My Beef Is Just Like Industrial Commodity Beef Except...

To the friends of White Oak Pastures,

The University of Mississippi [Ole Miss], The Southern Foodways Alliance, and Whole Foods Market partner each year to produce documentaries. These films focus on producers in the Deep South who embrace southern traditions in their effort to provide non-industrial food for consumers who appreciate fine dining. These documentaries embrace food traditions that honor sustainable, artisan, and humane production practices that are perpetuated by southern family farms.

On August 20, 2009, Ole Miss filmmaker Joe York came to White Oak Pastures to produce one of these documentaries highlighting our farm. We were deeply honored and more than a little worried about how we would look. Joe named the documentary “CUD.”

The link below will let you see this documentary. It does a good job demonstrating how we raise our cattle, and produce our beef. Because we are very proud of what we do, I hope that you will take time to give it a look.

The link is: http://vimeo.com/6177004

While I have your attention, I also want to tell you about a couple of other recent events that we are proud of

• In March our farm was selected to receive the Regional Award for The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Program. This was a great honor for us. This award validates our respect for our land, which has always been one of our family’s core values. “You take care of the land and the herd, and they will take care of you” has been passed from parent to child in the Harris family since before the Organic Movement and Animal Welfare came into vogue. These philosophies have come long been a basic part of our family’s lifestyle.
• The other announcement is that Whole Foods Market has chosen to distribute our beef in their Mid-Atlantic Region. Our Grassfed Beef is now available in Whole Foods Market stores from Miami, FL to Princeton, NJ to Columbus, OH. We are delighted to have our beef so widely available to the consumers who appreciate its attributes.

Our on-farm packing plant has been in operation for a little over a year now, and it is beginning to look as though building it might have been the right thing to do. We appreciate your support. Without this support, we would have been forced to return to producing commodity cattle for the beef industry. If Good Food is to become readily available we all must work together. This has been best said by Mr. A.C. Gallo, President of Whole Foods:

“The connection between producer, retailer and consumer binds us together in a virtuous circle where each is rewarded for taking care of the others. The product is the form we use to facilitate the exchange but the connection is the most rewarding aspect of it.”

The Good Food Movement is a partnership between farmers, chefs, writers, homemakers, the distribution chain, and many others. God bless the backs that produce Good Food, the hands that prepare Good Food, and the mouths that eat Good Food.

Sincerely,

Will Harris