Patagonia Provisions has launched a partnership with Dan and Jill O’Brien of Wild Idea Buffalo to conserve and restore the grasslands of South Dakota, while producing a sustainably sourced Buffalo Jerky. This is the latest addition to the company’s food line designed to create positive change in the food industry.
Patagonia Provisions’ 100 percent grass-fed buffalo meat is a healthy byproduct of Wild Idea’s efforts to restore the rapidly vanishing Great Plains grasslands, where years of mismanaged land and overgrazing decimated a once thriving prairie that stretched from Mississippi to the Rockies.
According to the partners, grazing naturally and roaming freely, buffalo help nurture the prairie back to health by recycling nutrients and tilling the soil as they roam. The bison are slaughtered humanely in the prairie where they roam and graze avoiding the need for crowded, stressful slaughterhouses.
“Patagonia got into the food business because it’s a direct and fundamental way to protect and restore the planet,” said Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. “We want to support farming and ranching that puts food on the table without poisoning the earth. Wild Idea is part of a movement to regenerate grasslands and help sequester carbon. I believe that business can be an agent for change and deliver great food to our customers.”
Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, CA. A certified B-Corporation, Patagonia's mission is to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Since 1985, Patagonia has dedicated 1 percent of sales each year to environmental causes.
In 2012, Chouinard launched Patagonia Provisions to offer ethically and sustainably sourced delicious food products. Patagonia Provisions, based in Sausalito, CA is reexamining best practices in food sourcing, working with like-minded advocates and producers to find solutions to the important environmental issues facing the food industry.
“The American bison are indelibly linked to the survival of our prairie ecosystem and communities who depend on them,” said Director of Patagonia Provisions Birgit Cameron. “We believe by eating humanely raised and harvested bison, we protect them and the sensitive prairie environment.”
Wild Idea’s humane ranching and harvesting practices result in the highest quality meat that is tender, and is also considerably lower in fat, calories and cholesterol than beef, chicken, turkey and pork. Bison meat has higher levels of beneficial nutrients such as protein, iron, Omega-3, vitamins B-12 and A, and because they are slaughtered in the prairie, Wild Idea’s buffalo are low in the stress hormone cortisol.
The 100% grass-fed, free-range, antibiotic-, pesticide and hormone-free buffalo is lightly seasoned and dried for a flavorful, hearty snack that’s both portable and nutritious. The convenient unopened 2oz. package requires no refrigeration, and is backpack, boat bag and shelf stable for one year.
Dan O’Brien said, “We want to live up to the Patagonia creed that produces the finest product while causing no unnecessary harm. What we now know is that delicious, sustainable buffalo meat is the byproduct of our conservation of the prairie.”
Buffalo Jerky retails for $10 per package and can be purchased in all 30 Patagonia retail stores and online at patagoniaprovisions.com and at patagonia.com starting August 11.
