November 11, 2022Slow Food

Jenni Harris

Today our guest is Jenni Harris, daughter of Will Harris and 5th generation Harris family member at White Oak Pastures. In the mid-90s, her father Will Harris recognized the problems in late 20th-century agriculture and decided to take his whole operation back to the days of his great-grandfather. He gave up chemical inputs and animal confinement farming and began implementing regenerative farming before it was even a word. White Oak pasture-raises 10 species of livestock, eggs, organic vegetables, and honey on almost 5,000 acres of land and does it in what they call a “radically traditional way.” Jenni is here to talk to us about White Oak Pastures and how they have continued to evolve as an online source for high-quality meat while maintaining not only a commitment to land stewardship and sustainability but to their rural community as well. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, Podtail, Youtube, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

Topics Discussed:

  • The story of White Oak Pastures
  • Jenni's early knowledge that she was gay and her journey away from her hometown
  • The transition of the farm back to more traditional practices
  • How the farm changed over the years in order to achieve resilience
  •  The challenge for conventional farmers to change to a different model
  • The challenges for the grass-fed beef industry for American farmers
  • Meat production as a contributor to climate change
  • Sacred Cow by Diana Rodgers - it's not the cow, it's the how!
  • Epic Provisions, owned by General Mills measuring soil assessments to demonstrate the livestock as a regenerative product
  • Carbon emissions in the Impossible Burger
  • White Oak Pastures Rural Revival 
  • The value of knowing your farmer

 

Connect with White Oak Pastures:

 

About Lady Farmer:

 

Original music by John Kingsley. The Good Dirt podcast is edited and engineered by Aleksandra van der Westhuizen and produced by Mary Ball. The Good Dirt is a part of the Connectd Podcasts Network.

Statements in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not to be considered as medical or nutritional advice. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and should not be considered above the advice of your physician. Consult a medical professional when making dietary or lifestyle decisions that could affect your health and well being.