Jonathan LeBlanc

For the past eight years, Jonathan LeBlanc and his wife Rachel, along with their four children and Jonathan’s father have been milking a herd of 100 organic dairy cows and raising pastured pork, at LeBlanc Family Farm, in East Hardwick, Vermont.

When the organic movement took hold in the late 1990s, Jonathan saw a reason and an opportunity to let people know what he’d been doing on his farm all along . He could certify his milk as organic and sell it to a new market of consumers interested in supporting the practices that his family were already employing. Jonathan’s father taught him that milk “tastes like what you feed the cows.” Jonathan took that guidance to heart and applied it to his pigs, which he was raising on pasture. By letting his pigs forage, he was able to raise delicious pork, while also clearing the pasture of forest brush, so the cows could then graze on it. Five years ago, Jonathan started selling his pigs to Walden Local Meat, a company that buys grass-fed and pastured-raised meat from regional meat producers in New England and New York and sells it in the form of meat shares to families across the Northeast. The LeBlancs also sell some of their meat through their honor-system farm stand, to their neighbors in Vermont.

How did you become a Good Meat® producer?

I was adopted at 3-months old, and the family that adopted me were dairy farmers. I was raised grazing dairy cows. When I was a teenager, I decided to raise meat. I always wanted to be able to raise meat for my own table and to have something that was my own, that I started from scratch. Now, I milk 100 cows and raise 600 pigs. Once I started raising animals for people, I knew I needed to feel good about how I was feeding people and make sure we provided them with a good product. In addition, I want to raise the best meat possible, so my family and I can eat the best.

What is one thing you wish more consumers knew about raising livestock?

I wish people knew how much work it was. We take our food too much for granted and only compare prices instead of what the actual product is; instead of realizing how much time and energy it takes to raise animals in a humane manner. It takes me 1.5 hours to take care of my 400 pigs, whereas my friend in PA can take care of thousands in 22 minutes. To raise an animal in a humane fashion requires more effort which is why the price tag is so much different.

What meat, or meat dish, do you eat most regularly and what do you eat for a special occasion?

What we eat the most is bacon, sausage, and eggs-, every morning for breakfast before we get to work on the farm. On Sunday nights, we have organic hamburgers. I hate steak, so I’m a hamburger guy, when it comes to special occasions. Plus that’s what my four-year-old twin boys, Hunter and Logan, like!

What is one of your biggest challenges as a Good Meat® producer?

Labor and money. The challenge is finding people who want to join us in this work. It takes quite a bit of effort and manual labor to farm this way.