Matthew Raiford 

For the past decade, CheFarmer™ Matthew Raiford has been working on his own family farm. He is the sixth generation to be farming land that has been in the family since 1874. He has been creating pastureland and working on soil regeneration and bioremediation using red wiggler worms and black soldier flies. Matthew has made it his mission to work alongside farmers and chefs to bridge the gap between the seed and the table.

Matthew returned to his family land in 2011, farming diversified crops of sugarcane, sweet potatoes, carrots, Thai basil, and hibiscus, and animal husbandry including laying hens, goats, and Kune Kune pigs, with a focus on terroir and flavor led Matthew to work with the University of Georgia Food Science Program Flavor Profiles for Foodpreneuers. Before his return home to Gilliard Farms, worked as a chef on opening culinary teams for large hotels, as the Executive Chef at the House of Representatives, and served as Program Coordinator for the Culinary Arts Program at the College of Coastal Georgia. Matthew attended the UC Santa Cruz CASFS (Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems) where theory meets the soil. CheFarmer Matthew uses the learnings from the CASFS program to help further the idea of what it takes to create a regenerative-sustainable food system. It takes pollinators like bees and bats to ensure the soil is treated as a living organism while ensuring that no matter where the land is located, it is constantly being fed. He also opened and ran two restaurants in Brunswick, The Farmer and the Larder, where he was nominated a 2018 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef- Southeast, and the second restaurant named Strong Roots Provisions.