Fisher Farms

Since 1865, the Fischer family has raised livestock on the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. What began as a small farm in St. Anthony, Indiana, Fischer Farms today is a robust operation raising sustainable beef and partnering with local farmers to have a wide regional reach offering over 2,000 different products. Dave Fischer, who represents the fifth generation of the family, looks out over the grazing cattle as he shares his story.

“After growing up on the farm where we raised hogs and cattle, I went to Purdue and earned a degree in industrial engineering management and worked in supply chain roles for 15 years,” Dave says. He came back to the farm in 2002 and helped lead the move to focus on cattle and sell directly to consumers. Dave’s supply chain expertise and MBA have been invaluable as the Fischers take a different approach than most operations that sell fresh meat.

“What make us different is that we produce to order, we don’t have finished goods inventory,” Dave explains. “We cut the meat when we get the order and then ship fresh, to restaurants and individuals using a well-developed system and network.” Part of this network is a local family-owned butcher, Sander Processing. Both operations have grown and adapted as demand for their fresh, never frozen, products has grown.

Their success literally begins in the field where the family is focused on raising their cattle in a climate-smart manner. “We believe it is important to educate the general public about climate-smart farming, and we also work with researchers at the state and national level in the areas of breeding, life cycle analysis, feed nutrition, soil health, cover cropping, and water quality,” Dave says. For example, soil health is a priority. “We want to improve the organic matter in the soil and do that in several ways, including planting cover crops and practicing rotational grazing,” Dave says.

Their dedication to being climate smart has included working with the USDA to better understand the greenhouse gas footprint of the cattle. The grant project helped pinpoint practices that could help reduce emissions. “One of the interesting answers was learning that if we feed the cattle brown kelp, probiotics and garlic, we can reduce emission and the garlic actually reduces the flies on the cattle,” Dave says.

Cattle comfort and health is always a top priority, keeping the cattle in a healthy environment and minimizing antibiotic use. “We were the first farm in the country to help create and earn the distinction of “certified responsible antibiotic use (CRAU)” as we worked with researchers and our local veterinarian to develop a protocol for a responsible way to use antibiotics therapeutically,” Dave says. “If an animal is sick, they are treated but antibiotics are never given within six months of harvest.”

The dozens of farmers they work with share this focus on animal care, with fellow farmers raising cattle for them, and the pork they sell coming from their neighbors, the Gutgsells. The cage-free brown eggs, maple syrup, sorghum, and produce come from the Amish community near Paoli, IN. The high quality chicken comes from Miller Poultry in northern Indiana.

There are several routes to market for Fischer Farms. One is via their website where a wide variety of products can be found. “An individual can go to our website and place an order for beef on Monday, and their order is cut fresh that week and delivered to their home by Friday,” Dave shares. They offer pick up locations and also work with retail stores to serve as a turnkey way for consumers to pick up their order.

The Fischers also work with distribution networks. “Piazza Produce is our biggest distributor, they come down and pick up five days a week; some of the products they purchase and resell and others they distribute for us,” Dave says, noting they also distribute through US Foods.

In the early years as the direct model was growing, Dave knew they needed more volume and wanted to explore restaurants as an option. “So my daughter and I went out and knocked on 17 restaurant doors in Bloomington,” Dave recalls. “We got 16 no’s and one yes from Chef David Tallent, which opened the door to this part of our business.” Dave has told Tallent, who is now Executive Chef for Dining at Indiana University (IU), that “I am not sure what we would have done without his first yes.” In fact, today IU is Fischer Farms’ biggest customer. “Our meat is in all the IU cafeterias and their Union,” Dave says, appreciating the fact that IU is focused on helping students understand how to eat a healthy diet of good, local food. Their meat is also served at Butler University, Rose Hulman, Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, as well as 10 K-12 school systems.

Managing an operation of this scope is a family affair. Wife Diana is a nurse by training and serves as the CEO of the business with a keen focus on order fulfillment. Dave serves as the farm manager, and son Joseph is sales director. Son Kyle handles all of the technology, including for a new facility they are building. Daughter Elise, who helped knock on restaurant doors, is not directly involved in the business but is a big supporter of the business.

The family takes great pride in the quality of meat they produce. “The difference is quality; customers are amazed at how our beef can consistently taste so good.” Dave says. “It has very good marbling and flavor and we dry age it for two weeks,” noting this process also makes the beef more tender.

With a new plant coming online to reducing processing costs, the team at Fischer Farms is always looking for ways to build for the future. “At a high level, our vision is to create an intermediate regional meat system,” Dave says. “We don’t want to be a huge packing plant but rather supply a regional area, providing consumers in multiple states here in the Midwest with local, really good quality meat.”