Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food: Vetter Farms Brings Local Beef and Farm Education to Potter County Schools

COUDERSPORT, PA. — March 2026 — For Stacey Vetter and her family, farming isn’t just a business; it’s a way to connect families, communities, and students with the food on their plates.

Stacey and her husband, Alex, operate Vetter Farms in Potter County, where they raise a commercial beef herd along with a small group of registered Black Angus cattle. What started years ago with just three cows has gradually grown into a 50-head cow-calf operation, built around a shared commitment to producing high-quality beef. 

“We’ve always been involved in agriculture,” Vetter said. “I grew up on a pig and beef hobby farm, and when my husband and I started raising cattle ourselves, it just kept growing from there.” 

Today, the Vetters are expanding their herd and exploring new opportunities, including building their registered Angus program and experimenting with embryo transfer to strengthen the herd’s genetics and secure the future of their operation.

From Produce Stand to School Cafeteria

Vetter Farms is already well known locally for its produce stand, but the family wanted to grow the beef side of the business and reach more consumers in their community. Recently, that opportunity came about through a connection to the Pennsylvania Beef Council and the PA Beef to PA Schools (PBPS) program.

Inspired in part by similar farm-to-school initiatives in neighboring New York, the Vetters began working with school nutrition partners The Nutrition Group to supply their beef to local cafeterias. This year marks their first year participating in the program, providing beef to Northern Potter School District and Ulysses schools.

Currently, the farm provides approximately 25 pounds of beef per month, with plans to evaluate demand and potentially expand to additional districts in the future.

The beef has already made its way into popular school meals.

“I know they did a smash burger event that went over really well,” Vetter said. “They’re also planning to use it for tacos and chili days.”

A First-Generation Farm, Rooted in Family

Though Dan considers himself a first-generation farmer, agriculture has always been part of his life. His father previously operated a dairy and still helps on the farm today.

“I’ve always enjoyed it,” Keeney shares. “Even in high school, we had cattle. It just kept snowballing into more cattle and more opportunities.” 

That growth has allowed Keeney Farms to become a meaningful employer in the area. Today, many of the people who work across the farm, store, and dairy attend the very schools Keeney Farms now supplies with beef, and that makes the Keeney family exceptionally proud. 

A Personal Connection to the Schools

For the Vetter family, the partnership is especially meaningful because it supports schools that are close to home.

Both Stacey and her husband are graduates of Northern Potter School District, where they were involved in FFA and agricultural programs during their school years. Today, their own children attend the district, continuing the family’s connection to the community.

“When Northern Potter came on board, it really brought things full circle for us,” Vetter said.

Their children are also involved in agriculture, including 4-H market animal projects, helping them develop responsibility and hands-on skills while staying connected to farming.

Connecting Students to Their Food

Beyond providing local beef, Vetter hopes the program helps students better understand how their food is produced.

“I’ve always believed in the old saying that if you know your farmer, you know your food,” she said. That connection is something the Vetters see every day through their produce business, where customers often want to learn more about how their food is grown.

“In today’s world, people want reassurance that their food is grown locally and with care,” Vetter said. “When someone buys hamburger from us, they know it’s 100 percent beef and they know exactly where it came from. That means something to people.”

For many students, that connection can be eye-opening. “A lot of kids, even in rural Potter County, don’t realize food doesn’t just come from a grocery store,” she said. “Someone is raising that food. It’s a blessing to be the person who can help show them that through programs like PBPS.”

Farming as a Family Effort 

While Stacey feeds calves for a large dairy operation across the New York border and her husband works full-time with PennDOT while also supporting the work of local dairy farms, raising cattle remains a central part of their family life.

“The time we spend at the farm, it’s almost downtime for us,” she said. “We take the kids with us, and they learn responsibility and how to work.”

As Vetter Farms continues to grow, the Vetters hope to expand their involvement in PA Beef to PA Schools and build stronger connections between local agriculture and the communities they serve.

“We definitely want to continue next year,” Vetter said. “Programs like this help people understand where their food comes from, and that’s important.”

About PA Beef to PA Schools

The PA Beef to PA Schools program connects Pennsylvania beef producers with school districts to increase access to fresh, locally raised beef in school cafeterias while promoting agricultural education and community engagement. By building partnerships between farmers, schools, and communities, the program helps strengthen Pennsylvania agriculture and create meaningful connections between students and the farms that feed them.

PHOTO 1: Stacey and Alex Vetter operate Vetter Farms in Potter County

PHOTO 2: Cows enjoy a meal at Vetter Farms

PHOTO 3: The Vetter family supplies beef to Potter County schools through the PBPS program.

To learn more about PBPS contact Nichole Hockenberry, PA Beef Council Executive Director at [email protected] or 1-888-4BEEFPA. 

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The Pennsylvania Beef Council is a producer-controlled and funded organization, which administers the Beef Checkoff Program in Pennsylvania. The Beef Checkoff Program assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. Checkoff revenues may be used for promotion, education and research programs to improve the marketing climate for beef.