Cynthia Beretta tells me she was raised on garden-grown food by an Italian mother who was “ahead of her time” when it came to eating organic.

The key to spotting trends must run in the family. When Cynthia and her husband Mike bought their first farm in Wingham, ON, in 1993 and converted it to organic to raise their livestock, there wasn’t much public awareness about a green lifestyle. But after moving to a bigger farm in King City and experiencing an organic craze about three years ago, the business at Beretta Organic Farms is booming.

“Consumers are much more educated than when we started, and they’re really driving the market,” says Cynthia. “The consumer-based growth is converting farmers to go back to the way things were before people used anti-biotics and hormones.”

Along with their meat products, Beretta offers a catering service (mostly run by Cynthia), and contracts out to other local organic farmers to offer seafood and bison. The farm also sells their certified organic meats to posh shops and health food stores like Whole Foods, Pusateri’s and Karma Co-op, and supplies some of Toronto’s hottest restaurants - Il Fornello, The Silver Spoon and The Rosedale Diner, to name a few.

“Restaurants really started the [organic] trend because chefs were the ones becoming more aware,” Cynthia says. “Since restaurants are most sensitive to pricing, organic meat doesn’t appeal across the board, but it’s become very popular in higher-end places.”
Cynthia says Beretta’s bestsellers are the hot dogs (“Gluten and additive free… it’s just beef and spices!”) and whole chickens, which are brought in from another organic farm due to the number of coyotes in King City. Although the Berettas grow their own vegetables, they don’t sell them.

Another popular product is the new line of grass-only beef, where cattle are fed grass and hay exclusively (yep, that means not even grains). As with all the animals on the farm, the cows are free to roam on the 200 acres of pasture and are raised longer than conventional cattle.

“The cattle, from birth to finish, are raised 6 to 8 months longer than usual; the pigs 2 to 3 months longer, and the chickens double their regular lifespan,” Cynthia explains. A big part of Cynthia’s job is educating customers about why organic meat costs more, including the time it takes to raise the animals, the type of feed and the overall level of care.

“The prices are definitely coming down because more farmers are doing it,” she says. “In general, customers are happy to support local farms, and they feel good about knowing the people they’re ordering from.”

If the last year has been any indication, Beretta’s business will continue to grow thanks to the increasing demand for eco-friendly products. As for Cynthia, living an organic lifestyle and running an organic business has always seemed like the most natural thing. “It’s the only way we would eat and raise our three children,” she says. “It’s our commitment to agriculture and greener living.”