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:
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.
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.
Fact: American grassfed beef ranches have lost most of their profitability in the last few years.
I have found it necessary to rethink encouraging new producers to embrace our regenerative cattle production model. I now feel compelled to warn them to be very careful. This is because we veteran...
This has been a landmark year for White Oak Pastures. So many good things have happened. These are things that I never would have believed could be possible here.
Twenty five years ago, I began slowly transitioning our family farm from the industrial cattle farm that it had become. Today we pasture-raise cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, goats, rabbits, honey, eggs, organic vegetables, and a lot of the other products that the Abundance of Nature provides when...
Every thinking American has some level of recognition of the decay that has occurred in our rural communities. Almost everyone can agree that this decline is one of the greatest economic disasters of the last half century.
Do you believe in Climate Change?
Most thinking people do.
Do you worry about how climate change will impact future generations?
Most compassionate people do.
Do you wish that there was an action, that you could do from the...
The Hijacking of the American Food System ain't new, it just continues to get a helluva lot worse.
The power of animal impact: a side by side comparison of grazed versus ungrazed pasture
Once upon a time, there was an industrial commodity farmer who had two sons.
The father and his two sons worked together to produce corn and soybeans in a monoculture. They rotated the two crops year after year...
If most consumers knew what I know, they would buy their food directly from a farm.
There are a lot of good reasons to know where your food comes from. The most obvious is that its not a good idea to put anything in your mouth unless you know where it has been.
There are also health, safety, and...
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