Boy's a sophomore there. Biz school. Supply Chain @ Walton. ROTC/Guard. Frat. He loves it. We're close to pulling the cord and moving up there as well. Daughter will be in school in Tennessee so we're not 'that' far from her. Probably the Rogers/Goshen area if I had to guess
They're still getting screwed by having to sell to the packer oligopoly. That's what the smaller, regenerative farms are so attractive (if you can get them to work)
To get this thread back on track - there are more and more "regenerative" farms popping up. Farms like White Oak Pastures. 6th generation farming in GA. Will Harris (owner) was on the JRE and really broke down his system, how it is magnitudes better than factory farming AND mono-crop agriculture.
Vertically integrated, almost zero-waste models that is all on-site and scalable
multi-species rotational grazing
holistic mgmt
no chemicals
soil building/composting
full utilization
on-site slaughter
soil sequesters more carbon that the livestock emit over their lifetimes
many environmental awards for their work.
We ran black angus for a while, then switched to Corriente cattle because they are just so much easier to manage. Pretty damn good meat as well, although most make a stop through the local rodeo circuit.