White Oak Pastures
Greenwashing
As a major supplier for General Mills, White Oak Pastures is "not just a small local farm, but actually part of a powerful and massive multinational company, and an important arm of its branding and marketing." Its claim to produce "carbon-negative beef" through regenerative grazing[1] has been conclusively disproven, after General Mills-funded research was found to have "significant lapses that grossly exaggerate or misrepresent the true SOC sequestration capacity of their farming techniques." [2] This research was cited by the Savory Institute as part of the Climate Collaborative's 2020 report on Regenerative Standards, an organization financed in part by General Mills.
As the owner of White Oak Pastures, Will Harris boasted to The New York Times in 2015, "We cheat to win," and that Confederate General Robert E. Lee was one of his "heroes."[3]
Savory Network
According to their website, White Oak Pastures is "proud to be named 1 of only 23 Global Savory Hubs" organized by the Savory Institute and participates in Savory's Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) program.[4]
Sources
- ↑ https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603; p. 41
- ↑ https://plantbaseddata.medium.com/the-failed-attempt-to-greenwash-beef-7dfca9d74333
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/dining/at-white-oak-pastures-grass-fed-beef-is-only-the-beginning.html
- ↑ https://whiteoakpastures.com/pages/savory-hub?_pos=1&_sid=8b39d043f&_ss=r