Is Tyner Pond Farm Organic? What Our Two Certifications Tell You

Tyner Pond Farm carries two independent certifications. Our pastures are certified organic, and our beef is certified by the American Grassfed Association.

We chose each certification for a reason. Organic certification verifies how we manage our pastures. American Grassfed Association certification speaks directly to how our cattle are raised, what they eat, where they come from, and how they are cared for.

For grass-fed beef, we believe the AGA certification is the stronger and more complete standard.

Our Pastures Are Certified Organic

Grass-fed beef begins with the land, so we chose to certify our pastures organic.

That certification provides independent verification of how we manage the land. We do not spray our pastures or apply synthetic fertilizers. Our fertility comes from grazing animals, plant diversity, manure, and giving the land adequate time to recover.

The organic certification matters to us. It gives customers outside confirmation that our claims about the land are not based solely on our own word.

Pasture certification, however, does not tell the whole story of how cattle are raised. That is the purpose of our second certification.

Our Beef Is American Grassfed Association Certified

The American Grassfed Association was created specifically to establish a clear standard for grass-fed livestock.

Under the American Grassfed Association standard, cattle must:

• Eat only grass and forage

• Be raised on pasture without confinement

• Never receive antibiotics or added growth hormones

• Be born and raised on American family farms

• Be traceable from birth through harvest

• Come from farms inspected by independent third parties

AGA-certified farms are inspected at least every 15 months.

These requirements answer the questions our customers are really asking when they shop for grass-fed beef.

Were the cattle ever fed grain? Did they live on pasture? Were they confined in a feedlot? Were they given antibiotics or added hormones? Were they raised in the United States? Is there a documented record of where they came from?

With AGA certification, the answers are clear.

Our Competition Is Imported Grass-Fed Beef

Most people coming to Tyner Pond Farm have already decided they want 100% grass-fed beef. They are not choosing between our beef and conventional grain-finished beef.

They are choosing among different sources of grass-fed beef.

Imported beef has long supplied much of the grass-fed market in the United States. The exact current share is difficult to measure, but a South Dakota State University Extension analysis estimated that imports could account for 75–80% of labeled grass-fed beef sales.

Large national sellers are part of that market. ButcherBox currently states that its 100% grass-fed beef comes from cattle raised in Australia. Its product information says those animals are born, raised, and harvested there before the meat is cut and packaged in the United States.

We are not suggesting that Australian farmers cannot raise good grass-fed cattle. We are saying that imported grass-fed beef is a different product from beef raised by a known farm in the customer’s own region.

Different countries and certification programs also verify different things. A package carrying both grass-fed and organic claims is not necessarily certified to the same standard as AGA beef.

The AGA certification brings diet, pasture access, animal health practices, traceability, and American family-farm origin together under one standard.

Most importantly, our customers can go beyond the certification. They know Tyner Pond Farm. They can see our pastures, visit the farm, read about our decisions, and ask us questions directly.

Our name is on the package, and we are responsible for what that name represents.

Organic Does Not Mean Local or American

Imported beef can also carry the USDA Organic seal.

To be sold as organic in the United States, imported products must qualify through a USDA-accredited or recognized certification system and enter the country with the required organic documentation.

We are not claiming that those certifications are false. The important point is that organic certification does not make the beef local, American, or connected to a farmer the customer can identify.

An imported package can properly carry both organic and grass-fed claims while leaving many questions unanswered:

• Who raised the cattle?

• What place did they come from?

• How were the pastures managed?

• Were the cattle regularly moved to fresh forage?

• Was the grazed land given time to recover?

• How many farms, handlers, processors, and distributors stood between the farmer and the customer?

• Who can the customer ask when a question arises?

A label may be valid and still describe anonymous beef.

American Grassfed Association certification provides something that USDA Organic certification does not: a requirement that the cattle be born and raised on American family farms.

Buying directly from Tyner Pond Farm goes one step further. It connects that certification to a particular farm, particular land, and people who can answer for how the cattle were raised.

Why We Chose AGA Certification for Our Beef

When deciding which certification would give customers the clearest assurance about our beef, we chose the American Grassfed Association.

USDA Organic certification focuses heavily on whether agricultural inputs are certified organic. AGA focuses directly on how cattle are raised: a 100% grass and forage diet, life on pasture without confinement, no antibiotics or added growth hormones, American family-farm origin, and full traceability.

For our cattle program, we believe AGA is the stronger and more useful standard.

Our winter hay helped make that choice clear. We purchase hay from a nearby farmer we know and whose practices we understand. His hay is not certified organic.

Under USDA organic livestock rules, all agricultural feed provided to the cattle—including hay—must be certified organic. Using our neighbor’s hay means our beef cannot carry the USDA Organic seal.

We could pass over that farmer and search farther from home for certified organic hay simply to qualify for the organic label. Instead, we choose to support someone in our community and maintain a short, known supply chain.

The hay is still grass and forage. Our cattle remain 100% grass-fed and fully compliant with the AGA standard.

This is not a step away from careful farming. Our own pastures remain certified organic. It is a choice to use the beef certification that tells customers more about the matters we consider most important.

We chose verified grass-fed practices, American family-farm origin, and direct accountability over a broader organic label.

AGA Tells Customers More About Our Actual Practices

Organic certification has an important place in agriculture. We maintain it on our pastures because we believe it is worthwhile.

But organic is a broad standard covering many kinds of farms and food. It was not created specifically to distinguish American pasture-based beef from imported grass-fed beef.

AGA was.

The AGA seal verifies that our cattle eat grass and forage, live on pasture, are not confined in feedlots, never receive antibiotics or added hormones, and come from American family farms.

We believe that tells customers more about our actual cattle program than the USDA Organic seal would tell them by itself.

We wrote more about the decision in our earlier post, Why Tyner Pond Farm Chose the Toughest Grass-Fed Certification.

Food Should Come From a Place and a Person

Anthony Bourdain once said:

“Food should come from a place. It should come from somebody.”

That thought describes what we are trying to protect.

Food can meet a certification standard and still be anonymous. It can travel through an international supply chain without the customer ever knowing the land or the farmer behind it.

Tyner Pond Farm offers something different.

Our pastures are certified organic. Our beef is American Grassfed Association certified. Our cattle are managed on our land in Central Indiana, and our customers can speak directly with the people responsible for raising them.

We also know the farmer who supplies our winter hay. Supporting that relationship is more consistent with the local food system we are trying to build than hauling certified hay from an unknown source merely to obtain another label.

The better question is no longer simply, “Is this beef grass-fed and organic?”

The better questions are:

Grass-fed where? Raised by whom?

If you have questions about our cattle, pastures, hay, or processing, please ask. When you buy food directly from a farm, you should be able to receive a direct answer from the people responsible for raising it.