Farmers Share Lunch Educates More than 1,000 Consumers

Board member and Colome farmer, Joel Keierleber says the meal is an effective way to share the challenges and garner support.

 “When consumers buy a pound of burger at the store and pay $5, they think I’m making $5 a pound for the cattle I raise. This simply isn’t the case,” Keierleber says. “Consumers really don’t understand that most of their food dollars go to the middle man. For example, I only receive about $1.80 for that pound of burger.”

 And, like every cow/calf producer in South Dakota, Keierleber is responsible for the health and welfare of the cattle day-in and day-out until they are sold to a feeder or processor.

 “As farmers or ranchers, we’re the ones taking care of the critter for up to two years and receiving a very small fraction of the grocery store price,” Keierleber explains.

  “For more than a century, Farmers Union has supported our state’s family farmers and ranchers – and this year, with low commodity prices, made worse by the current trade war, our farmers and ranchers need every bit of support we can provide them through policy development, lobbying congressional leaders and consumer education,” explains Doug Sombke, SDFU President and a fourth-generation Conde farmer.

The Boos family of Mitchell, Harper, Michelle and David, are among the more than 1,000 fairgoers served during the Farmers Share lunch hosted by S.D. Farmers Union today during the South Dakota State Fair.

 The lunch is designed to educate consumers on the current low prices. Fairgoers only paid 25 cents, the price a South Dakota farmer would receive for the ingredients used to make this $12 lunch.