During the summer, members of the dining team toured several Georgia farms. The purpose of the trips was to develop relationships with farmers, discuss obstacles unique to the Georgia farmer, and to plan food production for the upcoming academic year. For photos of the farm tours below, see below.
Sweetwater Growers, Canton, GA
James Dault
Sweetwater Growers grows herbs and greens in a sterile controlled greenhouse environment using an efficient, earth- friendly process called hydroponics.
Hydroponics is the growing of plants in water instead of soil. Sweetwater Growers' herbs and greens are hand picked daily, packaged on site at a GAP certified facility, and delivered within 48 hours of harvest to ensure freshness. This compares to herbs grown in other states or countries where the herbs are typically 4 - 6 days old before they actually are available for sale to the consumer.
James Dault
Basil
The water that runs through the lengths of pipes is captured so that it can continue to be filtered and used again.
Whitestone Farms
Russell Cutts
Whitestone Farms is working toward Food Alliance certification this year. Food Alliance is the certification program Emory University uses to recognize farmers and growers as sustainable.
Egyptian Walking Onion
Milpa style farming (in simple terms) utilizes the relationships with other plants to grow sustainably. For example, a tomato plant is planted in the middle of corn. The corn plants will serve as support for the tomatoes so that the tomatoes don't have to be staked.
Whitepath Enterprise, Ellijay, GA
David Johnston
Whitepath Enterprises grows lettuce, arugula, herbs and cucumbers hydroponically in greenhouses. David also grows tomatoes outside of the greenhouse.
David Johnston
Various types of lettuce
Cucumbers hanging on the plant
Open bloom on a cucumber plant
Purple Basil
Tomatoes
Lane Southern Orchards, Fort Valley, GA
Duke Lane, Jr.
Lane Southern Orchards is a fourth generation family operation that farms over 2,700 acres of peach trees and 2,100 acres of pecans. Located outside Fort Valley, in the heart of middle Georgia, Lane Southern Orchards currently grow 30 varieties of peaches. The Lane family is committed to the daily operations of Lane Southern Orchards. Sons, Duke Lane, Jr. and Bobby Lane and daughter, Anne Lane-Tribble, are involved in all facets of running this growing business.
Peach trees
Peaches dumped from the bins at the beginning of the hand sorting process
Peaches traveling on the conveyor
Peaches from the tree to the box
Pecan trees
Walker Organic Farms, Sylvania, GA
Relinda Walker
Walker Farms is a third-generation family farm in Screven County, Georgia, with forty acres certified under the USDA National Organic Program.
Primary crops include Vidalia onions, grown from seedbeds cultivated at the farm, and onion seedlings sold to other organic growers in the Southeast for transplanting. Worth noting, Walker Farms is among the first to successfully grow an organic onion seedbed.
A strong supporter of sustainable agriculture and the National Organic Program, Relinda Walker, when not overseeing the farm’s production and operation, spends much of her free time delivering talks on organic and sustainable farming.
In keeping with the farm’s mission, to be a good steward of the land, vegetables, grains and legumes are rotated in fields of ¼ acre to four acres, and summer and winter cover crops are used extensively. Developing and refining the process of organic farming ensures that Walker Farms continues its tradition of growing food to taste good… Naturally.
Relinda Walker tasting a slice of watermelon
Relinda preparing to cut a Moon and Stars watermelon
Vidalia and Red Onions
Bee boxes on the farm
Okra
Various types of peas
Corn
Peanuts
Canary Melon
Butternut squash plantings-Look for these on the menu in the Fall!
White Oak Pastures, Bluffton, GA
Will Harris
White Oak Pastures is a fifth generation family farm in South Georgia. Their cattle are locally born, raised and harvested on site in their "zero-waste" processing facility. White Oak Pastures believes in the humane treatment of animals, and their cattle are allowed to roam pastures and graze freely on sweet native grasses their entire lives. The cattle are not given hormones, antibiotics or unatural feedstuffs to speed their growth.
White Oak Pastures is the largest USDA certified organic farm in Georgia. They are also certified by:
American Grassfed Association
Humane Farm Animal Care
Animal Welfare Institute
Silliker, Inc.
UGA Master Cattleman
GA Crop Improvement Organic
Certification Program
White Oak Pastures grassfed beef can be found on the menu at Cafe` Antico at Emory's
Michael C. Carlos Museum, and WOW Wings and Burgers in Cox Hall.
Will Harris III
Cows cooling off in the shade of the trees
White oak trees line the fence rows, and organic gardens grow in front of the White Oak Pastures processing facility
Cows running through the fields
