Meet Riley Boschma | Beef rancher, Hay broker, and trucking company owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Riley Boschma and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Riley, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
The majority of the world doesnt know how their food is raised or grown and processed and because of this most people do not understand how important it is to know more about the American agriculture industry. If you are alive they you are apart of the industry as a consumer. Whether you are a meat eater or a vegan, agriculture is what sustains you. Boschma Farms helps the community by allowing the average person the opportunity to know where their beef is coming from, allowing you to know you are consuming and supporting clean and ethical beef. Our beef has no fillers, dyes, preservative, antibiotics, hormones, or additives. It is raised and butchered sustainably ensuring we can provide you with direct to consumer beef products.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Boschma Farms is a direct-to-consumer beef ranch here in southern California. I raise grass fed, produce and grain finished beef cattle for optimum nutrition. Our cattle are always, hormone, antibiotic, preservative, additive, and dye free. Everything is butchered humainely, dry aged, and cut and vaccume sealed, for optimum nutrition and freshness.

Although my late husband and I started Boschma Farms as a cow calf operation in 2016 and have sold privately for years to consumers, last year after the passing of my husband, I decided to grow our company into offering beef to the public through our new website.

I believe it is important to save generational ranching/farming, especially in our beautiful state of California. Agriculture is leaving our state at a rapid pace, and it is so important to protect this industry. Currently the beef industry is controlled by 4 major slaughter companies. This controls our market. I saw the need for direct-to-consumer ranching and beef sales for families that are wanting a cleaner, more transparent product. Giving people the option to have access to heathier, cleaner meat locally was important to me. I know the impact this has had on my health and my children’s. This drove my decision to expand and offer a new of purchasing beef for customers.

Although the dream came easy, agriculture is anything but that. The industry has been long known to not be financially easy on the rancher/farmer. Cost of ranching in California are insanely high, feed costs are expensive and the industry is volatile. You are dealing with a live animal that has the potential to get sick and possibly die as well. I know first hand how hard it is to financially survive in agriculture as well as keep up with the physical demands of raising animals that depend on you day in and day out. It takes a deep love and respect for ranching and farming to continue todo this work.

I’ve learned anything good is worth fighting for and I firmly believe in continuing to work on building and growing Boschma Farms to continue generational agriculture. My children will be 5th generation in this industry and that is something to be proud of. Their great grandfather sold eggs off of his family’s farm in Holland as a young boy during the war to protect his family from being killed. Generations have fought to keep going in agriculture and I am proud to be continuing that for myself and my children to one day take over. The knowledge, love, and skill set after so many generations is so important to keep passing down to refine for every generation to come. This not only effects our family, but it also effects yours as we are the ones that you will be able to count on to know and raise healthy clean beef for yourself and your children’s children.

I am a widow with 5 children running a business and making change. I am cultivating a legacy of perseverance, hard work, and love in all that I do. I hope my story brings hope to those who feel hopeless. I hope my story gives the under dog courage to take a risk. And to the single mom.. I see you. Its so hard, but keep going. If I can after tragedy with so much on my plate, so can you. All you need is a dream, hardwork, and God!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take them to newport and huntington beach to enjoy the ocean and beaches. I would take them to a rodeo in Horsetown USA, Norco. And I would take them to Temecula to enjoy the wineries.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Id love to shoutout two very impactful people in my life. Although I feel I have been molded by many in very different and important ways, there are two people who have played pivotal roles in my life that has given me the courage and determination to take on the agriculture companies I have dedicated myself and my life to.

First my dad, Jeff Elrod. He taught me all I know about cattle and how to manage a ranch. I worked side by side with him since I could remember learning how to work cattle and care for them with a keen eye for quality and respect for the animal only a true cattleman would have. He taught me how to be courageous, take risks, and how to have an extremely hard work ethic while also raising your family. He showed me what a privilege it is to raise cattle and work the land.

My late husband Jimmy Boschma. Before he passed away, I witnessed him work countless hours building the business that now I own and manage alone. He was one of the hardest working men I have ever got the privilege to know. He taught me all I know about the hay and trucking industry. He was an incredible boss to our employees, and I am so grateful that I got to absorb all the knowledge he had built over the years in a dying industry in the Southern California region. Unknowingly, the years I worked by his side running the company that he started and loved, was shaping me to be able to continue his legacy in the agriculture industry.

Because of these two men I was able to have the confidence to take a leap of faith and to continue the legacy of our business, alone after the passing of Jimmy not only for myself but for my 5 children. For that I am forever grateful for these two men.

Website: https://www.boschmafarms.org

Instagram: boschmafarms

Facebook: boschma farms

Youtube: hanging with the Boschmas

Other: tiktok – Boschmafarms

Image Credits
Tommy Gun Images