Mike Lorentz, Lorentz Meats. - Mike is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - River Falls (1989), with a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science. Mike has taken an active role in the meat processing industry, focusing on bringing local and regional meats to market to support local producers. He has served on the Chapter Board of Directors for the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota, served as Treasurer of the Minnesota Grown Promotions Council, Governor’s Advisory Task Force for Organic Foods, and as Board member of the Land Stewardship Project. He is currently a Shareholder, board member and CEO of Lorentz Etc Inc, board Member of the Cannon Falls Economic Initiatives Corp, Vice President of the Cannon Falls Development Authority and member of the Minnesota Association of Meat Processors.
As an owner operator of a small meat processing company, Mike has played an important role in facilitating the growth of locally sourced meat products in Minnesota and nationally. His company, in association with the USDA and Land o’ Lakes developed a curriculum called "Branding Your Beliefs". The curriculum instructs producers how to capture a larger percent of consumer’s food dollars at a farm level. He has presented the curriculum in MN, IA, GA, WI, NE, TX and VA to thousands of producers looking to increase their on farm income.
His Company also plays a key role in supporting brands of niche meat products processed in their facility. These products are sold at retailers from local coops to Costco and Target, through foodservice by direct to restaurants or large distributers like US Foods and through institutional service providers like Bon Appétit and Sodexho.
Doing everything from slaughter to fully cooked products and distributing them through many conventional and unconventional distribution methods gives Lorentz Meats and Mike in particular a unique perspective of what is working in small scale specialty meats.
In this interview, Mike talks about 
processing grassfed cattle and the best way to direct market your product to be as efficient as you can be at going from farm direct to consumer. You might be surprised at what he recommends but after reflection, I know you will see the common sense approach to the most profit for the least amount of effort possible. There is no free lunch in life, but there is such a thing as working smarter instead of harder. In the Ag world, we tend to work hard, figuring out how to reduce some of that effort is always a good idea. You will enjoy this interview with Mike Lorentz and you will hear ways to improve or get you started in direct marketing for the most profit.
Great info but the audio could be a little better.
Hi Elma,
I agree on both accounts. The information is really helpful to any producer of any animals that needs to have them slaughtered! In order to have trainers from all over the world, we have to record calls over phone lines which are unreliable at best. I do what I can to clean up the audio with various software to get the best quality the phone connection will afford us. To me, it is a small price to pay for the incredible information we learn from these trainers. 🙂