It hopes to harvest 1M pounds of ingredients this year.
Canidae Pet Food recently announced the launch of Canidae Farms, where it now grows its own ingredients for its pet food products.
The company will use its farm, located in Kansas, along with its cooking facility and distribution center in Texas to “continue to live up to its commitment of making safe, quality pet food for its loyal consumers and their beloved pets.”
“CANIDAE Farms is the first step toward our goal of only using ingredients we are directly and actively involved in growing,” said CANIDAE co-founder and co-owner Scott Whipple. “More and more consumers — and all of us, really — are becoming aware that our choices matter. How things are made is as important as the product itself. Consumers want high-quality, safe ingredients packed with nutrients that are grown in a sustainable way.”
In 2016, Canidae harvested 159,000 pounds of crops at Canidae Farms and shipped it directly to its Ethos Pet Nutrition cooking facility in Brownwood, TX. This year, the company estimates it will harvest nearly 1 million pounds – or about 500 tons – of ingredients with plans again to ship crops directly to its cooking facility and incorporate specific ingredients within its variety of pet food products.
“We’ve always tried to do the right thing as a company,” said Whipple. “It’s something that has set us apart from the beginning. As far as we know, we are the first pet food company in the world to be directly involved in growing our own ingredients. Not just buying our ingredients from farmers, but actually growing ingredients on our own farm. CANIDAE Farms is just the beginning for us as we continue our journey moving forward.”
Crops currently being grown at Canidae Farms include yellow peas, milo, millet, parsley, rosemary, sage and greenhouse tomatoes. The majority of the ingredients are used in the budget-friendly Canidae Under The Sun Grain Free line. Peas are also used in the limited ingredient Canidae Grain Free Pure line, and the Canidae All Life Stages line uses ingredients like peas and millet. Additional crops that the company has started testing at the farm include lentils, zucchini, butternut squash and pumpkin.
According to the release: “While CANIDAE will still rely on its trusted network of farmers and suppliers for its quality ingredients,
CANIDAE Farms will allow the company to move forward towards its ultimate goal of using ingredients it’s directly involved in growing.”
Canidae can be found in more than 10,000 pet stores across the U.S.