Mike and Cynthia were committed to producing good, healthy food while being careful and gentle with the land and the animals. After just a few years, they realized that if they were going to make the enterprise viable, they had to be closer to where the people were; their farm was just too far from any large urban centre.
Through an extraordinary confluence of good fortune and circumstances, they were able to get a long term lease on 800 acres of prime agricultural land in King Township, north of Toronto. They have been farming there since 1999. In 1999, their operation was also certified organic by the Organic Crop Producers and Processors (OCPP). The cattle are raised on open fields with lots of green forage, clean air and plenty of water (no feed lots here!).
More recently Beretta has added additional options for their customers: grass-fed beef - although grass-fed beef is not technically certified organic, it is in fact raised by the same standards: no growth hormones, no antibiotics, no herbicides/insecticides, for example. The animals are raised on a strict Grass only diet, from start to finish.
Another addition to the line up includes the Raised Without Antibiotics, Raised Without Hormones product offerings. All traditionally raised only without the official certification, offering our customers a slightly lower price point.
Beretta products – beef, pork, lamb, bison and chicken -- are delivered directly to homes and through sales to major stores such as Whole Foods and Loblaws, to smaller health-conscious stores and to restaurants.
Folks who over the years have become familiar with the Beretta Farm logo, will recently have noticed a new “face.” As the operation grew, people understandably wondered how one farm could produce so much food. Obviously one farm alone couldn’t. It now depends on a “family of farms” that raise animals by the same methods and standards to which Mike and Cynthia are committed and thus the new name -- Beretta Family Farms – a name that more clearly represents the operation.
Twenty good years both for the producers and for the folks who rely on Beretta Family Farms for good, healthy food. Here’s to twenty more years!!
Our farm
Where the grass is truly greener.
Located just outside of King City, Ontario, the Beretta Family Farm is a terrain of cultivation and commitment, spanning over 800 acres of land. Together with their three children, Thomas, Marcus, and Lieschen, Mike and Cynthia Beretta harvested land that has not only raised healthy livestock but also a family.
Twenty years later this land continues to act as a driving force for the business, as a birthplace for organic education and for the Beretta name, which now symbolizes the right to Live Healthier and Eat Happier!
