COVID-19 and the events in the spring caused scarcity in the commodity food system, which overwhelmed our on-farm production and fulfillment center. After we were able to restock our inventory, we took some time to carefully evaluate how our farm responded to the overwhelming demand. In response,...
The Story Behind Our Village Loyalty Program
I just looked up today's price for gold. It was $2,035 per ounce. An acre of non-irrigated farmland in Bluffton, Georgia sells for about $2,000 per acre.
So, today, you can buy an acre of farmland for less money than you can buy an ounce of gold.
White Oak Pastures now has flocks totalling around 2,000 sheep (up from 200 sheep in July 2019). Our sheep graze everywhere from the forest land bordering our pastures to underneath solar panels.
The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Grassfed Lamb
Our grassfed lamb comes from animals who were raised on pasture, as they were intended to. We are committed to the welfare of our animals, who were born to roam and graze.
Small ruminants, like sheep and goats, are an essential part of a multispecies grazing system. Our sheep help us regenerate...
Other than open pit mineral mining operations, there are few commercial endeavors that degrade land as much as industrial monocrop agriculture. Industrial monocrop agriculture utilizes tillage, and chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, which harm our environment in many ways:
In 1866, Will Harris' great grandfather brought a herd of cattle with him to White Oak Pastures. These cattle would have been Florida Cracker or Pineywoods cattle, feral descendents of the livestock brought to North America by the Spanish. These are the only two breeds that would have been...
All of my life I have heard, and used, the expression “Living off of the Fat of the Land”.
To me, that expression means doing well from the excesses that come from what you have. It is kind of like living on the interest that is paid on your savings account.
At White Oak Pastures, we regularly add new pieces of land to our farm, either by buying or leasing nearby parcels. Almost all of the land we acquire is degraded cropland that for decades was used to grow monoculture crops, with the help of extreme chemical fertilizer and pesticide use.
What A Resilient Production System Looks Like
For the last 25 years, some of us have recognized there is no resilience in the American food production system. Today, it is painfully evident to anyone who takes a look at it.
We Are Resilient.
Food shopping has seen some of the most radical changes in decades over the last four weeks - changes none of us ever dreamed possible. These changes forced us to take our farm operations back to the drawing board and rethink how we manage fulfillment. Over the last thirty days, we added 16...
A Landmark Day in Energy and Agriculture: From Reductive to Renewable to Regenerative Energy
This week, we released a herd of sheep onto a large solar farm. There they will take on their new job of grazing the grasses beneath and around the solar panels. Typically, solar farms manage foliage with machinery and herbicide, to prevent any shading of the solar arrays. By using sheep, this...
Certified Organic Isn't Enough.
While speaking at a recent summit, Will Harris got a lot of attention when he told the audience,
“Some of the worst regenerative farm practices I’ve ever seen were on industrial organic, USDA Certified Organic, production farms.”

