Alumni Profiles
Dorothy Batten - Alumni Profiles - People - Batten Institute
Dorothy Batten
MBA '90
Owner, Oakencroft Farm and Winery
“Success for me is biodiversity. It’s not about winning; it’s about creating land that’s more resilient to climate change.”
When Dorothy Batten (MBA '90) set out to build Oakencroft Farm and Winery, a sustainability-first business with conservation at heart, she knew she was really tapping into a personal endeavor.
A lifelong conservationist and Darden alum, Batten is redefining what it means to be a sustainable farmer, and she’s allowing space for others to collaborate in that initiative.
Energy and soil are foundational sustainability efforts at Oakencroft, which is also a venue for conferences and events. The farm is fitted out with solar arrays, which offsets all of the energy used by the operations of the farm, winery and meeting spaces.
“Part of it is letting things go and stopping what you did before,” said Batten. “Stop trying to manipulate it; work with it and say, what does it want to be? What is it supposed to be? And how can we foster that?” Rather than grooming the land by haying and bush hogging, letting the environment grow wild to some extent can encourage biodiversity and build more complex soil structure.