George Washington University’s Urban Food Task Force, Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) have joined forces by providing a platform for DC’s vibrant culinary community to focus on strengthening the supply chain for sustainably raised meat.

Stone Hollow Farmstead was founded by Deborah and Russell Stone in 1999 in Harpersville, AL. The Stone family comes from a long line of Alabama gardeners and farmers, who share their history in all facets of the farmstead. Lessons learned from Deborah’s grandparents, who ran a sustainable farm and grocery store, are evident in the jars of rose petal jam, the hillside of happy goats, hives of the honeybees, and the heirloom vegetable gardens.

Elton Sermons’s mother and father were farmers. Both of their parents were farmers. So farming is in his blood. He raises Animal Welfare Approved Boer cross bred goats, which are raised for their meat, rather than milk production on about 10 acres of pasture on his farm in southern Georgia.

When Mike and Janis Tremper bought their undeveloped rural property on the Central Coast of California, four wild burrows lived in the canyon where the ranch sits that no one would claim. While they labored to put up fencing for their horses, one jack (a male burrow) in particular would harass their mares to no end until it was decided that something had to be done. With the help of some neighbors, they corralled the burrows with the intention of taking them into the auction. But there were only three. The troublesome jack was never seen again. While the episode has sparked a lot of theories since then, it also gave them a name—Missing Jack Ranch was born.

Indian Creek Angus is a collaboration between a lifelong, third-generation cattleman, Dennis Barron, and a former environmental studies professor, Carol Corbin. Bringing together their passions and expertise, Dennis and Carol, along with the fourth generation farming Barron, Denny, who joined the family business in 2010, raise Angus cattle with respect and care. They believe that cattle should be bred and raised with high-welfare practices, in a natural and low-stress environment.

After careers in the hardware and real estate businesses, Jim Wood began breeding show pigs in Southeast Florida just a quarter of a mile from the dairy where he’d grown up in Avon Park, Florida. Jim’s plans for his pig operation changed drastically in 2004 when he was invited to an event at the University of Florida where he tasted pastured pork next to conventionally raised pork. The differences were extreme and led him to leave show pig breeding behind in order to find the best breed for meat quality. After tasting more than a dozen breeds and crosses, he decided on the Hereford breed for its superior meat quality. They have required, however, genetic selection for mothering ability and heat tolerance. After 12 years of researching and raising pigs, Palmetto Creek Farms LLC now produces some of the most consistent, highest quality pastured pork available according to many top chefs in Florida.

Adam Grady raises Animal Welfare Approved pastured hogs in coastal North Carolina. He has been farming for 15 years, raising tobacco, cotton, corn, soybeans, and small grains, among other crops. He currently has 40 sows, and the largest herd of registered Berkshires in North Carolina.

James West can’t be positive what year his family farm was established, but he knows that his family came to eastern North Carolina between 1740 and 1750 and has been there ever since. James helped his father and grandfather raise hogs and cows on the family farm where he was born and raised. Now, after almost a 20 year break, James is raising pigs and growing watermelons on that same land in Kinston, North Carolina.