Blue Apron just partnered with the godfather of sustainable meat ' and the move will transform its meal kits

In 1969, Bill Niman bought his first ranch, an11-acre plotwith pigs and chickensthat roamed freely,for $18,000. Over the next four decades, that ranch grew to several hundred acres, and he built up his own sustainable meat supply company, Niman Ranch.At the time,there weren't many farms who let their animals graze in open fields and spend time in low-density feedlots. Niman, who is essentially the godfather of sustainable meat, pioneered humanely raised livestockin the US.In 2007, Nimanlaunched BN Ranch, a small network of farms in California and New Zealand that only raise grass-fed cattle and free-range turkeys.Now, he hassold BN Ranch to a meal kit company with a national reach: Blue Apron. Niman's not leaving' hewill be in charge of building a supply chain for allthe beef, pork, turkey, and chicken that Blue Apron ships in its 8 million mealsevery month.Take a look inside Niman's family farm, where Blue Apron will source some of itsmeat.SEE ALSO:Why people love Dig Inn, the healthy restaurant chain that just raised another $30 million from investorsBill Niman lives and works on his family farm in Bolinas, California, where he raises grass-fed beef and free-range turkey.Niman left Niman Ranch in 2007 after Natural Food Holdings (NFH) took a controlling stake. He disagreed with how NFH changed the cattle-raising process, which wasn't up to his standards (Perdue later acquired Niman Ranch in 2015.) Niman then immediately launched BN Ranch.Since launching BN Ranch in 2007, Niman has built a small network of ranches in California and New Zealand that produce meat under the BN Ranch brand. His own ranch, which is meant to serve as a model for the larger operation, borders the Bolinas Bay.Over the years, BN Ranch has supplied to restaurants from Chez Panisse to Chipotle.By acquiring BN Ranch, Blue Apron will greatly increase the number of ranches in its production network, and start to work with ranchers who raise pigs and chickens, too. Before, Blue Apron bought its meat from dozens of farms across the US.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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