James Faison

James Faison, 34, grew up visiting his grandparents’ farm in the Southside region of Virginia, but his path was not headed in the direction to become a fourth-generation farmer.

He went to Harvard, then got a law degree at the University of Virginia and joined a corporate law firm in Miami. When he and his siblings inherited their grandparents’ 200-acre farm in 2009, he began to travel back and forth to deal with the land, eventually moving home full time in 2012. 

“I had to try to figure out the next step,” he says.

That turned out to be forming Milton’s Local, named for his grandfather. Faison got the idea to aggregate pasture-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats from small farmers in the surrounding area and sell them to restaurants and retailers. His education and working experience informed his approach.

“We’re helping to create a business marketing channel for sustainable meat production that was not there before in Virginia,” he says. “At farmers’ markets they were able to make sporadic sales, but our company allows consumers to have more access to healthy, clean meat year-round at bigger retailers.”

To further expand business and the brand, Faison developed nitrate-free bacon and flavored bacon sausage under the Milton’s Local label. He is committed to farmers getting a fair price for their meats (60 percent of revenue is returned to them) and also to his seven full-time employees getting a fair salary (currently about $42,000). He sees a living wage as a way to create a company that people are proud to work for and stick with, lessening the cost of recruiting and training a revolving door of staff.

By the end of 2016, revenue was expected to reach around $1 million, he says, and possibly double that in 12 months. He is on schedule to launch poultry products in 2017, with a focus on value-added meat such as turkey bacon and turkey bacon sausages.

“The takeaway,” he says, “is the growing consciousness of the American consumer about what goes into their bodies. They’re looking for transparency by sourcing from small farmers.”

Highlights

2009—James Faison’s grandparents died, leaving a 200-acre Virginia farm to him and his siblings.

2012—Left a law firm in Miami to found Milton’s Local back home, aggregating family farm-raised, pasture-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats to sell under his label, named for his grandfather.

2013—Saison, a progressive New American restaurant in Richmond, was the first client.

2015—Faison developed Milton’s Own nitrate-free bacon

2016—Milton’s Own Bell Pepper & Onion Uncured Bacon Sausage appeared in retail stores followed by Chipotle & Cilantro Uncured Bacon Sausage, which won the Summer Fancy Food Show Shelf Showdown, a specialty food pitch competition. The number of participating cattle and pig farmers reached 35, and the online business took hold as another marketing arm.