[1] Dr. Whatley is best known for his regenerative farming system, in combination with the direct marketing concept of pick-your-own (PYO), a customer harvesting operation managed by farmers and growers.
[3] Whatley believed that the regenerative agriculture for small farmers made greater use of the internal resources that a farm produced and, therefore, when properly managed would provide a more sustainable livelihood.
Upon graduation, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he was assigned to manage a hydroponic farm in Japan to provide safe, nutritious foods for the US troops stationed there.
To further expand his audience and to deliver his message for turning a small farm into a profitable enterprise, Whatley traveled extensively in the US and overseas, giving training seminars and sharing his ideas.
The farm was part of a $300 million 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) project that was to raise fruits, vegetables and herbs, as well as lamb, venison, fish, duck, quail, pheasant, mushrooms, honey, and Christmas trees.
Small farmers simply can't afford to pick, grade, wash, package and haul their produce maybe 100 miles or more to market, yet that's exactly what the so-called experts are telling them to do.
[13] As Jeff Helms wrote of him in 2005 that he was a man 30 years ahead of his time: Almost 20 years ago, Whatley was writing about U-pick operations, community supported agriculture (CSA), drip irrigation, rabbit husbandry, farmer-owned hunting preserves, kiwi vines, shiitake mushrooms, veneer-grade hardwood stands, on-the-farm bed and breakfasts, direct marketing, organic gardening and goat cheese production.
However, his fight with the US agriculture establishment was ongoing, as he believed that USDA and land grant colleges continued to push big farm policies on the small farmer who could ill-afford their programs.