Now that is an agricultural system!
Dana Cavalea used to train the Yankees as the teams Director of Force and ConditioningOnly help to secure the World Series in 2009. Now, he is cultivating his own dream field.
“For years, my sports experience was to help athletes to obtain good quality food,” said Cavalea, 42, to The Post. “I simply thought:” Well, what better way to get quality food than to raise yours? “
Although there was no previous agricultural experience, Cavalea and his wife, Lauren, bought 180 acres in the small city of the state of Greene and operate a growing direct meat to the consumer.
Freedom farms It is presenting an influx of orders thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Movement “Make America Healy Again”which emphasizes natural and integral foods.
“I have directed other businesses before, and I have seen something take off like this,” said Dana, whoo Worked with the Yankees From 2002 to 2014, he trained business executives and wrote “A champion habits.”
An organic trip
The couple, who grew up in Long Island and moved to Florida, met the farm while reviewing local real estate for vacations 2020.
“We with this woman who was the owner of the farm, who was 80 years old, who was looking to pass the torch,” Dana recalled. “She cools a tour through property ownership.”
Three months later, the earth was his.
The dream of a possible summer house evolved as the Cavalas saw commercial potential, just although they did not have enough cows for a local team.
“I have used this whole method of baptism for fire all my life,” Dana said.
The couple worked on the earth, the barn and the facilities, collaborated with local farmers and obtained 150 head of cattle. The meat company was launched in 2022.
Now, Freedom Farms has more than 15,000 customers, mostly conservative blue and veteran military veteran workers. A delivery of NYC, Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey Services.
They specialize in main meat fed with grass without added hormones.
Pasture fed meat tends to have a greater concentration of nutrients such as Omega-3 fatty acids” Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CL)Vitamin E and Betacarotene That grain fed meat with Less calories and less fat To the ship.
While the farm at the table is more expectation than edible store cuts, the Cavalas said the distinction is clear.
“We never buy meat or a farm,” Dana said. “Then, to our surprise, when we first did it, the taste was certainly very different. And … when you cooked the hamburgers and when you cooked the meats, you are size and heroes its shape.”
Growth pain
As with each implementation, and in baseball, there are legs of legs.
“I’m really turned into Beth Dutton Sometimes, “said Lauren, 42, referring to the Protector Antihero” Yellowstone. “
The “city smokers”, sometimes, have encountered the agricultural community of the state of the “very old and very old club.”
But their “opposite” marketing strategy includes sharing messages in favor of Trump and publishing electronic emails written by “Vegans Rogue”, has helped them retain approximately 70% of their customers.
Leaving politics aside, the unpredictable climate and the high operating expenses of the sky have been difficult. The Cavalas estimate that they disburse $ 250 daily to feed their cows, $ 1,350 weekly for pigs and $ 500 per month for chickens that put eggs.
“When you start assembling all these costs, it would be to feed a large family, to expose that our family is won,” Dana said. “We basically feed a 500 family every day.”
Food production costs are also astronomical, from transporters to local food and orders.
“Then, when you start seeing meat in the store for $ 4, $ 5, $ 6, you say:” How do they? “” And that is what I think has set many little farms of the game. “
On the horizon
Acquiring a slaughterhouse from the United States Department of Agriculture was not part of the initial vision of the Cavalas, but now they want to “control the process even more from beginning to end.”
“That is, and will continue to be, our largest bottleneck in the business, because these laughs will not eliminate all their other customs to meet their needs,” Dana said.
Meanwhile, they are working to feed and build their loyal base.
The third free annual Freedom festScheduled for September 13, it will have a pig roast, barbecue, live music, tours, attractions and games.
“The objective is to continue bringing new customers to the system, attending to these customers, growing the year on the year, seeing the business create value and the brand becomes valuable,” Dana said.
If you have it, they will come.