White Oak Pastures: Direct-to-Consumer Grass-fed Meat

The Harris family has continually operated their current farm since it was rebuilt after the Civil War in 1866. What started out as a diversified 19th century farmstead shifted with the times to an industrialized commodity farm in the mid-1900s. Now in its sixth-generation of family management, Will Harris and his children have brought White Oak Pastures full circle, becoming pioneers of the regenerative agriculture and grass-fed beef movement in the early 2000s. White Oak Pastures is now a fully-integrated business that includes on-farm processing and direct-to-consumer delivery of half a dozen different types of pasture-raised meat while also serving as an educational hub and economic engine for the surrounding community. 

Use of Funds

While wholesale markets provided the first significant opportunity for American-raised grass-fed beef, the lack of requirements for “country-of-origin labeling” allowed meat to be imported from all over the world and still sold as American-raised. As already thin wholesale profit margins have waned to unsustainable levels, White Oak Pastures is doubling down on a transition to more direct-to-consumer retail sales and e-commerce, the foundation of which they began building over a decade ago. 

Regenerative & Sustainable Practices

According to the Harris family, animal welfare has always been the “canary in the coal mine,” guiding all the rest of WOP’s regenerative practices. “Animal welfare led us to better land management,” Jenni Harris explains, “and better land management led us to a vertically integrated business that built a community.” Across their many business endeavors, the three core elements of White Oak Pastures’ stewardship are: animal welfare, land regeneration, and rural revival.