ASGA Call 81: Will Harris on Regenerative Solar Grazing and a Bold Return to Giving a Damn (ASGA Call 81)
We were very fortunate to have Will Harris from White Oak Pastures join us for a special interview. It’s an understatement to say that Will strongly believes in his bold vision for how agriculture can be done to make things better for people, animals, and the land. He’s living that vision by practicing regenerative grazing (also known as “regenerative agriculture”) on his farm in Bluffton, GA, the farm that has been in his family since 1866.
As an experienced solar grazier, long-time regenerative agriculture practitioner, and pioneer in the grass-fed beef industry, not to mention his attention to soil and ecosystem health, Will’s discussion provided a number of fascinating insights into solar grazing. We discussed how and why he got into solar grazing and how grazing can create incredible benefits for the land and solar operators. We also dug into the lamb market, how solar grazing can transform it and what potential limitations it may have. Will’s insights from his deep experience in grass-fed beef marketing provided some interesting observations and lessons for solar lamb and the expansion of the industry.
The discussion naturally turned to cattle and Will’s plans to graze cattle under a 700kw array that will also power his USDA certified meat processing facility. We covered even more ground in the Q&A – check out the recording to catch it all!
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About the Speaker
Will Harris is a fourth-generation cattleman, who tends the same land that his great-grandfather settled in 1866. Born and raised at White Oak Pastures, Will left home to attend the University of Georgia’s School of Agriculture, where he was trained in the industrial farming methods that had taken hold after World War II. Will graduated in 1976 and returned to Bluffton where he and his father continued to raise cattle using pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics. They also fed their herd a high-carbohydrate diet of corn and soy.
These tools did a fantastic job of taking the cost out of the system, but in the mid-1990s Will became disenchanted with the excesses of these industrialized methods. They had created a monoculture for their cattle, and, as Will says, “nature abhors a monoculture.” In 1995, Will made the audacious decision to return to the farming methods his great-grandfather had used 130 years before.
Since Will has successfully implemented these changes, he has been recognized all over the world as a leader in humane animal husbandry and environmental sustainability. Will is the immediate past President of the Board of Directors of Georgia Organics. He is the Beef Director of the American Grassfed Association and was selected 2011 Business Person of the year for Georgia by the Small Business Administration.
Will lives in his family home on the property with his wife Yvonne. He is the proud father of three daughters, Jessi, Jenni, and Jodi. His favorite place in the world to be is out in pastures, where he likes to have a big coffee at sunrise and a 750ml glass of wine at sunset.
