This video tells the remarkable story of Jennifer and Rodney Barrett, former animal farmers who have transitioned to mushroom and hemp farming with the help of the Rancher Advocacy Program. Be sure to check out this moving video. Here is a passage from Jennifer about their transition:
“We took a leap of faith in September of 2018 and cancelled our contract with the company for whom we were raising chickens and, we stopped breeding and selling cattle. This left us with zero income and no way to take care of the existing herd except with what we already had. Hay started to run out quickly and we had no way of buying more.
When I contacted Renee to tell her about our situation, she was at my farm the very next day organizing and executing a fundraiser to get us hay. The next 24 hours were a whirlwind of generosity and we met our fundraising goal, bought hay, and had money left over to buy diesel. The logistics of how this all played out still baffles me but, she made it all happen.
Since this initial meeting with Renee, we have a clear plan formulating to transition our farm into growing mushrooms and hemp. The Rancher’s Advocacy Program has been our saving grace. Not only did she get the money we needed to stop the bleed and feed our cattle but, she empowered us with love and understanding. She’s been where we are. She knows the depth of pain that this realization causes to the hearts of people and, she is equipped to blaze a path for us and other farmers to create new lives.”
The Rancher Advisory Council is comprised of business experts in their fields who are also former ranchers or members of former ranching families. Rowdy Girl Sanctuary has announced the dates of its first annual RAP Summit slated for September 18-20, 2020 in Austin, Texas. The RAP Summit is the first of its kind to bring cattle ranchers, animal farmers, plant-based industry experts, manufacturers, activists, and environmentalists together to debate and determine solutions to the imminent concerns around global food production, the economy, animal protection
