this for decades and no agriculture secretary has cared. You know, whether they were controlled or not, I don’t know. I’m not going to claim to know that. Just look at the way that things have gone and you kind of assume. But there are things being heard. It’s a long process because of the level of corruption. It’s just going to take a minute to get it where we want it. But what Secretary Rollins has accomplished in less than a year just tells me that we have the right person there.

Amy Fewell So one of the big questions right now is the topic of like Trump and bringing in Argentinian beef. So what is your opinion on that? Like you’re in this, your opinion should matter more than anybody. What are you thinking about that?

AJ Richards The volume of Argentinian beef coming in is inconsequential because we’ve imported so much as it is. What’s disappointing is how that was articulated by the president. It made the rancher wrong and that wasn’t okay. My assumption is there’s not an understanding of the difference between an independent producer and a commodity producer. And you know, I imagine if I was him, the amount of inputs I’m taking in for the whole country and everything the country needs to be involved in… I mean, look, I’ve been solely focused on this for six years and I’m still not an expert. I’m still barely scratching the surface of our food system. So there’s just a big misunderstanding that’s there. I’m glad he’s got secretary Rollins who’s focused on that to help steer things despite what he says, but it caused major problems. Beef prices for our independent producers are way down right now. They call it the board. The board for trading cattle is pretty much… It locks out so it can’t just tank every day. It just goes to a low number and stops. It’s a security measure and every day for the last few days, it’s bottomed out. That’s not affecting the big guys because they’re just going to import more. It’s affecting our American producers. So it’s unfortunate. And I try to look at things from a 50,000-foot view. We knew that where we were at to change things was going to be uncomfortable and it was going to be problematic to make a change. Did not see it coming from this direction, but I still have hope and it’s yet to be seen how fast these new policies that are being rolled out can be implemented to see how bad it gets. But we are just going to pay for the sins of our past no matter what we do. And the question is, how bad is it going to get before we rally as a consumer base and make that change?

Amy Fewell So, you probably have a lot of connections to different ranchers obviously in that area and anywhere abroad. And so, there’s some people who are just now thinking about getting into ranching and are probably kind of discouraged by all the things that they’re hearing. So what are just some tips that you would give people, especially, you know, homesteaders are always doing this. They start homesteading and then they want to do more. And so, obviously, you have farms like Joel Salatin, that’s a regenerative agriculture type scenario, which that’s a lot different than just running beef and certain obviously parts of the country, regenerative agriculture looks totally different. So what’s some of your encouragement for people that are thinking about going into this?

AJ Richards I think there’s no better time than now because the food system has been so decimated that anybody getting into it now, one of the most valuable resources to a human being is their food. Now, you have to be really smart and strategic about how you get into it. But I’ve met thousands of producers, both generational and first generation, and what’s always interesting to me is to see and notice that first generation producers seem to make it profitable quicker than generational. And there’s a saying in the cattle industry that’s the seven most deadly words and that’s, “this is how it’s always been done.” Typically because you grew up watching how mom and dad did it and you carry on with that until you have your own insight that maybe changes that. But if you’re first generation getting into it, you come into it with a lot of overhead. And so your field of view is like, I got to pay this bank note, and I’ve got to do however I can. So going to a farmers market and spending your whole Saturday while you have so many things to do on the farm that you’d rather be doing. You know, it could be inconvenient, but because you’re willing to do that, you’re starting to connect with customers and build that customer base or you’ll build a website or you do social media. So I’m encouraged. I mean, if I wasn’t so busy behind the computer doing this software stuff, I would be growing and producing food for my neighbors. I just produce what I can for my family right now. And yeah, so the advice is do it. Be smart about it. Don’t get too deep into it where you can’t be successful, but nothing’s off the table for you right now as you’re growing. Leverage everything you can to try to get that done. And I think you’ll be successful. But building those relationships, and our slogan is, “Shake the hand that feeds you,” and if you lean into that and you build that customer base and you take really good care of them, you’re going to be the one of the most important people in their life, the person that they can get their food from.

Amy Fewell And I think that’s really what it’s all about is building community, not just building a farm, but building community around it. It’s the same with any kind of level of food production. Like we do herd shares here for milk and we have extra produce and honey and all kinds of things. And, you know, we never had to market, not saying people won’t have to market, but we personally didn’t have to market in this area before we were just overcome by customers because it was word of mouth, you know, they care about people. They gave us extra tomatoes this week when they didn’t have to. And so it’s really all about building that community. And I know that’s hard for people like us because we just wanna be left alone. Like we don’t wanna necessarily talk to people all the time, but it is so important. So I love that encouragement.

Amy Fewell We’re taking a quick break so that I can tell you a little bit about one of our 2025 sponsors. We are honored to have Kubota as one of our sponsors this year. Over the past 50 years, Kubota has evolved from newcomer to neighbor to partner in pursuit of the American Dream. They’ve grown together through community by providing the right equipment to keep us moving, shaping, and growing America’s farms, fields, and construction. Hundreds of millions have been invested here at home, for over 7,000 American workers to fabricate, wield, and assemble with domestic and global parts. 1,000-plus Kubota dealership locations contribute to local economies and invest in the people that have lived there for generations. Constant evolution and innovation keep Kubota forward-looking and focused on working together to build a better future for all of us. You guys know them as the orange tractor in the homesteading and farm world, but we know them as friends and sponsors, as Homesteaders of America conference sponsors this year. Make sure you check them out at KubotaUSA.com.

Amy Fewell Okay, going back to politics and meat processing, you posted recently a great little reel about how the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is basically like a scam. It’s like the worst thing going back into politics. Why don’t you explain that a little bit to people? Because they are the loudest voice right now on the beef issues.

AJ Richards Yeah, and they have been for a long time. And really, the issue there is their claim to be the organization for cattle producers is not accurate. They are the organization for people that trade commodity beef, really. If they were open and transparent about that, I wouldn’t have such a bone to pick with them. But I did a follow-up video that’s unfortunately not gotten as much traffic and I broke down just three particular areas that the NCBA is against that just kind of tells you where they stand. They do not want the Prime Act, which if anybody knows what the Prime Act is or even Joe Salatin’s Food Emancipation Proclamation, they don’t want that. They don’t want customers to have informed choice. And with that is the second thing which is country of origin labeling. Mandatory country of origin labeling. They are one of the biggest proponents against that. And it’s like, why would you be against consumers going to the grocery store and having it very clearly marked on the package where it came from? Well, it’s because consumers inherently choose USA over anything else. And so they weren’t getting the market share they wanted. So the Prime Act, they’re against that, mandatory country of origin labeling, they’re against that. But they are for mandatory EIDs, electronic identification tags. Now, in the homesteading space, we probably are all very similar. I don’t want the government knowing how many cows or sheep or goats or chickens I have. And anybody that’s a proponent for that is not friendly to me and my food sovereignty. And so those are three just simple things that I look at as them not being America first or consumer first. And so, yeah, I called him out, and like I was saying, for the first time in history, consumers care, and so that video got a lot of traction. And and rightfully so. You know, there are other independent organizations out there. I’m a participating member of a group called R-CALF. R-CALF has been fighting for mandatory country of origin labeling. They’ve been fighting against electronic IDs. They want consumers to know their American farmers and ranchers and so when I came into this, I came into it from the outside. And so I attended different trade organization meetings and just listened to what they were talking about. So I went to some NCBA meetings. And I went to R-CALF meetings. And I’m like, geez, this group is not for American freedom of choice. This group is. And that’s why I ended up where I was at, just because I didn’t grow up in it, right? A lot of times dad was a member of NCBA and grandpa was a member of NCBA, and so it’s just tradition, not knowing that over time they are no longer really there for you. So that’s what that video was about and I’m glad it got the attention that it deserved.

Amy Fewell Yeah. The biggest thing is they’re in the pocket of these four producers. And so that kind of brings another question. You live further Midwest out West, and over here on the East Coast, we’re a little bit different. We, in Virginia, obviously have quite a few land grabs from these big companies, especially Smithfield. That sale was a few years ago. And so we already see that Cargill has a massive presence here in Virginia, not too far from us. So what are you seeing out where you are? Like obviously ranches… I think you said we’re using 20,000 ranchers a year, right? For the last five years. If we’re losing that many ranchers, what’s happening to all that land? Where is it going? Who’s buying it?

AJ Richards Yeah, it’s being bought by… I mean, right around me, these ranches are going for $60 million. And so it’s big tech guys or investment groups that are coming in and buying up ground that should be producing food for our nation. And so, you know, we’re finding ourselves in a position now where you couldn’t buy this stuff to run cattle on it anymore. It’s too expensive. It would never pencil out. So that’s what’s happening where we’re at. You know, this effort to put data centers on these big open ranches and control the water. Water is a big factor, right? If they can buy the ranch and it comes with water shares, now they control those water rights for whatever their purposes are. And so, as we field different questions and different potential partnerships with what we’re doing, we have to do a lot of deep diving to make sure that there’s not some ulterior motive behind the scenes. So that’s what we’re seeing out here, which is why one of the policies we’ve been working with, the Secretary of Agriculture for the West specifically, is public land grazing. We’ve had these environmental ENGOs, non-government organizations, that are really domestic terrorists. They’ll sue a rancher… You know, what we have are what’s called AUMs. It means animal units a month, and one animal unit is a mama cow, baby cow. So it’s public land. I don’t own the land, but if I’m the rancher and I have the grazing rights, I own those grazing rights and have the right to graze cattle on that land. Well, those come with specific numbers of AUMs. And so what will happen is you’ll get a group like Western Watershed that will go and sue the BLM, which is the Bureau of Land Management. It’s under the Department of Interior. And they’ll sue the BLM and say, “The rancher is herding the sage grouse.” They don’t have to prove that. They just have to make the claim. Now it’s up to the rancher to go hire an attorney to fight against that and they can’t afford that. And so it’s a sue and settle game. And in some cases, there’s a lot of belief that some of these BLM agents that work for the government are actually pro-Western Watershed or pro-environmental terrorists, right? And so they’ll say, “Sue me for this.” And then what happens is, let’s say you have a ranch… Back here, our ranches are 50,000, 100,000 acres, a million acres, and what that means is they don’t own that million acres, they just own the right to graze cattle. So let’s say you have a 100,000 acre ranch and historically you are allowed to run a thousand AUMs. Well, they get sued and the settlement is now you can run 500. And so we used to have 18 million AUMs in the West. Now we’re down to 8 million. I did a podcast with a friend of mine that is a public land grazing attorney and a public land rancher, so he’s very knowledgeable. And so we did this podcast, but we showed the comparison and the increase in wildfires and desertification as it associates directly with the decline of logging and grazing. You know, back when we had 18 million AUMs, we only averaged about 2 million acres of wildfires a year. Now we’re down to 8 million AUMs. So we’ve lost over 10 million AUMS. And we have wildfires in the 10 millions of acres, and they’re just going to continue to grow because cattle are important. If you understand regenerative agriculture, especially in the West, the rumen of that animal is what breaks down the vegetation into soil biology, replenishes the water cycles, brings good grasses, good soil. All those things are tied, but we’ve removed those ruminate animals. You know, it started with the removal of the bison, but now we’ve removed the cattle and we’re paying for it. And not just in our environmental impact, but also in the lack of food or the drop in the food supply that we have domestically. So we’re working with them. They rolled it out last week as part of their multi-step plan at the USDA and returning AUMs or restoring those AUMs is a big topic that we’re working towards.

Amy Fewell A quick interruption in our podcast episode for today to bring you a little bit more about one of our sponsors, Premier 1 Supplies. At Premier, they’ve been providing electric fencing and electric netting, sheep and goat supplies, clippers and shears, ear tags, poultry products, and expert advice for over 40 years. I can personally vouch for Premier 1 Supplies because they have been a tremendous help for us personally here on our homestead, and they’re a tremendous help every year when you visit them at our conference. They have fencing, sheep and goat supplies, clippers and shears, all of those things, and even poultry supplies. Make sure you check out Premier 1 Supplies at Premier1Supplies.com.

Amy Fewell So why don’t you tell us a little bit more about, like, what are some more topics that you’re working with the government to kind of help out this system?

AJ Richards CRP land is being looked at. Where you guys are, CRP, it’s almost the same where you’re at. Land gets locked up into conservation land with this misguided notion that animals on there shouldn’t be there, it just should be left to wild itself. But again, we’ve broken those cycles. And so we have to do it with us being the stewards and understanding that. Labeling ‘Product of the USA’ as a starting point while working towards mandatory country of origin labeling. That’s a congressional issue, so it takes a lot more work. Relieving the restrictions on small USDA slaughterhouses. I explained it like this, imagine if you took the same number of NFL referees and put them in the Octagon and the UFC, right? So you’ve got massive slaughterhouses with only a few USDA employees watching millions of pounds go through, but you come to my slaughterhouse that I used to run and that USDA representative was looking over my shoulder for every single cow. It’s completely unfair. We’re also talking about funding for these USDA plants that are necessary so we can restore the number of slaughterhouses. Depending on where you live, you might have to drive six hours one way just to get processing. That takes revenue off your bottom line and takes you off the farm. So there’s a lot of work being done to look at what’s happening in our USDA slaughterhouses as well. You know, that initial rollout, I would say, is a starting point. We’ve been degraded for so long, everybody wants to see it change overnight. That’s just not how it’s going to work. And I’m no different, but because I get to kind of be in some of these backroom meetings and see it from that 50,000 foot level, I’m like, okay, it’s actually being worked on, but we do have to pray for patience and guidance and have faith that things are going to be done the right way because it’s not going to change overnight. However, it’s changing quickly because of the situation that we’re in.

Amy Fewell Yeah, and I think it’s important for people to know too, like, in my experience, everyone cries they want change. But then when we ask people to actually show up to vote for the change or make their voice heard about the change, it’s crickets, right? Because, “Well, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to go to the courthouse. I don’t wanna go to this meeting. I don’t want to do these things.” And so yeah, leadership is important. Good leadership is important, but it’s also really important for the non-leader that… Just the person, the community to stand up and let their voice be heard and support people like you and others who are trying to do this and make a difference. And you’re right, like baby steps is what’s gotten us to this point. And baby steps is what gets you out and it doesn’t happen overnight. I think the worst thing about the internet is like, you see all of these things and you see all of these opinions and half of the people giving their opinion have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. They don’t know how our systems work. They don’t know how the government works. They’re probably not even farming at all. And so we appreciate people like you who are willing to educate people because that’s the biggest thing we’ve found is that people don’t know what they don’t know. And so that is so important—what you’re doing and just, we appreciate you. Okay, I’m going to hold you for a couple more minutes because there’s one more topic I want to talk about. I had not heard of this until you started talking about it was the cattle screwworm issue. Is that what it’s always called? Screwworm? So talk a little bit about that. We’re kind of shifting gears here, but it also can affect what we’re talking about. What is that? What’s going on with that?

AJ Richards Yeah, so the screwworm was eradicated in the 60s. We had it here in America. The screwworm is a fly, but the larva eats living flesh. So that’s what makes this so detrimental. So what happens is if you give an animal just a little shot and a little bit of blood trickles out, that’s enough blood to bring that fly to lay its worms and then it will eat that animal or human or any living creature. It’ll eat it alive, and ultimately kill it if it’s not treated, including humans. There’s been human deaths that happened back in the 60s. And so we eradicated it by releasing irradiated male flies. So they would take the males of the screwworms, irradiate them so they were sterile, and then they would release them, and then when they bred, they would not breed. They wouldn’t have offspring. And we eradicated that clear down to South America, but South America hasn’t been maintaining the protocols to prevent it, and so it’s moved all the way up close to our southern border. And with the system that we’ve had, with the big four and these traders, you know, bringing in a lot of beef from Mexico, it shut the border, which is also why the numbers have declined. So we put ourselves in a position where we were dependent on foreign imports, and then you cut off one of the major supplies of that, and that changes beef prices. And so Secretary Rollins closed the southern border. It did get open briefly. Why? We don’t really know. Maybe it was pressure from the big four that were losing money. It got open briefly, but then it was found closer to the border than it was supposed to be, so she immediately shut the border and will not open the border until Mexico gets it under control and clear back down south of their border. They won’t bring anything in. One of the challenges with that is cattle smuggling up into Mexico. And so it’s hard to really control that, but they’re working feverishly to build and restore these big screwworm irradiation facilities so that they can release them to stop that. But that has closed our border, which has caused major supply chain issues because we’ve become dependent on foreign imports. We’re, again, grateful to have a Secretary of Ag that’s committed to American agriculture first. I’m sure she’s under a significant amount of pressure to open that border back up, but she’s made it very clear that it will not happen until the right measures are taken and that that screw worm is pushed all the way south. They send USDA reps anytime something is found, they’ll send reps down there to investigate to see, you know, how much it’s spread. They’re doing a lot of work to try to prevent that from coming across our borders. Because if it does, and our herd numbers have dwindled so much, it would be a very real problem that unchecked, could lead to the worst case scenario here in America, which is famine, if it gets in and really spreads. So it’s a very serious issue that has to be taken seriously.

Amy Fewell So, I would say that people who only have a few cows, obviously that’s not something that’s going to worry them right now. But for ranchers who have hundreds and thousands of cows, that’s a really big issue because it’s not nearly as easy to check each individual cow and what’s going on if you have lots of cattle. And so again, speaking to the homesteading group, you think it won’t affect you, but it will, like it will affect the broader nation of where we’re standing right now with herd counts. So we do have some ranchers and stuff that listen to the podcast. So what’s some tips you would give them to pay attention to their herds and maybe even try to prevent that from happening?

AJ Richards Yeah, I know that I’ve read reports that Ivermectin works. They’re working on some new drugs for livestock that could help make a difference. A lot of that I’m not super familiar with just from the overall view of that. As of right now, we don’t have to worry about that if you just have a dozen or so head because you can keep an eye on them. But, you know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so prevention in our case is preventing it from getting here in the first place. And then also just keeping a close eye on your livestock, the herd that you have, and being prepared for that. So doing some research to know how to treat your livestock with Ivermectin or any of these other medications that are available. Call your local veterinarian and just say, “What can I do to be prepared? I don’t think we’re gonna see it here but if so, what do I got to do?” But you’re absolutely right. You know, we’ve come to a position where we have feedlots with 100,000 head of cattle. That’s a lot to try to keep an eye on if that problem comes across our border and could be a big problem very quickly.

Amy Fewell It’s crazy to think of all the things our nation is dealing with right now and stuff that our generation… None of us probably grew up thinking we were going to be doing what we’re doing. Like you were saying in the beginning, “I would have never done this. God put me on this path.” And I say the same thing, like, “This is not something I grew up thinking, yeah, this is what I want to do: lead a homesteading movement and all of these things.” And so it’s just interesting that God uses each of us who are just willing, right? Like that’s what he’s looking for. He’s looking for a willing vessel, someone who’s passionate and kind to people and creation. And it’s like, okay, here we are Lord, what’s next? It’s like the things just keep coming ever since 2020. It’s like okay, what’s coming next? So AJ, I really appreciate you coming on here. This has been a great conversation. I could think of tens of different other conversations we can have spinning off of this one even. But at the end, I always like to give people a chance to… I know it puts you on the spot, but if there’s anything you could say to our listeners—anything—it doesn’t even have to be related to anything that we’re talking about. Just something that’s been burning inside of you that you would want to tell people, what would that be? Here’s your chance, here’s your platform to just kind of share whatever’s on your heart.

AJ Richards You know, I’d say, listen to the promptings that God’s put into your heart, and it’s not always going to look exactly like you thought it was. You know, sitting in front of my computer for 10 hours a day is not what I wanted. But when you say, “God, here I am, send me,” you can’t be like, “Well, not that. I’ll do this, but not that.” I mean, you don’t know why you’re being called to do that, and you will be stretched. But that’s what God does. He stretches you so that you’re capable of what’s next. And the other thing I would say, if you’re prepared and your neighbors are not, then you’re not prepared. So be a steward and just be out there and spreading the message of what you’re doing. While we might wanna be left alone, we don’t live in a time where that will work for us. You know, that was a couple of generations ago, or a generation ago, where they could just do their thing and not worry about it. Now it’s going to take a community. We all have to kind of rise up together and support one another and support the communities around us and educate. Use your voice. You’ll be very surprised how many people actually care to hear from you. I know many people think, well, nobody cares what I have to say, but that’s not true. We need more evangelists to come onto the platforms and spread the word of local food and what it takes to grow it. You know beef prices aren’t too high. The cost of ground beef at even $9 a pound, if that’s what it’s at, is still way less than the junk food people are buying. But that message has to be spread. You know the work it takes. If you’re a homesteader growing the food, you know the work it takes to produce that high quality nutrient-dense food that will edify and heal people’s bodies in many cases. I mean, we have a sick nation. And so, take that calling. Take what God’s calling you to do as uncomfortable as it might be, and I promise you, if you’re on your knees, asking for guidance and praying for discernment, he will guide you. He will put you in the rooms you’re supposed to be in. When I first went to DC and had the opportunity to meet with the Secretary of Agriculture, I’m a nobody in the middle of Wyoming, but I couldn’t be there and say, “I can’t believe I’m here,” Because I just ask God, “Put me in the rooms I’m supposed to in. And then I’ll show up.” And then when I’m in those rooms, I pray to Him, “Fill my mouth with your words.” Don’t let my brain filter, just let me speak truth to what you’ve called me to do. And so your listeners that are wondering and maybe have felt that prompting and are afraid that nobody cares about what you have to say, ignore that. There’s a fire burning inside you that needs to be shared. And we need to do this together because there’s 320 million people to educate. Only 2% of our population is producing food. Education is the number one thing that our consumer neighbors lack is just the knowledge and the knowing. And the more they hear it, the more they’re going to understand it, and they’ll start making those shifts. Instead of buying the 12-pack of soda, I’m going to buy the couple of packs of ground beef because that’s going to help me. You know, if you like cooking… That’s the one thing we’ve certainly noticed that needs to be educated is that, you know, my wife does the meal planning and the prepping. And she said, “We honestly don’t spend that much more.” Yes, the ground beef is more money than the Hot Pockets. But when we cook the ground beef, we typically have leftovers. So we’re actually getting two meals out of one. That’s a cheaper meal than the fast food or the convenience food that our bodies aren’t satiated because it’s been designed through science to make us want more. Share those things, whatever your unique genius is. If it’s preserving food, canning. There are so many people out there that they won’t hear from me because they saw a video that they didn’t like what I had to say. That one video will have them ignore everything else I have to say, but you might get through to them in a way that’s impactful and will change their lives. So be bold, be courageous, pray for guidance, and show up with that full armor of God and just know that he’s there to guide you.

Amy Fewell Man, I love it. I love when these podcasts turn into like church. They’re great. I love it. All right, guys, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Homesteaders of America podcast. Everything we talked about will be linked below in the show notes, whether it’s on YouTube or Spotify or wherever you’re listening. All that information will be there where you can find AJ. We’re going to try to get him to conference too, so y’all stay tuned for that, hopefully. Until next time, guys, happy homesteading.

Amy Fewell Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen to this week’s Homesteaders of America episode. We really enjoyed having you here. We welcome questions and you can find the transcript and all the show notes below or on our Homesteaders of America blog post that we have up for this podcast episode. Don’t forget to join us online with a membership or just to read blog posts and find out more information about our events at HomesteadersofAmerica.com. We also have a YouTube channel and follow us on all of our social media accounts to find out more about homesteading during this time in American history. All right, have a great day and happy homesteading.