"Our product is more than beef – it's the smell of sage after a summer thunderstorm…the welcoming ring of a dinner bell at dusk."

Doc and Connie Hatfield do the marketing for Oregon Country Beef, a cooperative of 27 family ranches operating on 1.5 million acres of private and public lands scattered across arid eastern Oregon. Their success has been based on reaching a "growing group of people who are concerned about the quality of their food – both the health of the land and animals it was produced with, and the health of the people working to produce it."

Doc and Connie Hatfield

"In general, agriculture doesn't do marketing," says Doc. "They produce what they want to produce, and then try to find someone to peddle it to."

"As we like to say, our product is more than just beef," he continues. "We live in a society of strip malls and discount chains that are totally removed from the community and the producers of food. You can only sit in a traffic jam for so long before you start wanting something real. People want to know that somewhere it's still wild, honest and free. We put these things together to create a quality eating experience for a consumer who wants a quality beef product in their diet. Those are the things that give it value. We focus on consumers who share our values."

Now beginning their 15th year, the Oregon Country Beef (OCB) Cooperative has grown steadily more successful, selling approximately $5 million worth of beef in 1999, with sales expected to top $7 million in 2000.

Connie credits their success to "old-fashioned honest relationships." Marketing is key, but without a network of mutually supportive relationships they couldn't reach the markets they depend on. "Ranchers are the most independent type of folks," Connie says. "So it hasn't been easy to sit together and listen with respect. But working together has been very rewarding."

One of OCB’s first customers was Kyotaru, a Japanese company whose dealings with the co-op suggested an alternative to the traditional competitive model. Doc explains: "We use the Japanese concept of shin-rai, where several companies work together for the benefit of everyone, including the consumer. We have a shin-rai partnership with a feedlot, packing house, 5 distribution companies, and about 50 retail outlets."

Like OCB's marketing, their shin-rai business relations are all about values. Doc says "We find the people we can build relations with, and core values that bind us together. With common values we have no need for written agreements or lines of credit. Strong core values are not limited to farmers. There are people in processing, retailing and lots of consumers who also share those values."

OCB’s partnership with their meat packing house exemplifies the shin-rai concept. "Washington Beef was already successful, and had everything in place, the state-of-the-art equipment," Connie explains. "If we had to own that facility, and deal with all the rules and regulations. . . no way. Instead, we utilize their facilities, and they do a fantastic job getting our beef into the food stores. We are in daily communication with them and the five distributors. This allows us to sell direct to the consumer and get out of the commodity markets."

Connie bears primary responsibility for marketing to natural food stores. "My favorite part of San Francisco is when I leave," she says. "But I have a great respect for the people there. They are the ones who make our businesses profitable. Once a year in August, we invite all the meat cutters, store owners, and meat distributors to our ranches for a big barbeque. Last year we got a whole posse of meat cutters on horses and took their picture – the 'Whole Foods Buckaroos.' Those guys will never be the same. We are all learning from each other."

The Whole Foods Buckaroos

Knowing the power of this exchange, all of OCB’s ranch owners spend one weekend a year in an urban retail store doing an in-store demonstration, cooking their meat, and sharing samples and stories. This gives the rancher the chance to get to know the meat cutter and the consumers, and vice-versa.

OCB is a goal-driven business. Their Organizational Goal and Mission Statement, written in 1986, defines the functions and responsibilities of membership in the Cooperative. "We live by these goals, they guide us and sustain us," Doc explains. "We know, for example, the consumer determines value, everybody else creates cost." This means their prices are set by the cost of production, plus a return on investment and a reasonable profit margin. So while cattle prices may decline or rebound, OCB prices will remain steady, providing a solid base for sustainable ranching.

"All our decisions are based on making the program profitable for the next generation, and also in the next 4 weeks." Doc likes the creative tension posed by the Holistic Resource Management model they practice: "Keep your eye on that long-term goal, but keep it working in the short term while you are going there. With a defined goal and strong core values, we can routinely change what we are doing to meet the needs of the customer. Change is the only absolute we have."

"Too often in sustainable agriculture, there’s a bigger emphasis on the production methods than on creating something of value to the consumer that can fuel production over the long-run. Take the conflict between organic beef and sustainable beef, for example. By definition, organic cattle have to be closely confined to be able to verify the purity of the product. To certify 1.5 million acres of range land would be next to impossible, but practicing our Graze Well principles creates other kinds of value – like restoring habitat and biological diversity. My purpose is not to bad mouth organic, just to make the distinction."

OCB’s Graze Well principles, signed by every member rancher, set the cooperative’s standards and include the following; "Water is our most limiting natural resource. We manage the land to get the precipitation we receive into the soil it falls upon and make it available for plant growth for as long as possible. To achieve this we strive for a dense stand of perennial plants with the spaces between plants occupied by decaying litter." "We recognize that truly healthy and productive land is biologically diverse . . . Rodents, insects, birds, predators and other grazing animals all have their role in a healthy ecosystem." "Our land management decisions are based on the long-term health and productivity of the land rather than the maximization of short-term gain."

The Hatfields High Desert Ranch

Their point-of-purchase marketing materials illustrate those values eloquently: "Our roots extend a century and a half deep to a time when most of our ranch families' ancestors were crossing the Oregon Trail. We have a passion to communicate our beliefs about the land through a beef product you can savor and trust. As part of our commitment to growing cattle in harmony and balance with nature, we have chosen not to use growth hormones or feed antibiotics. We feel our beef grown this 'old fashioned' way has better flavor and texture and we invite you to taste the Oregon Country difference."

Doc and Connie are excited about what they are doing and what it means for agriculture in general. "Anything is possible in agriculture right now, the opportunities are so plentiful," Connie says. "Because of our success, five of our young people, that probably would have stayed in the city otherwise, have come back to the family ranches."

Agriculture doesn’t have to suffer with falling commodity prices, Doc points out. "To get out of the commodity mindset, the solutions have to come from small clusters of producers like OCB. We have to go out and start focusing on consumer needs and shifting our production to fulfill them. When you understand those needs and have the base of production to fulfill them, all the relationships to get it from ranch to table will line up easily – that's just the details. If we're going to stay independent in agriculture, we have to learn to work together more."

Doc and Connie Hatfield
Oregon Country Beef
c/o High Desert Ranch
Brothers, OR 97712
Tel: (541) 576-2455

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