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 Grass-fed 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 with his herds, where he likes to have a big coffee at sunrise and a 750ml glass of wine at sunset.

Dale brings over fifteen years of experience working with federal, state, and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions. He specializes in environmental education, advocacy, and enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act.

Before joining CFAR, Dale served as a Regional Director for Chattahoochee Riverkeeper while teaching Environmental Studies at the University of North Georgia. His earlier roles included managing coastal watershed programs, overseeing regulatory compliance, and contributing to policy development with Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources; leading longleaf-pine ecosystem restoration efforts with Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; and implementing agricultural best management practices with Georgia’s Soil and Water Conservation Commission.

Dale holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of Georgia. Outside of his professional work, he enjoys exploring the great outdoors with his fiancé, Michelle, and participating in high-performance driving.

Lydon Olivares is originally from Kernville, located in Kern County, California. Livestock production, the food system, and the environment have been significant to Lydon since his youth, as he attended an environmental magnet school as a child and was an active member of 4-H for a decade and both FFA and FCCLA throughout high school. Lydon bred, raised, and showed beef cattle, dairy goats, market sheep, poultry rabbits, and cavies. He feels strongly that having a close connection to the food you nourish your body with is vital to having a good life.

For college, he found himself in Providence, Rhode Island, earning a B.S. in Sustainable Food Systems with a focus in Environmental Sustainability at Johnson & Wales University. During his senior year, Lydon participated in the Farm and Animal Production Internship at White Oak Pastures, where his passion for regenerative agriculture grew fiercely.

After graduating, he moved to Bluffton, Georgia, where he now works as the Education Coordinator for the Center for Agricultural Resilience and White Oak Pastures. Lydon feels grateful to work and live in a community of like-minded individuals who strive to improve how we produce food, consume food, and care for the ecosystems around us.

John, White Oak Pastures' Director of Livestock, is from Fitzgerald, Georgia. John attended Valdosta State University and has been at White Oak Pastures since December 2012. John is the proud father of Hattie and Harris Benoit and husband to Director of Farm Experience, Jodi Benoit.