Soldiers turned farmers
As Soldiers-turned-farmers, we created a craft poultry business where we hand raise small batches of quality poultry.
The story of our country is rich with Veteran farmers. From George Washington returning to Mount Vernon, to family farmers who served in the Great War, our veteran agriculture roots run deep. Service members returned to farming and continued serving their communities, all the while providing a deep, therapeutic connection to the earth. They understood the need to provide their communities wholesome food. Most importantly, the calm, routine nature of farm life gave them time to reflect and heal from the unseen wounds of war.
Smith Pastures founders are both veterans. After multiple combat tours and over 50 years combined service, we returned to civilian life and began farming. Working the land provides a meaningful purpose to establish the connection between the soil and the customer. We do that by providing quality, non-corrupted nutrition and food security for local families.
We started our farming journey in 2018 in our backyard. Short on farming experience long on drive and dedication, we are self-taught in everything agriculture. Over the past four years we have connected with mentors, completed numerous agriculture and small business training workshops, and continue to voraciously consume relevant knowledge in all forms: books, webinars, podcasts, etc.
OUR VALUES
All of our poultry are raised and processed locally, sustainably, and ethically.
Local
As a small farm and craft poultry producer, we hand raise small batches of poultry with a focus on quality. Small batches enable us to perform our own open-air processing and contemporaneous vacuum seal packaging, ensuring end-to-end quality control.
We are motivated by getting back to traditional agriculture with practices that are humane, healthy for the planet and produce better food. We live in a rural community that is steeped in conventional agricultural traditions based on petro-chemical additives – a shortcut for performance that depletes the land. But we are passionate about setting an example for regenerative agriculture and developing a community where people know their local farmers and know where their food comes from.
The mass-produced poultry industry has eliminated the relationship between customers and producers and is, instead, focused on very high volume at the expense of quality, nutritional density, taste and animal welfare. The commoditization of meat, corporate mega-farming operations, and consolidation of grocery markets, has detached everyday families from their actual food source. What we have now is parents that have never spent time on a farm and kids that are unsure what a chicken has to do with the nuggets in their box.
Recent events also pulled back the curtain on how fragile and easily broken our mass-produced food supply system is. This has driven demand for more sustainable and ethical local products for consumers seeking to re-establish a personal connection to their farmers.
Sustainable
Because human health is directly tied to the health of the animals and the environment, we produce clean protein and healthy food products by utilizing sustainable methods in their production.
We use Savory Institute principles to manage (not control) the land. The holistic management framework is rooted in the fundamentals of promoting successful ecosystems. Through hands-on daily rotational grazing practices, we improve soil health and livestock productivity without ever using hormones, steroids, or antibiotics. Regenerative agriculture practices also protect the soil from water and wind erosion, while adding organic matter to improve soil properties. Our efforts provide the best quality food and leave the land enriched for future generations.
Ethical
We are intensely committed to the our poultry’s health and well-being. We honor that commitment by treating our animals with dignity and respect from the day they are hatched and throughout their lives, including the day they are slaughtered. We process on farm to ensure poultry are calm. Our birds enjoy every day and have only one bad moment.
Our farm environment mimics nature: our poultry peck and scratch out in the sunshine and open air, eating fresh forage and grass, insects, and a supplemental diet of soy-free and non-GMO feed.