By Mari Stuart, Project Grounded | Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 –

Flock of sheep running. Photo credit: Shawn Linehan

Fiber farmers stand at a unique juncture of agriculture on the one hand and the world of textiles and clothing on the other.

If you are a fiber farmer, you’re already doing important work to promote a more sustainable textile industry. Whether your operation involves sheep, alpaca, goats, llama, or rabbits, you are growing and helping to promote natural fibers as opposed to synthetic fibers, which are fossil-fuel based and take hundreds of years to biodegrade. Depending on where your fiber goes, you can also contribute to more ethical, local, and domestic alternatives to fast fashion.

But fiber producers can also become leaders in helping to shift agriculture’s climate impact, while at the same time adding to their farm’s differentiation and story, and therefore the market value of their product.

(more…)

by CFSA | Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019 –

An Interview with 2019 SAC Keynote, Dr. Allen Williams

Dr. Allen Williams is a sixth-generation family farmer and expert on regenerative agriculture and grazing, soil health, adaptive foraging, pasture-based meat production, the grass-fed market, and alternative marketing systems, among other subjects. He personally pioneered many of the first grass-fed protocols and forage finishing techniques. For these reasons and more, we are thrilled to bring Dr. Williams as the keynote speaker of our 2019 Sustainable Agriculture Conference.

Though he currently lives in Mississippi, where he owns a grass-fed beef operation, Dr. Williams has deep roots in the Carolinas. His ancestors first started their family farm in South Carolina in the year 1842. He began his education at Clemson, where he earned his BS and MS in Animal Science. He later went on to earn his Ph.D. in Livestock Genetics from LSU. He is also a longtime partner and Chief Ranching Officer of Joyce Farms in Winston-Salem. A respected researcher, (self-described) “recovering” academic, and writer, Dr. Williams has published over 400 articles and the book Before You Have a Cow. We recently sat down for an in-depth conversation with Dr. Williams about all things regenerative and adaptive in the Carolinas and beyond.

(more…)