Jack Ward’s farm has been in his family since the late 1800s. Like his farmer father before him, Jack raises pastured Yorkshire, Hampshire and Berkshire pigs, as well as row crops on 350 acres in Seven Springs, North Carolina.

Christine Abbey and her husband, Jamie DeRuyter, left Orlando in 2003 in search of more open space. They settled in Arcadia, a town with a population just over 6,600, where one thing led to another and they ended up establishing Sprawling Oaks Farm. Now the farm is home to Saanen, Lamancha and Guernsey dairy goats and Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Black Copper Maran and Ameraucana laying hens.

Ken Barefield raises Animal Welfare Approved purebred Hereford hogs at Hog Heaven Farms, LLC in Avon Park, Florida. From a young age Ken remembers helping his father raise chickens and other livestock and growing fruits and vegetables. As an adult, Ken returned to his roots, raising various livestock on his 15 acre family farm since 2008. Presently, Ken only raises pigs, which he breeds and weans for other AWA-certified hog farms.

Christopher McPherson raises Animal Welfare Approved beef cattle in Siler City, North Carolina. Mac Farm cattle are raised with the highest animal welfare standards in the United States, using sustainable agriculture methods on his independent family farm. Animal Welfare Approved farmers raise their animals outdoors on pasture or range their entire lives. All approved practices can be found on the AWA website, making it one of the most transparent certifications available.

Many years after swearing off the farm life when she left the family farm for college, and following a career as a nurse, Joyce Keibler and her husband Gary chose to spend their “retirement” as sheep farmers. In 2005 they bought Hemmer Hill Farm outside of Louisville, Kentucky’s Northeast End and began raising Saint Croix sheep. While Joyce’s family had experience with both beef cattle and wool sheep, she preferred the smaller size of sheep. After attending a free class at the University of Kentucky which introduced her to different sheep breeds, she decided on the Saint Croix, a small meat breed with hair rather than wool, known for its resistance to the parasite problems that often plague other breeds.

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.

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.

After relocating to Alabama from Gulfport, MS in 2007 following Hurricane Katrina, Cricket and Kim began farming just one acre with the intention of producing enough food for their family to be self-sufficient. When they realized their little acre was producing far more than they could eat, the Adams started selling their excess produce at farmers markets. Now, they are growing produce on 10 acres and raising their AWA-certified laying hens on 16 acres of pasture for local farmers’ markets, stores and their CSA.

Larry and Melissa Lewis searched for four years and tried (and failed) to work with eight banks before they bought a 170-acre property in 2005 where they could raise their family and start a farm. Larry and Melissa’s mission when establishing Ittle Bitty Farms was to grow food for their family, be able to share their bounty with their local community, and create a teaching farm where people could learn how to grow their own food. Now, their five children are being raised on Ittle Bitty Farms, where they are experiencing real farm life and participating in the daily operations of the farm, each one taking responsibility for a different part of the animal care or farm management.

Daniel and Sylvia King raise AWA sheep at Quiet Acres Farm in Grottoes, Virginia. The couple began farming in 2008 because of a love of pasture-based farming and an increasing demand for their grassfed lamb. They now have 40 Katahdin ewes, a breed which they selected for its easy care, good hooves, parasite-resistance and overall hardiness. On the growing consumer awareness of pasture-based farming, Daniel says, “Pasture-based farming has become more popular – our customers want to know how the animals are raised, and they want to feel good about it. We have always been committed to high standards of animal welfare. For me, Animal Welfare Approved is not just a label – I live it.”