Ole Miss Dining Celebrates New Partnership with Home Place Pastures

Students, faculty and staff at the University of Mississippi lined up to get a taste of freshly cooked pulled pork Wednesday in front of the Student Union.

The event was a celebration of a new partnership between Ole Miss Dining and Home Place Pastures in Como.

Under the new program, Home Place Pastures will provide whole animals, such as cows, and pigs to the dining halls. The animals will be humanely raised, grass-fed, and processed in a way that minimizes waste. The culinary teams will then work to transform the meat into a variety of delicious dishes, including BBQ, stews, and other entrees.

Home Place Pastures is among a small number of vertically integrated beef and pork farms in the US that raises and finish livestock on-site under strict federal inspection.

Wednesday’s event featured a ribbon cutting ceremony, a free meal and music provided by Blue Mother Tupelo.

“This an important partnership because it gives Ole Miss Dining the opportunity to give back to the community, support local farmers and give our students high-quality products while supporting local businesses,” said Ole Miss Dining Executive Chef Michael Brainard.

For Home Place Pastures it means a repeat customer and jobs.

“It helps us by giving us a guaranteed flow of products,” said Marshall Bartlett, co-founder and CEO of  Home Place Pastures. (Ole Miss) is buying a lot from us so that helps us grow our mission to support other Mississippi farms and sustain and create more jobs in Como.”

Ole Miss alumnae Brianna McCollum and Hadyn Perler, who both volunteer with the Oxford Community Market, came out Wednesday to sample the pork and show support for Brainard.

“Chef Michael comes out to the market every week and sometimes he’ll do food demos with the fresh food from the market,” Perler said. “He’s one of our super fans.”

McCollum said the pork was tasty and is happy to see the partnership grow.

“I think it’s great for Oxford and the university,” she said. “It’s putting local food on the plate for students and getting local farmers involved as well.”

Home Place Pastures produces grass-fed beef, pastured pork, and pastured eggs.

The Ole Miss Dining and Home Place partnership supports the University of Mississippi’s mission of providing a transformative educational experience for its students that fosters intellectual growth and personal development by cultivating a premium socially and environmentally sustainable dining experience that promotes the growth and well-being of its students and campus community.