095: Will Harris - Regenerative Agriculture and Why More Farms Should Switch to this Eco-Friendly Model
The Natural State with Dr. Anthony Gustin
Dr. Anthony Gustin
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2020
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Will Harris, a sixth generation farmer, followed in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather, his great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his father before him.
He also went to school for agriculture and he implemented everything he was taught there on his family’s farm.
But after 20+ years of doing this on his family’s farm, White Oaks Pastures, he had a gut instinct that this wasn’t the way to run things, despite everything he had been taught in school.
He followed his instincts and radically transformed his family’s farm going back to the methods his great-great-grandfather used.
And now Will Harris uses a regenerative agriculture approach on his farm, which benefits his animals, the environment, and the people on the farm and in the local community surrounding it.
Will explains why that is in this episode with Dr. Anthony Gustin and he also dives into how his farm went full circle -- from using industrialization and commoditization after WWII to taking a humane animal husbandry approach and focusing on environmental sustainability.
You’ll also hear more about how this approach isn’t the most profitable and why that doesn’t matter to Will.
Will also describes the issues he faced early on and why he continues to hit roadblocks despite doing the right thing.
If you’re not familiar with the term “greenwashing,” you’ll also discover what that is, why it’s so detrimental, and how big corporations are continuing to deceive people.
On top of being a sixth generation farmer, Will has become a leader in the humane animal husbandry and environmental sustainability space.
He’s the immediate past President of the Board of Directors of Georgia Organics and the Beef Director of the American Grassfed Association.
Will was even selected as the 2011 Business Person of the year for Georgia.
And the reason he’s held such prestigious honors is because he’s not profit-driven, which you’ll hear more about when you tune in.
Will cares about keeping mother nature happy along with making sure his animals and the people surrounding them are taken care of properly.
When you tune in, you’ll discover why regenerative agriculture is so beneficial for the animals, the environment, and the people surrounding it.
Check out the episode now to learn more!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Natural State Podcast. I'm your host Dr. Anthony Guston. It is |
| 0:10.1 | my belief that the natural state of any living organism's health and that our artificial |
| 0:14.4 | habitat has forced us into having artificial health problems. This show is my attempt to |
| 0:18.7 | dive deep and learn about using nutrition, sleep, movement, relationships and more to help |
| 0:23.9 | you reclaim your natural state of health in a modern world and show you how to thrive |
| 0:27.8 | in an environment that's stacked against you. If you enjoyed today's show, you can find |
| 0:31.6 | out more details and information at Dr. AnthonyGuston.com. |
| 0:35.6 | Today on the podcast, I welcome Sir Will Harris. Will is the current head of White Oak |
| 0:43.3 | Pastures, a farm in Bluffton, Georgia, who has an immense amount of experience with what |
| 0:49.3 | I am pretty obsessed with lately, which is regenerative agriculture. So the system of taking |
| 0:54.1 | carbon back into the soil and otherwise treating the entire system of how we produce food |
| 1:01.5 | and manufacture and distribute it into something that actually is additive towards all of the |
| 1:06.9 | inputs for the environment, for the animals, for our health, etc. And White Oak is one |
| 1:12.6 | of the top places in the world for this currently. So we dive into everything in the show regarding |
| 1:18.0 | how to get to start, why they choose certain animals, all the impacts, etc, etc. So you guys, |
| 1:23.4 | if you've been listening to the show for a while, probably heard me geek out about all |
| 1:26.2 | this stuff, but will sort of the de facto expert on this and super excited to have them |
| 1:30.6 | in the show today. So tune in and I hope you guys enjoy. |
| 1:35.2 | This episode of the Natural State podcast is brought to you by ForSigmatic. ForSigmatic |
| 1:40.7 | is my favorite purveyor of all things mushrooms and adaptogens. Not sure why these things |
| 1:45.1 | are important. Well, you can start with my episode I did with ForSigmatic Founder Terra |
| 1:49.8 | on this subject, but just understand that mushrooms are not part of either animal or plant |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Anthony Gustin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. Anthony Gustin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.