White Oak Pastures

Investment in a carbon-negative, USDA-inspected meat processor

Investment

  • NMTC Amount: $13
  • Total Project Cost: $13

IMPACT

  • 185 FTE jobs
  • 84 construction jobs

Investor

Project Description

White Oak Pastures, Inc. (“White Oak”) is a nationally recognized leader in establishing sustainable, Regenerative Food Production processes. White Oak has been family owned and operated for 156 years, and in 1995, they began converting the 3,200-acre farm from traditional industrial operations to Regenerative Farming. Regenerative Food Production goes beyond current organic standards and operates as a holistic living ecosystem which values animal welfare, soil health, land regeneration, water management, fertilizer use, and revival of the local rural community. The practice is sensitive to the impacts of livestock on land, with an eye on sustainability and scalability (at the local level) across the nation. According to a third-party life-cycle assessment, White Oak is storing more carbon in its soil than their pasture raised cows emit over their lifetime. White Oak operates two zero-waste, carbon-negative USDA inspected meat processing facilities on its facility in Bluffton, GA.

The company sought NMTC capital to help expand their capacity from 2.7 million pounds of meat processed per year to 3.5 million pounds, and pivot away from low margin grocery store products to more lucrative direct to consumer online sales. Two CDEs provided $13 million in NMTC financing to help ensure that the company remains a viable employer in a rural region with minimal economic development and few employment opportunities.

White Oak employs a workforce that is larger than the population of the town of Bluffton. The project allowed the firm to add 32 FTE jobs to the existing 153 FTEs in a severely distressed community. White Oak actively coordinates with the Clay County and Early County parole and corrections officers to provide jobs to previously incarcerated individuals. They also operate a country store and restaurant providing access to fresh food in this Food Desert for purchase and preparing 3 meals a day seven days a week for staff, residents, and visitors alike. In 2021, White Oak’s principals founded a nonprofit called The Center For Agricultural Resilience (CFAR). CFAR has become a nationally and internationally recognized organization teaching over 200 attendees annually about the benefits of Regenerative Food Production and the possibility of building small food ecosystems that better feed the local community and protect the global environment.

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