Marin Sun Farms, Petaluma, Calif., and Mindful Meats, Pt. Reyes, Calif., announced a merger of the two companies, creating an expansion for the organic pastured beef market and allowing increased access to quality meat for retail, healthcare and institutional customers while supporting local organic farmers and ranchers’ livelihoods. Mindful Meats will become an organic beef product line of Marin Sun Farms.

David Evans will remain founder CEO of Marin Sun Farms, and Claire Herminjard, former chief executive officer of Mindful Meats, will become co-executive of Marin Sun Farms.

Mindful Meats is said to be the first U.S. non-GMO Verified beef focused on dual-purpose animal sourcing. The merger with Mindful Meats takes that first-to-market strategy even further by working to scale hyper-local Marin & Sonoma pasture-raised organic beef to new markets.

Marin Sun Farms runs what is dubbed as the sustainable farming community’s only USDA-inspected slaughterhouse. Without this slaughterhouse, many small-scale meat producers would have no buyers and no way to process their animals. Also important is the role these farms and ranches play in conserving the Bay Area’s natural landscape, while restoring the vitality of the foodshed and its inhabitants.