Southern SOIL
Editorial We love celebrating sustainable, regenerative
businesses while they try to shift their business
farming here at Southern Soil! But it’s important
model and change their farming practices. It takes
to remember that sustainability is a process and
time for land to heal and it takes a pretty serious
it’s something that happens in degrees and can be
investment of time, money and resources (not to
measured on a spectrum.
mention a giant leap of faith) to take a farm from chemical dependency to a point where the land is
I tend to think of it in terms of “good”, “better”,
healthy enough to help support a vibrant, diverse
“best”.
and profitable farm through regenerative practices.
Any form of agriculture that is decentralized
In this issue of Southern Soil, though admittedly not
(local) and moving away from conventional
intentional on my part, we get a look at two farms
practices and choosing to be more in tune with
in different places on the path of regeneration!
a healthy environment and more humane animal husbandry is a “good” thing. Just because it needs
Our feature article takes a look at White Oak
improvement doesn’t mean we can’t support the
Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia which has become
efforts that are being made.
the Gold Standard of regenerative farming here in the US and beyond. But that hasn’t always been the
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Becoming sustainable is not something that can
case and we take a closer look at that transition.
happen overnight. A farm business and the land on which it operates can’t immediately switch from conventional practices to sustainable practices at the flip of a switch. A period of transition is required. This transition period is important for us to recognize and it’s just as important to support and celebrate farms in this state as it is the ones that have become a fully regenerative system. With the vast majority of farmland in Georgia and across the US still well entrenched in conventional (predominantly mono-culture requiring heavy inputs of chemical fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides, and
In the early stages of transition, H.K. Farm in
water irrigation) and an increased demand for more
Cobbtown (the subject of our Small Farm Spotlight)
ecologically sound practices, we will HOPEFULLY
is shifting away from conventional farming as part
see more farms in transition over the next decade.
of an overall plan to make the farm more profitable and appealing to the younger generations. Focusing
It’s important to support these farmers and their
on niche markets and the technological advances
