BLUFFTON, GA – Just in time for Earth Day celebrations, White Oak Pastures (www.whiteoakpastures.com), Georgia’s leading grass-fed beef producer , has announced completion of a long-awaited on-farm facility designed to process beef according to rigorous humane animal treatment standards and to minimize environmental impact.

The company will celebrate the new plant’s opening at an April 26th event on the Bluffton farm that has been in company founder Will Harris’s family since 1866. The event will host representatives from Whole Foods Market, the OneGeorgia Authority and the Early County Economic Development Authority, each of which contributed funds to construct the $2 million facility.

“Having this plant on our farm means we will never again have to load cattle that were born and raised here onto an 10-wheeler,” said Will Harris, founder and owner of White Oak Pastures. “It is more humane for the animals and without a doubt better for the environment to have a closed production loop on the farm.”

Prior to the completion of the 5,329 square-foot facility, White Oak Pastures transported its cattle to a processing plant 100 miles away from Bluffton, according to Harris a journey that stresses the animals and contributes to global warming by expending fossil fuels in transport. Today, White Oak Pastures is the largest USDA-Certified Organic farm in the state of Georgia. It does not use hormones or antibiotics on cattle, nor does it apply pesticides and chemical fertilizers on the land.

The on-farm facility will allow White Oak Pastures to significantly expand production and distribution of its beef. The Publix supermarket chain has been carrying White Oak Pastures grass-fed ground beef at its stores throughout the Southeast since 2005, and Whole Foods Market started carrying the company’s beef in 2007.

White Oak Pastures was recently awarded the Grand Prize for its grass-fed beef ribeye at the 2008 Flavor of Georgia contest sponsored by the state, besting more than 160 new food products.

“We think our beef tastes better and is actually healthier for you because our animals spend their lives as nature intended, roaming freely in the pasture and grazing on grass,” said company owner Will Harris. Grass-fed beef is lower in saturated fat and higher in essential nutrients such as Omega-3, a fatty acid believed to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.