$2.3 million Navajo Beef Program benefits 23 local families

The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise, in conjunction with Labatt Food Service and Navajo Nation Leadership, is celebrating the continued expansion of the successful Navajo Beef Program three years after its launch the end of 2012. The program now features 23 local Navajo ranching families raising high quality beef, Labatt Food Service distributing it and NNGE purchasing it to serve in its resort, casinos and restaurants. Since its launch November 2012, the program has grown in revenue for local Navajo ranchers, product distributed and customer base and by the end of 2016 is projected to produce $2.3 million in revenue. In its first year (2012 to 2013), the Navajo Beef Program—through Navajo ranchers—produced 545 head of cattle and generated more than $500,000 of revenue back into the local Navajo community. Growth during its second year (2013 to 2014) increased by approximately 15 percent. Revenue generated back for Navajo Ranchers was approximately $750,000 for year two. In year three, additional Navajo ranchers and their families in Arizona and New Mexico are participating and together will earn a projected $2.3 million with 1,998 total head of cattle. The program involves local Navajo ranchers like Travis Platero and family. The Platero family lives on the H-P Ranch in Haystack, New Mexico, where producing premium quality livestock is a way of life. Platero recalled, “My grandpa gave my dad two cows and two sheep and told him to do something with them. That’s still what’s going on to this day. I’m very excited to be part of the program and to have my dad’s name and brand recognized in different places–from the feedlots to the restaurants.”...more