The largest sustainably raised cattle operation in the Southeast
At FPL, our key tenants to sustainability are land and animal stewardship; industry innovation, collaboration, and partnerships; vertical integration; technology and data; and superior quality beef.
Land and Animal Stewardship: A recent study found that FPL’s operations emit less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional operations. Many factors contribute to our success, including the limit of pesticides, composting, waste reclaimant and cover crops. Our animals have ample grow yards with every measure possible to keep them comfortable during adverse weather.
Industry Innovation, Collaboration and Partnerships: We work closely with the USDA and academia, including the University of Georgia, to enhance our efforts to better the quality of the beef while bettering our planet. We then share our learnings with the industry when appropriate to help us all succeed.
Vertical Integration: We grow most of our own crops to feed our animals so we can control the impact on the environment as well as limiting transportation. We also partner with family farms in the Southeast with our calf buy-back program to ensure quality.
Technology and Data: We track numerous data points with our animals to help them thrive through the latest technologies. This enables us to grow our cattle without added hormones and antibiotics but still see strong growth and superior marbling.
Superior Quality Beef: More than 60% of our cattle grade Upper 2/3 Choice or Prime.
FARM
Quality Life. Quality Beef.
At Châtel Farms, we take care to provide a quality life for our cattle while letting them roam and forage on native Southeastern grasses. We then feed them a diet of natural forage, silage and corn to produce highly marbled, great tasting beef. All the grain we use for feeding is sourced directly from our farm, supplemented from other local Georgia farmers. To provide greater nutritional value, we provide our cattle with easy to digest, steam flaked corn.
FARM
Quality Life. Quality Beef.
At Châtel Farms, we take care to provide a quality life for our cattle while letting them roam and forage on native Southeastern grasses. We then feed them a diet of natural forage, silage and corn to produce highly marbled, great tasting beef. All the grain we use for feeding is sourced directly from our farm, supplemented from other local Georgia farmers. To provide greater nutritional value, we provide our cattle with easy to digest, steam flaked corn.
MAIN PLANT
Traces Back to the Source
To help reduce our carbon footprint, all cattle purchased for FPL Food brands are sourced from the same farms they were born and raised in throughout the Southeast. We use electronic tags to track the location and health records of our cattle while our advanced traceability system collects and analyzes DNA samples through IdentiGEN to maintain supply chain transparency.
Giving Back to the Land
We take care of more than just our cattle. Our state-of-the-art manure recycle and composting program allows us to provide nutrients to our crops, reducing fertilizer and water usage.
Putting a Spotlight on Safety
We only use IdentiGEN for Châtel cattle.
We don’t just want our customers to enjoy the flavors of our beef. We want them to feel confident about the quality and safety of the products they receive from us. That’s why we use DNA TraceBack® from IdentiGEN to accurately track our beef through the supply chain from our farm to the plate. We take the time to collect a DNA sample from each of our cattle and send it to IdentiGEN to catalogue and store.
In the event of any quality or food safety incident, DNA TraceBack® and IdentiGEN can identify the product and trace it back through the supply chain to the specific farm, parent or animal where it originated. Additionally, we routinely sample and test our finished products for transparency and to ensure the integrity of the meat being offered to our customers in the retail and the foodservice industries.