What is the problem with current pork production?

How often do you drive in the country and see pigs rooting around in the mud or roaming in the forest? Not very often? That is because 97% of commercial pork produced in the United States are raised in confined, concrete buildings (Rodale Institute, 2024). You don’t see them and they don’t see the light of day.

This overcrowded, confined operation results in disease, poor sanitation, excess waste, and disease. Without diversity in their diet, going outdoors, and being able to self-regulate, these animals have an extremely poor quality of life, filled with stress.

What is the alternative?

Many producers who practice regenerative agriculture, including ourselves, raise pigs in the forest or on pasture, with a rotating system to rest the land. This method is a win-win for the pigs and the land. They get diversity in their diet, and the land can see improvement.

What are the benefits of pasture or forest raised pork?

There are many benefits with this method of raising pigs, to the animals, the environment, and you. Pigs raised in this manor experience the life they were designed for: outdoors, eating bugs, and rooting around in the mud. The environment experiences a benefit as well, with pigs being a useful natural tool for understory management, invasive control, and clearing land for seeding.

Additionally, pastured meat is healthier for the consumer with greater levels of Omega 3s and lower Omega 6:3 ratios (American Pork Producers Association, 2018). Lastly, raising the pigs outdoors among other animals, such as chickens or other birds, reduces the risk of pests and disease. The more diversity in the system, the healthier it will be.

Why should you support this practice?

While we understand that not everyone can afford the higher costs of better animal and land stewardship, we also believe voting with your dollar is important and everyone deserves the right to pay for higher quality food. The more people who are able to stop supporting cheap production practices, the more the spotlight will shift to regenerative marketplaces.

Investing today in your health and the health of the Earth, is an investment that ultimately saves money down the line through lower medical bills and environmental fixes from poor practices. Shopping locally also puts your money directly into your local economy, circulating many more times than it ever would in a large industrial business.

What’s with the higher price?

As with any local, small production system, our prices are higher than our commercial competitors. This is for many reasons from feed to production.

• The feed we source is all non-GMO, and soy-free
• The pork is processed without any sugar or nitrates, which significantly adds to the processing cost

One last question to ask is “why is conventional pork so cheap?”. No matter the dollar amount you pay for a product, you are paying in another form. This could be costs to the animal’s welfare, costs to the environment, to the underpaid migrant workers, or greenhouse gas emissions.

Check out Intentional Farms for more information on local, regenerative farming, and follow us along on Instagram to learn more about Watershed Level Restoration. Additionally, if you are interested in shopping sustainably and locally, check out our Regenerative Marketplace.