Country Natural Beef is about sustainability. Doc and Connie Hatfield started the co-op in 1986 with the goal of bridging the gap between rural ranchers and urban consumers. In 1986 they created this statement: Our Goal is to provide a sustainable means through a group to profitably market quality beef products desired by the consumer while maintaining every possible bit of independence. Our plan is to return proceeds realized from marketing Country Natural Beef to the rancher‚ rather than for the organization to acquire capital assets. Guidelines for the organization are: to be grass roots producer controlled ‚ to contain a bare minimum of administrative costs, and for the costs of operation to come from a percentage of producer’s revenue. Country Natural Beef is an idea to be constantly examined, not an entity that can be bought or sold. Today there are roughly 90 member ranches in the co-op and we continually strive to produce a product that is desired by consumers, and sell it for a price that allows ranchers to stay in business for decades to come.