Grown In Marin 

Better beef, naturally   from the Marin Independent Journal
By Jennifer Gollan
IJ reporter

Monday, May 02, 2005 - IN 1971, when he slaughtered his first cow, Bill Niman said he stayed up all night regretting it.

But that changed after his friends feasted.

"It was a huge payback," Niman, now 60, recalled of the early days on his Bolinas ranch over lunch at a San Francisco restaurant. "I realized that this was something I could do."

Indeed, judging by the menu at this eatery where the menu offers Niman hamburgers, Niman rib-eye steaks and Niman smoked ham, he could be right.

This year Niman Ranch, comprised of a network of 500 farms and ranches nationwide, will reap $60 million in sales.

But Niman, the company's founder and chairman of the board of directors, says teaching low-income children in the San Joaquin Valley in the late 1960s helped him forge his ethos for success.

"When I became an educator, it changed my world view," he said. "It was an easy transition to farming. It was not about money as it was about making a contribution to society."

Niman, an unassuming man with saddle-colored skin, brown eyes and a dark mustache, has been at the forefront of raising livestock without growth hormones. In addition, his animals are raised according to a strict code of ecological methods, among them the humane treatment of animals, feed free of waste and sustainable land management.

"Their comfort translates to the best tasting meat in the world," he said of the cattle on his Bolinas ranch and the pigs and lambs his company purchases from other farmers in his network.

That means his animals adhere to a vegetarian diet, with grass, soy and grain. In addition, Niman farmers address animals' basic needs, among them sunshine, being outdoors, limited shelter from sun and parasite control, Niman said.

"We're an anomaly vis--vis what's happening in factory farms," Niman said, citing the confined spaces and dietary hormones that he said are more typical of industrial ranches.

In 1969, Niman bought 11 acres of farmland in Bolinas. Journalist Orville Schell, dean of the graduate school of journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, became Niman's business partner until 1997. They grew their own food, raised their own livestock - without chemical feed additives or growth hormones. Niman acquired building skills from a local architect and built a house on the ranch - the same one he lives in today.

Back then, perhaps he looked the part of a hippy, Niman said, recalling his "long hair and funky clothes." But he quickly added: "I still thought it was OK to be clean and I was into running a business."

Longtime friends like Gary Giacomini, a former member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, said Niman's approach to raising livestock is rooted in his pioneering spirit.

"At the time he was a maverick," Giacomini said. "As time went along, he became a progressive trend-setter."

Stamina and perseverance are two qualities that drive Niman, Giacomini said.

"Most city folk who dabble in agriculture have a shelf life of six months," Giacomini said. "Bill is stunning - he's a city guy who engaged in a really sort of far-out concept of sustainable agriculture. But who stayed with it decades later?"

Even the unknowns of ranching - the unpredictability of weather, for example - seem to inspire Niman.

"Sometimes acts of God go against you," Niman said of raising livestock, "but it is so amazingly satisfying. Ranching is a full-time job and a full-time hobby."

Of course, so is Niman's travel to the ranches that supply meat to his company, as well as myriad grocers and restaurants that serve his meat, ranging from Chipotle, which is 90 percent owned by MacDonald's, to Woodland's Market in Kentfield.

"I don't deny that I get a good feeling from dining in the finest restaurants in the country," he said.

But it wasn't always this way.

Growing up on the north side of Minneapolis - one of the poorer areas in the city - Niman said he and his two sisters helped their parents in the family's grocery store.

"We learned that you get up and go to work every day and that you value your customers," he said.

He left home at 18 for the University of Minnesota, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology in 1967. After a short stint on Wall Street, Niman faced the possibility of being shipped off to the Vietnam War. Instead, he enrolled in a federal service program and moved to the San Joaquin Valley to teach low-income students. Once there, he also worked on local farms owned by the parents of some of his students - his first hands-on experience with farming.

"I wasn't even aware of how much I was learning and how much I was enjoying it," he said.

He went on to earn his teaching credential from University of California at Berkeley and taught for several years at the Bolinas Stinson Union School District. In 1971, Niman became involved in politics, winning a seat on the public utility district board. Shortly after, the board passed a measure limiting the number of water hookups in Bolinas, thereby limiting development.

Niman's business gradually grew in the mid- to late 1970s, Niman recalled, boosted by an article that appeared in Parade magazine detailing the hormone-free cattle raised on his ranch. Restaurants, such as Caf Beaujolais in Mendocino, responded by purchasing Niman's meat.

"So much of how we grew was through serendipity," he said, adding, "I had these incredible teachers. You learn very quickly what it takes to create an environment where they (the animals) thrive," he said.

And as more culinary experts, like Alice Waters, bought Niman's meat, they helped Niman hone his approach to raising livestock to suit the palates of discerning consumers.

Over the last several decades, Niman acquired more land in Bolinas, bringing his ranch to 1,000 acres in the Point Reyes National Seashore. As the business grew, Niman and Schell parted ways, with several investors joining Niman in developing the company's farm network. Niman now has 150 employees.

Niman has no children, "yet," he said. His first wife was killed in a horse-riding accident. His second marriage ended in divorce after 11 years. In August 2003, he married Nicolette Hahn, an environmental lawyer who was chief counsel for Robert Kennedy's Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental organization based in New York. She was instrumental in leading the organization's charge against a factory farmer who kept hogs in a confined space. The two met after Niman's ranch was offered as an alternative enterprise for raising livestock. Nicolette helps run the Bolinas ranch.

Pat Healy, who serves Niman meat at her two Point Reyes restaurants - The Station House Cafe and Tacqueria La Quinta - and who has been friends with Niman for 30 years, said Bill's success is as much a result of his affability as his business prowess.

"He is social, he is charming and good looking," she said, adding that Niman was a "good citizen" in the West Marin community. He is very smart and he has loads of energy," she said. "Those are the things you have to have to be the best in your field."

But she added that Niman isn't your typical rancher.

"Bill is an entrepreneur and an innovator," she said.

Contact Jennifer Gollan via e-mail at [email protected]