ASGA Call 81: Will Harris on Regenerative Solar Grazing and a Bold Return to Giving a Damn
It’s an understatement to say that Will Harris 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 White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA, the farm that has been in his family since 1866.
A fourth-generation cattleman, Will Harris is now applying what he’s learned over the decades to solar sheep grazing and exploring the opportunities for grazing cattle under solar panels.
Will is joining us for a special interview at our ASGA October Webinar. We’ll talk about his story, his vision for regenerative agriculture, and how solar grazing fits into that picture. Expect to hear about the opportunities (and challenges) for solar sheep and solar cattle, how it can provide opportunities for farmers and local communities, and how it will help improve the land and ecosystems.
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.