“A farm should be an ecosystem, not a factory. We maintain wildlife corridors, pollinator habitat, and wetlands.”
“Not everyone will go organic, but if everybody does, that’s ‘rewilding’, in my opinion. And it happens on all levels – birds all the way down to the soil.”
– StarWalker Organic Farms Podcast
Near the base of the Marble Mountains in Northern California, an average of 30 inches of rain falls annually on rolling hills of grass, forbes, shrubs and trees. Here, Jason and Kristina of StarWalker Organic Farms pasture 4,000 head of cattle, 3,000 pigs, and grow most of their own feed, all of which is certified Real Organic!
But to get their animals processed, they used to drive six hours in one direction, or seven hours in the other direction. Besides the cost and stress to their animals, they couldn’t even label their products as Organic because the processing facilities were not certified.
Instead of dropping their organic certification (which many farmers do without an Organic processing facility close by), they decided to open their own slaughterhouse close to the farm!
Now they can label their products Real Organic and provide processing and marketing opportunities for other livestock farms in the region, incentivizing them to go Real Organic too!
StarWalker Organic Farms ground beef (which just won the NEXTY Award for Best Meat Product at Expo West) can be shipped to your door from their online store.
Real Organic pasture raised pork is a rare thing. Over 98% of pigs in the U.S. are raised inside in confinement, typically concrete or slatted floors without any outdoor access. If people could see these facilities and the animals within, I think everyone would start buying from farms like StarWalker instead.
Their heritage pigs (often crosses of Berkshire and Chester White) are known for their ability to thrive outdoors and produce high-quality, nutritious meat on pasture. The pigs root and disturb the soil, like all happy pigs do, but the Walkers move them along to different pastures and reseed with a cover crop or grain crop where they have been.
“They’re in nature doing their thing. They like to find little spots and make a wallow, or a little bedding area and they’ll dig a hole, but everywhere else they root and graze. The funny part is, I see them out there with grass, just grazing like a cow.”
– Jason Walker StarWalker Organic Farms Podcast
Marketing at scale can be a challenge, especially with increasing imports and deceptive labeling, but the Walkers prioritize telling their story and connecting to the people that support them.
Last month, President Trump issued an executive order to increase beef imports from Argentina to more than four times current levels. Argentina is experiencing a severe deforestation crisis primarily driven by expanding soy and cattle production, particularly in the North.
The U.S. continues to import over 20% of our beef from South America and countries as far away as New Zealand and Australia. No matter how that beef is produced on those farms, a large part of the Real Organic story is to regionalize food production for the economic vitality and land stewardship that individuals bring to a family farm.
And since we have “voluntary” country of origin labeling for meat here in the U.S., it continues to be important to “know your farmer,” their practices, and the land use history.
– StarWalker Organic Farms
Last week we were able to connect with the StarWalker Organic Farms team at ExpoWest in CA through our partnership with Naturland. Naturland certifies organic farmer-cooperatives around the world and our Real Organic Naturland project will bring their organic products into the U.S., but only for products that cannot be produced here in the U.S. (like coffee and spices for example). This partnership connects us to soil based organic family farmers around the world.
Like Real Organic Project, Naturland is a farmer-led “add-on” certification that requires a “whole farm” commitment to organic, soil health, animal welfare, and fairness. We are stronger together.
We are so proud to partner with StarWalker Organic Farms through the Real Organic Project certification program and applaud their commitment to local organic processing, which encourages a more regionalized organic landscape. Our application is open now for the 2026 season and we hope you’ll encourage the organic farms around you to join us and that you continue to support our certified farms.
Yours in the dirt,
Linley
Gary Stevens from StarWalker Organic Farms connects with Bernadette Brogden and Dana Geffner at ExpoWest.
The Real Organic Naturland joint venture is a collaborative certification and marketing effort linking products produced by Naturland certified farmers around the world to the Real Organic movement in the U.S.
The joint venture certifies brands, mills, co-ops and processors here in the U.S. that source from our Real Organic Project farms, as well as international products certified by Naturland.
“We want to make sure that we’re supporting all the groups that are supporting us. I think the biggest push to be a part of the Real Organic Project was that we knew, ‘Okay, this is what we want to be associated with.
“They know what we’re doing. We want them to support us and we want to support them.”
Catch Linley on the most-recent episode of the Market Gardener Podcast with JM Fortier and Chris Moran, where she shares all kinds of nuggets about her Colorado farm and the backstory of how she came to find Dave and the Real Organic Project. You can listen on your favorite podcast player (here’s a link to Apple) or watch on YouTube.
P.S. Canadian farmers – you too can join the Real Organic movement through our FREE farmer-led certification!!