Meet Jack and Betsy McCann

Starting a farm business in 2008 was not necessarily what Jack and Betsy McCann had in mind. Betsy was teaching music (and still is!) and they decided to start a hobby farm with a desire to feed their family and enjoy better raised food. Jack’s quest was for the tastiest food possible, which then inspired his interest in sustainable, pasture-based farming and nutrient dense food. Betsy had the passion for cooking and knows that the best ingredients make the most delicious meals. Their shared passion for quality, ethically raised food led them to grow the farm and start a meat and egg CSA called True Cost Farm.

As time went on, Jack and Betsy started collaborating with other farmers and began helping market their pastured eggs, pork and other items. This was the start of what TC Farm would eventually become: A group of local farmers selling cooperatively under one brand, working together each farmer could focus more on the quality of their food and their members enjoyed better service and selection.

Our farm directly benefited from this structure. We came to know Jack and Betsy in 2016 when we started to providing a portion of our eggs as part of the TC Farm group. We then started to raise broiler chickens for them as well, which helped our farm increase production and guaranteed that we had a market for our product.

By the end of 2020, we needed to scale production again to keep up with our customers’ demands.  Ryan was busier working off the farm for his brother’s booming RV business driving truck and being gone overnights. Our kids were still young, and I could not depend on them to help me with production when they were in school. We didn’t have the extra money or time to continue to increase production in a short amount of time. So, 2020 was the last year we wholesaled to TC Farm.

Jack and Betsy understand the importance of local food and know how difficult it can be for consumers to access quality, sustainably raised foods. They also know first-hand how hard it is to be an independent farmer. It is clear we need a better local system in order for us all to enjoy the type of food we know is better for us and the environment.

This is why the Regional Food System was born. They envisioned a local food “hub” which would provide necessary infrastructure like delivery vans, cold storage & warehouse space; ensuring efficient delivery for customers and allowing farmers to focus on farming and growing their business. As a larger collaborative group, our new Regional Food System shares this infrastructure to support other small farm businesses.

This means that individual small farms can use the group’s resources to offer a complete online grocery delivery service AND food from other great local farmers to their customers. The “extra” grocery, local farmer, and ready-to-eat revenue from our store lowers the cost of the necessary infrastructure and makes our deliveries more efficient. As our customers order these items from us instead of the grocery or restaurants, it means the sales from our chicken and eggs no longer have to pay for all of the costs for delivery to pick up sites, storage, and website.

I feel like capital and time are the biggest limiting factors for small farms to become profitable and viable businesses. We were at that point again, our freezers were full, my van was full every week making deliveries. I was running out of time each week to get anything extra done for the business. We had begun testing different delivery methods and discussed ways to expand freezer space. Then, Jack reached out to us to share how his business changed to focus on supporting independent farmers. The new vision is to disrupt how food is raised by enabling farmers like us to compete with the grocery system. He was interested in us being the first farm client and for us to work with him to move local food forward in our area. We once again made a change and took a step towards our goal of being a regenerative farm and a sustainable business. So, this partnership was meant to be!

We are feeling fortunate to be able to start this journey with Jack & Betsy and the Regional Food System. We are really excited about what this partnership means for our farm and for other local farms as they come onboard.

Learn more about Jack and Betsy’s story and listen to a podcast that they were guests on here.

We’d also like to invite you to join us for a N/A adult beverage tasting event and tour of the TC Farm distribution space and commercial kitchen. The event is free with an optional donation to support two great local non-profit organizations: Greener Pastures and TC Feeds Foundation.