Organic Pastures is a fourth generation, family owned and operated, vertically integrated organic farming operation. Their Grade A dairy is 100% organic and 100% pasture-based. Mark, Aaron, and Kaleigh McAfee, who work respectively as Founder and CEO, Operations Manager, and Marketing Manager, value the high quality of milk that comes from a humanely managed herd. Organic Pastures cows are never confined to feedlots and always graze freely on abundant grass pastures.

LeftCoast™ Grassfed offers 100% grassfed and grass-finished beef. They raise Angus crossbred cattle on the ranch, which are known to provide a tender finished product. The cattle graze freely on perennial grasses with no chemical improvements.

The ranch is located just a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean in the lush, rolling hills of Pescadero and San Gregorio. There the cattle not only provide a healthy food source, but are also a land-management tool that helps to keep the ranch in balance with the environment.

Circle O Livestock, LLC in Vale, Oregon is home to Animal Welfare Approved Boer goats. Rancher Rob Stokes and his wife Michelle own the family ranch. Rob is also an auditor for the Animal Welfare Approved program.

Louisa and Bob Wooton of Kauai Kunana Dairy produce fresh Hawaiian farmstead goat cheese. They have been raising goats in Hawaii since 1979 and making goat cheese for the past decade. “We are the only dairy on the island of Kauai,” Louisa Wooton says proudly. “Kauai Kunana Dairy is a true family farm. We built everything on the farm ourselves, including the house. Our eldest son Ryan and his wife Sarah are our partners.”

Increased food security is one of the guiding principles behind Eden Earthworks, run by Dr. Neena Roumell. Roumell is originally from Detroit and worked with low-income mothers there, who were given vouchers through the WIC program to buy fresh produce. “In Detroit,” Roumell noted, “there were over 300 community gardens, but there were none on this side of the Big Island when I arrived here. Hawaii is just starting to build its network of food production and farmstands, and I didn’t want lower income people to be left out. I looked at food models that concentrated on boosting income and nutritional intake and Eden Earthworks was formed.”

Hawaii Lowline Cattle Company is proud to be part of the resurgence in Hawaii of raising and finishing cattle locally, on pasture. The farm was started by Rick and Haleakala Sakata and Dwayne and Tammie Cypriano, both of Ahualoa, Hawaii. Dwayne Cypriano, an independent rancher who formerly worked in cow-calf operations (keeping a breeding herd of cows and weaning calves for the feedlot system), and Rick Sakata saw an opportunity to do their part to advance Hawaii’s food self-sufficiency by building a herd of Lowline Angus cattle on their ranches. “Lowlines are Angus beef cattle in a compact, smaller frame size. They originated in Australia, where the beef is known for its excellent taste, texture and tenderness characteristics,” Sakata explained. “We were looking for two things when establishing our herd: cattle that were docile and cattle that were well-suited to beef production on grass, and that more efficiently converted grass to meat than today’s larger breeds. Because of their moderate size, two Lowlines can use the pasture space of one of today’s larger breeds, providing more beef per acre of grass and making the land more productive. That’s very important on an island with limited pasture space.”

Terry and Laurie Carlson, along with their grandson Brian and 38 dairy goats, work as a team, making raw milk aged cheeses on a seasonal basis. It’s a small-scale farm in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon. The family sells at farmers markets, outlets in Portland, and at an on-site farmstand.

Jesse and Hannah Fouch run a cattle operation in California where some might say they do the impossible. “Our goal is to produce quality products while improving our environment at the same time,” Jesse explains. This means they take a holistic approach to ranching, from keeping their farm in the family to raising heritage breed Dexter cattle. Their entire herd is raised on pasture, even when they are being finished for market. They graze in harmony with the land producing lush landscapes on the farm, and are given the lowest stress living environment possible.

Diaz Murray is no stranger to cattle ranching: he was born on a ranch in 1962. His current herd started in Montana in 1974, until he moved in 1998 to Texas where he currently works with his wife Laura. It was Laura who encouraged Diaz to join the Grassfed Livestock Alliance in Texas in order to sell wholesale with like-minded farmers.

Chaffin Family Orchards got its start in the early 1900s, when founder Del Chaffin bought land from his alma mater, University of California, Berkeley. Looking for a place he could grow a wide variety of fruit year round, he found the microclimate of his Oroville farm perfect for raising orchard crops, cattle, sheep and other animals in an environmentally sensitive way. “It’s an ideal location; the climate is mild all year and the soil is rich,” says Carol Albrecht, Del’s granddaughter, who runs the farm with her husband Kurt and sales manager Chris Kerston.