Radically Traditional

I’m driving through a sea of farmland, but it’s not hard to see where White Oak Pastures begins. Stretching out on each side of the highway into Bluffton, Georgia are fields that have grown cotton and peanuts and soybeans year after year for decades. Then at some point the colors shift to deeper green, and the order gives way to choreographed chaos.

On a sunny February afternoon, Will Harris, with his tan Stetson cowboy hat and measured South Georgia drawl, is in the newly renovated general store, greeting neighbors, family members, and new White Oak Pastures interns – some of whom have come all the way from Europe to this town with a population of under 150, in one of the state’s poorest counties.

Harris is the fourth generation of his family to work this land. Thanks to some bold moves – plus a lot of trial and error – he has transformed White Oak Pastures from a 1,000-acre industrial cattle farm to an agricultural operation that’s unique in the Southeast.

The farm doesn’t use chemical fertilizers or pest controls, doesn’t give the animals antibiotics or hormones, and doesn’t grow any genetically modified crops. Two decades ago Harris began making changes to prioritize natural cycles and make sure nothing goes to waste, adhering to sustainability practices that go above and beyond standards like “certified organic”. White Oak Pastures embraces a regenerative model of land stewardship aimed at improving the quality of the soil, the air, and the water as well as the quality of life for the animals.