Hardwick’s Big Picture Beef co-op growing sales of meat from grass-fed livestock to Big Y, River Valley Co-op
Ridge Shinn, 69, grew up milking cows and formed an agricultural company that began selling beef a year ago. The operation has expanded to include sales to the 70-store Big Y supermarket chain, which touts itself as a local grocer with stores throughout New England. The Big Y weekly flier this week features Big Picture Beef’s hamburg on sale at $5.99 per pound, and includes a photo of Shinn on the front page. He is the CEO and founder of Hardwick-based Big Picture Beef, a consortium of about 50 Northeast farmers that eschews the feed-lot techniques that rely heavily on corn to fatten cattle.