Our thinking

The re-wilding gang

3 December, 2021

Turkey season is upon us once again – whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, it’s almost inevitable that meat-eaters will be sick of turkey sandwiches come January.

In the US alone, 46 million turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving, with another 22 million eaten at Christmas. From an animal welfare perspective, this is quite literally a recipe for disaster.

Enter: Cream Co. and their “gang” (yes, that’s the collective noun) of regenerative turkeys. Cream Co. meat distributors, based in California, have partnered with regenerative farming specialists to farm the first broad-breasted white turkeys.

Regenerative farming and ranching is a technique that creates a sustainable ecosystem on each ranch. It’s based on the concept that food is only as good as the soil in which it’s grown. Healthy, biodiverse soils have the ability to lock in more carbon, and, over time, farmers can enjoy higher yields and save on fertiliser and pest control treatments.

In the case of Cream Co., the turkeys were raised on native grasses rather than feed and left to roam rather than be confined in cramped conditions. The turkey droppings contribute to healthier soils on the farm, which, in turn, improves the health of the turkeys and results in high-quality and nutrient dense turkey meat.

In the UK, it’s hard to know whether your turkey was produced under regenerative farming conditions because there’s currently no way of identifying it on the shelf. But watch this space, as we think it’ll be the next big thing…

By Jennie Mitchell