Will Harris is an organic farmer in the United States who practices regenerative farming in his family property, White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. They are more than a cute little family land, they operate on large scale with thousands of animals including chickens, hogs, goats, sheep, rabbit. They fish from the river they made clean, and revive the soil destroyed by factory agriculture with the grazing and the dropping of their animals in which they grow organic vegetables.
Will comes from a farmer’s family. His father, Will Harris was working on the same land, whose grandfather, Will Harris, was working the same land whose father Will Harris was working … . Will studied agricultural engineering in Georgia University. Although he ran his property as a traditional factory farm, he gradually realized the consequences: his top soil was disappearing, his animals were becomeing more and more unhealthy, and every year he was forced to use more and more hormone capsules, antibiotics and GMO grains in order to reach the growth that kept his land productive and animals market compatible.
This is how they write about the transformation:
Fewer than 20 years ago, White Oak Pastures had evolved into a conventionally-run commodity cattle farm. We employed all of the industrial tools that science had developed to take the costs out of farming, including pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics. Even while using these artificial crutches, our family never ceased to believe that we were being good stewards of our land. We were completely oblivious to the grave consequences that can result from fighting against nature. We were unwittingly steering our family heritage in a direction that was not environmentally sustainable. But by the mid-1990s, White Oak Pastures Owner Will Harris had become disenchanted with the excesses of that system. In 1995 he made the bold—and some thought, foolish—decision to take the farm back to its origins.
Today, we are raising cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, poultry, and rabbits using the same methods Will’s great-grandfather used a century-and-a-half ago. We proactively support nature’s food chain, using only sun, soil, and rain to grow sweet grasses for our animals to eat. Using Regenerative Land Management, we rotate complimentary animal species side-by-side through our pastures. The cows graze the grass, the sheep and goats eat the weeds and shrubs, and the chickens peck at the grubs and insects. All species naturally fertilize the land, and our soil is again a living organic medium that teems with life.
In his podcas with Joe Rogan (see below) Will Will explains, (because he has done it for decades) just to give you an idea about how bad industrial animal husbandry is: Healthy cows, which graze outdoors and are grass-fed usually live for 20-22 years. A cow fed and raised in traditional factory farms usually live for 2 years when slaughtered but they could not live another year longer, they would die of obesity related illnesses. They are three times as fat as healthy cows, they are actually sick, seriously obese creatures only kept alive by medicine.
So shall we all go vegan? Interestingly, this is not how Will transformed his farm – although he could have done so by getting insane amount of support that has been around for vegan developments.
Why veganism is not the answer
Will explains that – in spite of having all the respect for vegetarians and vegans who decide to avoid meat for whatever personal reason they might have – the only way large-scale veganism can work is by establishing monocultures. As we all know, monocultures have an extremely large ecological footprint. The working of nature is so complex, that only by reestablishing eco-diversity with as many species living and working the land as possible carbon neutrality can be achieved. Therefore, animals are crucial for healthy soil in which plants can be grown. They graze and drop and they help the soil to rejuvenate in microbes. No matter what kind of fertilizer, natural or chemical we use, nothing makes a soil as rich in microbes as manure. Vegans are right to criticize traditional factory farming as that really goes agains the laws of nature, and do contribute to climate change. But the the vegan lobby currently in operation also opts for monocultures in crops which is even worse for the climate and the planet. By switching to regerative farming White Oak Pastures is actually carbon negative with happy and healthy animals who, following the natural rhythm of nature, live and die with dignity.
Will Harris and farm, with 20 years of work, managed to return to a radically traditional farming practice that is done with contmeporary technology and communication, yet it has its roots in the wisdom of their ancestors. They practice farming that was done 150 yrs ago, but in a 21st century setting, so it remains competitive in the market.
The question that people usually ask is this: Can regenerative framing feed the 9 billion people of the world? Will argues that factory farming is ceasing to be able to do that, because they have run out of top soil. A few more years, and in developed or developing countries there will be no top-soil left. Moreover, factory farming is paralized if there is a shortage of water/ drought, chemicals and energy, bring in supplies. Regenerative farms can battle drought, don’t need chemicals, and are not reliant on fossil fuels either as they are circular economies.
Only the natural cicle of life can result in a sustainable environment, this is what Will calls a radically traditional farming practice. No pesticides, no fungicides, no hormones, no antibiotics, the restoration and the nurturing of eco-diversity INCLUDING animals that yes, are going to be eaten.
This is where you can listen to his podcast with Joe Rogan: