Who Was Part of Growing GRASS?

The Growing GRASS project was a USDA-funded cross-sector collaboration led by the American Sustainable Business Institute / Network and Other Half Processing, in partnership with a team of agricultural, research, community, and industry leaders.

The breadth and depth of our team’s expertise helped us reachh and collaborate with farmers and ranchers, processors, brands, and experts.

The project’s aim was to advance the GRASS standard as a regenerative and climate-smart verification-based market, with a goal of increasing the value of beef and bison byproduct supply chains.

While USDA withdrew its fiscal support, aspects of the work to support producers and processors pre-dates the grant, and continues to this day.

American Sustainable Business Institute / Network

Our lead grantee, the American Sustainable Business Network / Institute, offered the project deep economic and policy expertise.

Other Half Processing

Our other lead organization, Other Half Processing (OHP) continues to lead efforts across the country to increase byproduct collection from regenerative beef and bison.

OHP specializes in sourcing identity-preserved, high-attribute byproducts from regenerative, organic, and sustainably raised livestock.

OHP was founded by Jim & Mark Kleinschmit, brothers raised on a farm in Nebraska by early sustainable and regenerative family farm leaders.

OHP works directly with producers, slaughterhouses, and processors to identify opportunities to build collection, traceability, and verification capacity. Companies searching for verified and traceable materials can purchase through OHP’s sourcing networks with confidence in the integrity of these products.

As a Minnesota Specific Benefit Corporation (SBC), it is OHP’s mission to promote the growth of regenerative agriculture and supply chains, operating in a way that respects animals and benefits the people who raise them.