Wild Idea Buffalo Co., purveyor of grass-fed, grass-finished and humanely field-harvested buffalo meat, has achieved Regenerative Organic Certified Silver, making them the first bison company and the first commercial meat company in the U.S. to be certified under this high-bar program.

“Wild Idea is thrilled to achieve this revolutionary certification for regenerative food that represents the world’s highest standard for organic agriculture, with stringent requirements for soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness,” said Wild Idea CEO Phil Graves. Wild Idea aims for everything they do to be 100% transparent and verified.

Conservationist and author Dan O’Brien originally founded Wild Idea in 1997. As a biologist working with the endangered Peregrine Falcon, he saw firsthand the devastating impact modern industrialized agriculture has on the environment and the crucial role keystone species, like bison, play in restoring damaged ecosystems. For more than 25 years, Wild Idea has taken a strong stance on protecting the grasslands from conversion. It has even rehabilitated degraded land by planting native grasses that provide cover for ground-nesting birds.

O'Brien began with a small herd of bison and a vision to heal 1,000 acres. Today, a combined 8,000 acres of O'Brien's and family-owned land and nearly 27,000 acres of protected Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, plus the entire herd of bison (about 800), is Regenerative Organic Certified, ensuring healthy soil, habitat for wildlife, and the protection of 35,000 acres for generations to come. 

“We take pride in working with producers like Wild Idea Buffalo as they bring the most environmentally responsible and humane meat products to market while stewarding prairie lands to enhance biodiversity and rejuvenate our lands for the long term," said Elizabeth Whitlow, executive director of Regenerative Organic Alliance. “With 35,000 acres certified, Wild Idea is the biggest domestic operation in our program, restoring soil and drawing down carbon at an impressively large scale.”

The holistic approach of the Regenerative Organic Certified model considers all elements in the farm system, providing a crucial baseline for an ethical supply chain. With Wild Idea, it means large-landscape grazing and humane field harvests; Wild Idea’s bison are harvested on the open prairie where they have lived since birth, so the animals never experience the stress of transport and confinement. The buffalo are 100% grass fed and grass finished, eating forage free of GMOs, herbicides and pesticides, and are never given antibiotics or hormones. 

For a quarter century, Wild Idea has also partnered with Native Americans to bring back the buffalo and conduct humane field harvests on Indigenous lands. Last year, the company conducted the first bison harvest at the Wolakota Buffalo Range, the largest Native-owned bison herd in the world.

“I’m inspired by the work of Wild Idea Buffalo. Decades ago, Rodale Institute envisioned a world in which farmers and consumers would come together to create and support a healthy food system that respects land and animals, empowers people, and restores both communities and ecosystems,” said Jeff Moyer, CEO emeritus of the Rodale Institute and a founding member of Regenerative Organic Alliance. “Regenerative Organic farming does all that with a certification process consumers can trust. Now, the link between human health and soil health through the management of prairie land with buffalo is working to make that vision a reality.”

Sources: Wild Idea Buffalo Co.; Regenerative Organic Alliance