“When I was in college, I was taught that you fed hay and grain, and the pasture was just something you put the animals out on to look pretty, or just to get a little bit of supplement. I had to really change the way that I think to make that switch. It was tough to wrap my head around all of that, but once I did, I would never go back to doing it any other way.”
That’s how one producer described the intellectual and emotional journey that led him to adopt regenerative grazing: raising livestock in ways that improve soil health and increase biodiversity and productivity. For the past three years, NCAT has been talking to producers, listening to their stories, and leading a project funded by Southern SARE whose purpose was to “identify practical and regionally appropriate methods of regenerative grazing and accelerate the adoption of those methods in Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia.”
We told Southern SARE that we wanted to expand the work NCAT’s Soil for Water program was already doing in Texas, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. We also wanted to give special attention to the needs of small, underserved, and limited-resource farmers—not just for reasons of fairness but also to learn if regenerative grazing can be done affordably at a small scale. I had the pleasure of leading an interdisciplinary team that included four of NCAT’s best livestock specialists, researchers at four universities, thought leaders from several nonprofit organizations, and dozens of farmer cooperators.
What we learned is that regenerative grazing, while still far from mainstream, is gaining traction throughout the South. In focus groups at the end of our project, producers in all four states named many new organizations that were invisible to them three years earlier but now “leading the way.” Participants also noted greater support and sympathetic interest from universities, some of which had previously been skeptical or hostile.
Arkansas Grazing School. Photo: Nina Prater, NCAT
Folks told us the hardest barriers to overcome were not technical but social and psychological, requiring a mindset shift and willingness to put up with negative peer pressure from neighbors. Many found that their initial fears about up-front cost and labor were exaggerated. After periods of trial and error, they saw economic gains as they reduced purchases of fertilizer and hay and saw labor decreasing as livestock became familiar with rotations.
The best ways we found to encourage adoption were variations on the theme of peer-to-peer learning. We hosted informal pasture walks, launched new mentoring programs; encouraged low-risk, do-it-yourself, on-farm experiments; and gave scholarships enabling limited-resource producers to attend Understanding Ag’s renowned Soil Health Academy. We created new supportive working relationships between agency staff, nonprofits, and producers. Over and over again, we saw that a little emotional support and encouragement goes a long way.
Besides healing overgrazed and damaged grazing lands, regenerative grazing can increase forage production, drought resilience, and profitability. It facilitates local food systems offering healthy meat products to consumers. It’s giving producers access to emerging payment programs for carbon sequestration, clean water, and other public benefits. All of these things are already happening across the South, and we need them to happen faster.
We’ve just released a new series of ATTRA publications, titled Regenerative Grazing in the South, sharing many of our key findings. Please check them out:
Our friends at Virginia Tech have also completed a fantastic series of video case studies, where producers talk about how they discovered regenerative grazing, how they overcame barriers, and how they’re making it work. You can find all 12 video case studies here.
For sharing their wisdom, experience, and personal stories, I’d like to give special thanks to:
Farmer cooperators Gary Armstrong, James Burch, Lauri Celella, Lucille Contreras, Juanita Daniels, Jeremiah Eubank, Matt Flynt, Adam Isaacs, Emily Jost, Servando Leal, Deydra Steans, Becky Szarzynski, Tony and Levonna Uekmann, and Guille Yearwood
Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Dirk Philipp (University of Arkansas), Dr. Rocky Lemus (Mississippi State University), and Dr. Eric Bendfeldt (Virginia Tech University)
State working group leaders Felicia Bell (Mississippi), Linda Coffey (Arkansas), Darron Gaus (Texas), Peggy Sechrist (Texas), and Lee Rinehart (Virginia)
Science advisors Dr. Kelly Lyons (Trinity University), Dr. Barbara Bellows, and Ann Wells, DVM
Wayne Knight (Holistic Management International), Brent Wills (Virginia Association for Biological Farming), and Allen Williams (Understanding Ag).
Our external evaluators, Erika Berglund and Kristal Jones (JG Research & Evaluation)
This project was based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2020-38640-31521 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number LS21-345. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
https://soilforwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/large-soil-monitoring.jpg9601280NCAT IT/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/soil-for-water-logo-101921.pngNCAT IT2024-11-18 07:58:412024-11-25 15:05:46Regenerative Grazing in the South: Changing Attitudes and Gaining Ground
In this video, Eric Benfeldt, an Extension Specialist with Virginia Cooperative Extension, introduces the Soil for Water Video Case Studies series.
The purpose of this systems research project led by National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) was to identify and promote practical ways of using regenerative grazing practices to improve soil health and catch and hold more rainwater in soil. Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension’s project team conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and conversations across Virginia to learn and better understand farmers’ and ranchers’ agroecological motivations and overall values related to the protection and conservation of water resources. The project aimed to highlight distinct and diverse farms of Virginia’s agricultural community through a narrative inquiry framework.
The project team included Eric Bendfeldt, Kim Niewolny, and Katie Trozzo from Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension; Lee Rinehart and Mike Morris of NCAT; and Ernie Didot of Clear Impact Productions.
The project team especially wants to thank the participating farmers for sharing their time, experiences, and insights about regenerative grazing and soil health-building systems with us and the broader community.
This project material is based upon work that is funded and supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2020-38640-31521 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) program under subaward number LS21-345. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Virginia Cooperative Extension is a partnership of Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments. Its programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, ethnicity or national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or military status, or any other basis protected by law.
Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm Rappahannock County, Virginia
Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm is a multi-generational farm located in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Rappahannock County. A core belief for Michael Sands and Bean Hollow Grassfed Farm is having and encouraging a healthy ecosystem where farm and land management reinforce natural processes because a farm cannot be healthy if the land is sick. Sheep and cattle are their primary livestock, but they also have layers for eggs. Most of their meat sales are sold through their on-farm store. In this video, Michael shares about his early career as a researcher and educator with the Rodale Institute; describes how the gnawing in his gut led him into farming and the move toward more regenerative practices that strengthen biodiversity, build soil health, and sequester carbon; and explains his family’s efforts to mitigate climate change. Farming for Mike is about continuous improvement, assessment of finances and hard-to-measure ecological metrics, and making management decisions that push forward the adoption of regenerative practices, while being mindful of farm transition and conservation planning.
Bramble Hollow Farm Bedford County, Virginia
Bramble Hollow Farm is owned and operated by Brent and Anna Wills and is located along the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Bedford County. Brent and Anna and their family raise pork and chicken on pasture. They have also raised other livestock and poultry through the years. Brett and Anna use multiple market channels, including farmers markets, on-farm sales, community supported agriculture (CSA) deliveries, participation in a food hub, and affiliation with the Edible Goose Creek farm alliance. Additionally, Bramble Hollow Farm invested in an on-farm commercial kitchen to diversify and add value to what they grow and offer. In this video, Brent shares who (i.e., writings of Gene Logsdon, Wendell Berry, and others) and what influenced him and helped form his vision for regenerative agriculture where soil health equates to plant health, plant health equates to livestock health, and ultimately equates to human and planetary health.
Cattle Run Farm LLC Greene County, Virginia
Cattle Run Farm LLC is a third-generation, family-operated, and veteran-owned farm located in Greene County and the central Piedmont region of Virginia. Sarah Morton and Ralph Morton seek to carry on the tradition of their family and expand the concept of an agrarian lifestyle and business to the community. Sarah shares about her family’s roots in farming and how asset mapping played a critical role when her father wanted to transition to the next generation. Sarah and Ralph raise cattle, chickens, produce, blackberries, hogs, cows, and more as they continue to look to add value and diversify their operation. They are active members in the Minority and Veteran Farmers of the Piedmont and work closely with several other community-focused organizations. Sarah emphasizes that Cattle Run Farm’s story is one of resilience, scale, diversification, and fortitude to keep farming and reaching towards sustainability and empowering others. Like many multi-generational family farms, sustainability, resilience, and viability are forged out of necessity. Sarah reiterates the critical importance of community in farm viability and similarly how farm viability strengthens community viability beyond the farm’s gate. Overall, the story gives a glimpse into Sarah’s and Ralph’s ecological and social consciences and how reconnecting to the land instills passion and power.
Ellett Valley Beef Company Montgomery County, Virginia
Gil Yearwood of Ellett Valley Beef Company reflects on his time raising beef since 1975. Ellett Valley Beef Company is in Montgomery County in southwest Virginia and specializes in South Poll cattle because they are excellent for grass-based grazing systems and have relatively small frames, easy dispositions, and are tender. Gil admits he has tried every variation of rotational grazing and has found that it is significantly better than continuous grazing. Gil took an interest in cattle and grazing as a teenager. He has been a mentor for many young and second-career cattle farmers. Gil demonstrates that regenerative agriculture and grazing is a journey and an adaptive lifelong process. He openly shares his overarching goals, challenges, the lessons he has learned, and what gives him hope with soil health, water quality, and regenerative grazing adoption as he interacts with other farmers and visitors to his farm.
Ember Cattle Company Rockbridge County, Virginia
Becky Szarzynski is the owner and operator of Ember Cattle Company in Fairfield in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Becky as a grazier has honed her grazing management skills over the past 15 years by working with her father, attending conferences, being mentored by other farmers, and serving in a coordinator role of the farmer-to-farmer mentoring network with the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council. Becky raises South Poll cattle as a cow-calf operation, breeds replacement heifers, and sells seed stock on 160 acres of land. Becky practices rotational grazing with a diverse forage base that includes native warm-season grasses, summer annuals, and cool-season perennials. She prefers the term adaptive grazing over rotational grazing because conditions are constantly changing, and you must be very observant of the interactions between soil health, plant diversity, livestock, pollinators, the weather, stocking density, and the overall system. Becky shares her motivations, lessons learned, aspirations, ongoing research and study of grazing, and, of course, her fascination with dung beetles.
Glade Road Growing Montgomery County, Virginia
Glade Road Growing is a small family farm within the town limits of Blacksburg in Montgomery County, Virginia. Sally Walker and Jason (JP) Pall started the farm operation in 2010, building on their experience with home gardening. Sally and JP did not grow up on farms but have learned through internships, conferences, reading, YouTube videos, farm visits, and their own experiences as the farm has grown over the past 14 years. Sally and JP and their growing full-time and part-time staff raise certified naturally grown produce and pasture-raised, organic-fed pork, poultry, and eggs. They have worked with the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Services on several cost-shared soil and water conservation practices. Glade Road Growing started marketing their produce at the Blacksburg Farmers Market, but their sales now include a farm stand and a season-long farm share and community supported agriculture (CSA) subscriptions. Nutrition, health, and connections with community are critically important to Glade Road Growing’s mission and vision. Although JP and Sally are not quick to use the term regenerative for their vegetable production practices and livestock rotations, respect for their soil, water, animals, staff, and customers is always at the forefront of their thinking, and they are growing together with the community in mind.
Heaven’s Hollow Farm Madison County, Virginia
Heaven’s Hollow Farm is a fourth-generation family farm that has been in operation since 1951. Jacob Gilley, his wife Jennifer, and their children operate the farm in Orange, Virginia. Jacob, a first-generation farmer, is thankful for the support of his parents and credits his involvement showing cattle in 4-H as a teenager for his career in farming and conservation. He continues to learn and study through reading and visiting with other farmers. Heaven’s Hollow Farm is a commercial Black Angus cow-calf operation that also includes pastured poultry and pork. Most of their beef, poultry, pork, and eggs are marketed directly to consumers and local restaurants. Jacob and Jennifer take a holistic approach to managing their farm and seek to improve soil health, water quality, bird and wildlife habitat, and pollinator diversity as much as possible. Jacob describes their thinking about these processes and their rotations. Soil health, profitability, and quality of life must be balanced and should not be too complex. Being flexible and adaptable is important for Jacob and Jennifer, particularly with grazing, raising a family, and managing the farm holistically.
Holsinger Homeplace Farms Rockingham County, Virginia
Holsinger Homeplace Farms is a family farm in Rockingham County in the central Shenandoah Valley. Buck and Amanda (AJ) Holsinger and their children are the tenth and eleventh generations to live on the farm. Buck and AJ started farming with the goal of feeding their family the healthiest food possible. Their animals are raised humanely and given the freedom to roam and obtain a nutritious diet from the forage base and their silvopasture system that includes black locust, black walnut, pine, cedar, and other mast, fodder, and shade-producing trees. Holsinger Homeplace Farms now provides other families excellent grassfed beef and eggs from free-range laying hens. Buck and AJ share their motivations and how they have a generational perspective. Russell Smith’s book Tree Crops was an early influence and motivation for Buck, along with his experience visiting other countries as a veteran and pilot. AJ’s background in dietetics and nutrition has influenced her perspective on soil, plant, and animal health. Silvopasture management is a centerpiece of their farm as they seek a system that is multi-functional and provides multiple benefits across time. USDA and state conservation and cost-share programs have helped them financially in getting started and allowing them to set a pathway for transforming the farm and achieving their long-term holistic vision.
Shamoka Run Farm Augusta County, Virginia
Shamoka Run Farm is a modest family farm in northern August County, operated by Leo and Judy Tammi. Leo grew up in Delaware on a small, diversified farm with a few milk cows, hogs, sheep, and poultry. Leo and Judy moved to the Shenandoah Valley region in 1981. Leo learned very early to farm with nature and what the land is best suited to. Shamoka Run Farm is a sheep and lamb farm that includes about 240 acres of hay and pasture, along with 60 additional acres of rented land. Leo was a founder of the early Virginia Lamb Cooperative, is an active member of the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, and has worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services and Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District on a variety of best management practices like riparian buffers, bird and pollinator habitat, and native grass plantings. Leo shares several epiphanies and observations on rotational grazing, resiliency, aesthetics, marketing, and wildlife habitat, as well as the need to educate people about the complexity of farming and the services farming and good land productivity provides to the broader community. Leo reminds us that regenerative and soil health-building principles must be internalized, require inquisitiveness, energy, resilience, and continual observation.
Singing Spring Farm Craig County, Virginia
Adam Taylor and Elizabeth Spellman-Taylor co-operate Singing Spring Farm, which is in the Sinking Creek Valley in Craig County, Virginia. Adam’s and Elizabeth’s goal is to be a whole, complete-diet farm that offers heirloom fruits and vegetables; goat milk, kefir, and cheese; culinary and medicinal herbs; eggs; and pastured, lamb, goat, and poultry. Agroforestry and permaculture are important themes on their farm as they seek to protect the Singing Spring on their farm, create community, and live out paradise gardening. Adam’s experience interning on a farm in southwest Virginia and being a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia profoundly impacted how he views farming, while Elizabeth has a deep conservation ethic in agricultural land protection and agrarian commons. For each of them, Joe Hollis’s essays and musings on Paradise Gardening were instrumental for their vision of a family lifestyle that was balanced with everyday practices.
Swisher Family Farm Rockbridge County, Virginia
Jerry Swisher is a cattleman, farm consultant, and retired Senior Extension Agent for dairy sciences. He continues to own and operate Swisher Family Farm, his family’s farm in Fairfield and Brownsburg in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Throughout his career with Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension, Jerry served in many capacities to support Virginia’s dairy farmers, 4-H youth, and industry. Jerry designed and developed the Dairy Rotational Loafing Lot System, which became a standard best management practice for dairy farms to prevent soil erosion, protect natural resources, and enhance cow comfort and performance. Jerry was instrumental and a key resource for Virginia and Mid-Atlantic dairy farmers who desired to transition to grass-based dairy systems. He led multiple educational tours regionally and internationally so farmers could learn from other grass-based farmers in Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. He provides an historical perspective and motivated farmers to transition to grazing systems rather than conventional confinement with limited access to pastures. Jerry documents farmers’ motivations for grazing in an era of high costs and frantic industrial change, the pushback from the dairy industry, and frequently asked questions about grass-based regenerative dairy farming.
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Could you ever live in a house that collapsed on itself? Probably not. To begin living there, we would have to rebuild the house by adding more space between the walls, ceiling, and floor. By the same token, soil life cannot live in soils that have collapsed where there is no place for them to live. They need enough space provided by good soil structure to live and grow. And because healthy soil structure is so important to creating resiliency to droughts and floods, as well as providing nutrients for growing our food, healthy soil structure is the house of life!
What is Soil Structure?
Soil structure is the arrangement of individual soil particles and the space between them. Soil microorganisms fed by sugars released by plant roots group soil particles together into larger units called aggregates. Soil structure can vary from granular where there is a lot of space between aggregates (think cottage cheese or a fluffy chocolate cake; see Photo 1) to being very tight and compact where there is very little to no space between soil particles and no aggregates are visible (see Photo 2).
Why is soil structure so important?
Photo 1: Healthy soil has a granular or crumbly structure. Photo: USDA-NRCS
Agriculture is the conversion of solar energy into harvestable, life-giving energy. Solar energy is captured by plants, which release that energy in the form of biochemical compounds to soil life. Soil life produces glue-like compounds that enable sand, silt, and clay particles to rearrange while also bringing nutrients to plant roots. As soil particles rearrange during the aggregation process, cavities called pores are created. Pores allow soil to infiltrate and hold water that’s essential for plants and soil life. Pores also allow air to get into the soil so soil life and roots can breathe while allowing carbon dioxide to be released from the soil. Carbon dioxide rising out of the soil is captured by plants so photosynthesis can continue. Life on earth is dependent on a healthy soil with a granular or crumbly structure that promotes the capture and release of water and
Photo 2: Unhealthy soil with no visible aggregates. Photo: USDA-NRCS
promotes the exchange of gases. In short, a granular soil structure allows soil life and plants to drink and breathe.
Think of soil structure like a house. The wood, concrete, and steel that make up the foundation, floor, walls, and ceiling are like sand, silt, and clay particles. The nails, screws, and staples are like the glue-like compounds secreted by plant roots and soil life. With nails, screws, and staples in place, the house has lots of room to live inside. But if a large earthmover moves through the house, the house collapses and the livable room inside the house is eliminated. Similarly, when tillage or another disturbance happens too frequently, the soil structure collapses on itself. Collapsed soil structure diminishes the habitat soil life needed to obtain nutrients for plants and to facilitate water infiltration and air movement.
What are the key practices that can improve soil structure?
Practices that can facilitate improved soil structure include the following:
Reduced tillage, strip tillage, or no-till
Three or more crops in rotation from three different plant families
Cover crop mixtures with at least eight plant species and three plant families
Grazing perennial pastures that focuses on: 1) adequate leaf area post-grazing; and 2) full plant recovery pre-grazing
Grazing cover crop mixtures on cropland where possible
Mulching
Controlled traffic farming
Converting annual cropland to perennial mixtures
Photo 3: Nine species cover crop mixture. Photo: USDA-NRCS
Healthy soil structure is the house of life. As we focus on improving the life in our soils, that same soil life can begin creating healthy soil structure with plenty of space within and between soil aggregates. This can give us healthy food plus resilience to droughts and floods. That sounds like a win-win-win!
This publication is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.
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With roots in regenerative land stewardship since 1994, The Dixon Water Foundation has been approaching one of Texas’s limited resources in a unique way. While many other groups promote better livestock management and land stewardship, Dixon is one of the few organizationsnationally in its specific focus on using grazing to protect and improve water resources.
Dixon’s mission of promoting healthy watersheds through sustainable land management is accomplished through integrating livestock, research, and education. The foundation manages four large ranches in west and north Texas totaling more than 15,000 acres “On Dixon Ranches, livestock are the tool we use to create healthier land and healthier watersheds,” says their website.
When asked why Dixon takes such a specific approach to water conservation, Robert Potts, President and CEO, said, “Because it is what we know, and it is what we are good at.” Dixon is a leading organization in regenerative land stewardship, and they’ve been doing it for nearly 30 years, long before “regenerative” became a buzz word.
Photo: The Dixon Water Foundation
Dixon was one of the Soil for Water Project’s first funders. Their mission is similar to ours, and we owe them a great deal of gratitude. We’re fortunate to have Philip Boyd, Vice President of Science & Research, and Casey Wade, Vice President of Ranching Operations, working alongside us as we provide education and set up small-scale “safe-to-fail” trials across Texas. Dixon works with researchers at universities and nonprofit organizations like Sul Ross State University’s Borderland Research Institute and Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory to monitor their ranch management methods. These monitoring efforts include watersheds, soils, plants, and wildlife. In one study with Richard Teague, they were able to confirm that multi-paddock adaptive grazing improves water conservation and protects water quality. Philip also runs numerous education events at the west Texas ranches, along with Education Program Coordinator Melissa Bookhout at the north Texas ranches, providing practical firsthand knowledge to landowners, school children, and the public.
Rachel Vasquez recently talked to us about her work as Vice President of Grants. She was enthusiastic about spreading the work of land stewardship and water conservation through the Dixon grants program and a new and upcoming apprenticeship program. The apprenticeship program will help new ranch managers coming out of college gain real expertise in regenerative practices that heal our land. Dixon is about conserving water resources for generations to come, so it’s appropriate that they are training young people.
Learn more about the Dixon’s workhereand connect with our Regenerative Grazing Specialists at the Forum.
Soil for Water network member High Hope Farm is located in the “black prairie” country of western Clay County, Mississippi, and is owned and operated by Johnny and Deb Wray. Soil for Water Mississippi team leader Felicia Bell recently sat down with Mr. Wray to record an interview, discussing his regenerative journey and the improvements he’s seen in his farm’s soils.
In 2008, the Wrays decided to commit full-time to farming and moved permanently to the farm, after being inspired by Wendell Berry’s sustainable agriculture and local food systems philosophy. On their 38-acre farm, they raise regenerative grass-fed beef and lamb with two goals — providing safe, healthy beef and lamb to local consumers and sharing their regenerative agriculture journey with younger generations, hoping someone will follow in their footsteps. They use no steroids, growth hormones, antibiotics, or other chemical products. Their “high hope” is “to have a place that offers hospitality to friends and strangers alike — a welcoming table of good, healthy natural food, and a spot where earth, animals, plants, and people live, work, and play together harmoniously.”
When the Wrays first began, they tested their soil and found it was deficient in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) minerals. Going against conventional wisdom, they decided not to depend on chemical inputs to correct these problems but instead chose to follow intensive rotational adaptive grazing to improve their mineral cycle. These decisions have paid off with dramatic improvements in their soil health. After 14 years of regenerative-adaptive management, Johnny was happy to share that current soil tests show significant improvements in organic matter at almost 6% and no NPK deficiencies.
Additionally, research on the farm by Mississippi State University showed that roots were deeper, soil microbiology was increasing, and some native grasses were returning, so much so that Johnny developed a new problem — growing too much grass. However, after consulting with Dr. Allen Williams, Johnny decided to let the paddocks he couldn’t manage rest because in the end tall grasses have deep roots that play a significant role in water infiltration and soil health.
This increased soil health has made High Hope Farm more resilient to unpredictable weather changes. Johnny mentioned that he realized he is a “dirt farmer” because “as you improve your soil, you improve your grasses, and you improve your livestock.” He has noticed a decrease in water runoff and soil erosion. Keeping the ground covered year-round also keeps the soil’s temperature noticeably cooler during hot Mississippi summers. These are all indications of a healthy soil sponge that captures, holds, and uses water more efficiently. Johnny says that observing these improvements as a direct result of his management is “very encouraging,” and has made his operation profitable.
Johnny mentioned great resources that helped him in his journey, including Understanding Ag, ATTRA, Soil Health Academy, USDA-NRCS, Mississippi State University, and regenerative movement pioneers like Dr. Allen Williams. He also emphasized the importance of being part of local producer networks to learn from others. These experiences have shown him firsthand how diversity and ecosystem dynamics are a fundamental part of regenerative farming.
By Lee Rinehart, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
“If you always leave grass behind, you never run out of grass.”
I was going to save this quote for the end of this article; when I heard it during our conversation, I knew it would nicely summarize Guille (Gil) Yearwood’s philosophy. Now, I think it’s better to start with this quote. It’s an observation he had, “one of those moments,” in his words, back in the 1980s when he began his transition from continuous grazing to a rotational system. “I’ll never forget that day years ago when I went back to a grazed paddock a week later and saw regrowth.” It was something he’d never seen before. “When you graze a pasture continuously, you have no idea how much grass you have because its continually disappearing.” After Guille switched to rotational grazing, his paddocks would look like a hayfield four weeks after grazing. This, in his words, “is totally different and totally better.”
Guille Yearwood has been ranching forever. He started during his teenage years—1975 to be exact—and has been raising cattle ever since. When he started, he had other businesses going as well as the cattle work—25 years in real estate for one—but Ellett Valley Beef Company has been his full-time job since 2008.
Ellett Valley Beef Company encompasses seven locations around Blacksburg, Virginia, mostly on leased property, on which he grazes seven groups of South Poll beef cattle—a total herd of around 350 animals. Back when he first got the rotational grazing bug, by paying attention to Virginia Tech’s rotational grazing research, Guille divided his pastures into eight or 10 paddocks and began grazing stockers through the rotation. This is when he had his “aha” moment. He saw his forage yield increase immediately, and though the gains per head were not what he was used to, he noticed a higher herd weight gain because he could easily increase his stocking rate. Guille realized this new system could be taken up a notch, and now has 80 paddocks spread across all his pastures.
Cows grazing fescue – Oct. 2021
Guille would travel up to 90 miles a day checking and moving cattle before he reduced the number of leases a few years ago from 13 locations. Now, they’re all closer to home, significantly reducing the time to check and move cattle. Now, he and a part-time hired hand can check and move cattle more efficiently. He relies on grass alone and follows adaptive management techniques with frequent moves, mostly daily, and recovery periods of seventy to ninety days to allow for full plant recovery before the next time cattle see the paddock. Guille considers his system to be truly regenerative. In fact, he started regenerative grazing long before term came about, and he’s glad it did “because it’s a good term.” It accurately describes his way of doing business. His regenerative practices include highly diverse pastures, grazing for animal impact and nutrient cycling, and long recovery periods for plant rest and accumulation of high amounts of organic matter to the soil.
Ranch Profitability
“To be profitable, I need to graze all year, if possible,” Guille noted. His goal is to produce excellent grassfed beef and be profitable, and to accomplish that, his focus is on grazing as many cattle as he can through the winter. Some time back he began thinking about return on investment and started looking at the farm this way, realizing he needed to run this like his other businesses. He did an economic analysis and a budget and figured out that he couldn’t afford fertilizer or hay equipment. “I saw that [buying fertilizer and making hay] would not make a profit, so I got rid of them.” Instead, Guille buys hay to cover the 40-65 days during the year when he needs it. For the remainder of the year, the cattle graze fresh and stockpiled pasture. In fact, the interest he received from selling his hay equipment covered his hays costs, and he’s never looked back.
Guille’s pastures have been fertilizer-free since 2000. Prior to transitioning off of fertilizer, he had broadcast clover for several years, as he was particularly concerned about nitrogen fertility. But the second year after stopping nitrogen applications, he fertilized a fescue pasture in August, a common practice for preparing fescue for winter stockpile. However, after comparing days of grazing data between this and the prior year when no fertilizer was used, he realized he lost money with the fertilizer application. The days of grazing were the same for both years. This was the end of Guille’s use of purchased fertilizer. The diversity of his pastures, which included legumes and grasses, coupled with his adaptive management, provided the nutrient cycling and carbon sources he needed to be sustainable without it. All the while, he was ratcheting up his grazing techniques, trampling residue, and feeding hay on land that needed the nutrients. It seems that when he decided to go fertilizer-free, he had already been taking care of the soil for years, so he was ready.
Educational Philosophy
Guille’s college work includes an English degree from Virginia Tech and a master’s in English from Rice University. It is easy to tell from reading the blog entries on his website that his liberal arts education sharpened his critical thinking skills and gave him a foundation well suited for the complexities of agriculture. Since then, he has been inspired by Joel Salatin, especially his book Salad Bar Beef, which he says had a big impact on his philosophy. Other luminaries that inspired him include Andre Voisin, the “first true scientist that addressed rotational grazing,” Newman Turner, Jim Gerrish, and Allen Williams, who “has it figured out and is backed up with real science.” He learned about brix levels in forages from Williams, and though skeptical at first, he has seen a tremendous difference by moving cattle to new paddocks in the afternoon when brix levels are highest. Guille has learned so much and, with a natural drive and desire to help beginning and transitioning farmers, has much to share from his experience.
“The big challenges a new farmer needs to overcome are the tactile, physical problems. These are harder for people to pick up than we realize. For instance, a polywire reel is a foreign object to a beginner, but for me, it is an ordinary tool like a screwdriver.” Guille helps beginners by simply taking them out and involving them in moving cattle, checking cows, or moving polywire, and showing them how to shut off the power, tie polywire, or set posts. Newcomers are fascinated by the complexities of grazing tools and procedures, and he has come to understand how new this is to some people, so he trains people from this tactile perspective. Also, new farmers don’t know cattle and it’s a long learning process. His advice is to read all the books you can at night and during day go to the stockyard. Seriously, the stockyard. When a cow comes into the pen, evaluate her breed, condition, and weight, and especially listen to the people talking around you and pay attention to what they are observing.
“Some things we are just going to battle,” he said. For instance, weeds in fence lines are a major struggle for Guille. He has miles of electric fence and keeping them maintained is labor-intensive. He can spray a lot of fenceline in a short amount of time but would rather not use herbicides, and some lessors don’t want him to spray pesticides. “Weed eating would occupy me all summer, and then there’s the yellow jackets!” It’s an ongoing struggle, and he makes it clear he doesn’t have all the answers. “On this ranch you’ll see a lot of mistakes,” he said, but he has learned more in the past four years about grazing than in the 10 years preceding it. “Don’t panic… just try it” is the best advice he can give. “Don’t be afraid to set the field up and try it; if it doesn’t work, adjust and move on.”
Fine Tuning and Adaptation
Pasture with johnsongrass, fescue, clover, and stickweed (Verbesina occidentalis).
Guille doesn’t farm his land. Rather, he follows the truly regenerative practice of grazing what is available with one-day grazing periods and 70- to 90-day recovery periods. Plant communities change seasonally and yearly as different (adaptive) grazing practices are employed on the land. His pastures are diverse and include johnsongrass, which many graziers have tried to eliminate but he sees as complementary to his grazing system. Johnsongrass has usually been found in bottom land but now it’s moving on to upper lands, places he has never seen this hardy perennial grass before. It works out well in his grazing system because by the time he gets around to a paddock with johnsongrass, it’s fairly mature so it has no prussic acid problems. Also, there is enough diversity in the pastures and grazing them before the frost works well in his rotation.
Guille’s adaptive management hits a high note when it comes to finishing steers on grass. When trying to finish a group of steers (get ready, this is brilliant), he mimics continuous grazing (which, though hard on the pasture is good for optimizing individual animal gain) to allow the animals to exhibit more grazing selectivity. He keeps the rotation going at about the same grazing and recovery periods but gives the feeder steers bigger paddocks. “I’ve measured these results. On excellent pastures with medium-frame cattle, one group gained 4.2 pounds over six weeks and another group gained 4.6 pounds.” If a normal paddock size is a half-acre, he gives the finishers an acre and a half for the same period, giving them the ability to be more selective in their grazing.
Guille Yearwood currently serves as Farmer Advisor for the Virginia Soil for Water Project and is working with the Virginia Association for Biological Farming to plan a field day on his ranch in the spring of 2023, where participants can see up close the practices that he has been refining for the past 50 years. “This is the best job in the world,” Guille noted at the end of our last talk. His passion for the land and grass-based agriculture is palpable, as you’ll see if you make it to the spring field day. And, oh yes: Guille is an excellent writer, with a witty humor and deep love and knowledge of his subject, as you can see from the blogs posted on his website.
By Lee Rinehart, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
No level of education can prepare a student for the deep work of community building around resource conservation issues, especially in low-income counties that have experienced environmental catastrophe. But this is how Mary Sketch Bryant cut her teeth in the demanding world of land-use policy and environmental and community restoration. With a newly minted degree in environmental studies, Mary found herself in California working with a forest restoration collaborative. She began connecting with local folks to find answers around community resilience and conservation. How could she help rebuild this community devastated after the Butte fire tore through 70,000 acres of forest, farms, and homesites?
Mary’s experience in California gave her insight into the human dimensions of resource conservation— namely, how do people make decisions in land management and how do they translate into policy? A subsequent tour of duty at the Center for Rural Strategies in Tennessee highlighted the diversity of rural issues and the challenges, especially in changing the perception of rural communities. The power of communications and community leader-driven advocacy, especially in Black belt and Native nations, became paramount, particularly when communities are economically depressed. There is so much knowledge in local leaders, and natural resource conservation flows through all the issues rural communities face. Telling their story became her passion.
Graduate work at Virginia Tech helped strengthen Mary’s focus on the dynamics of human behavior in environmental work, and she realized this necessarily involved agriculture. She wanted to get more into agricultural working lands and put her passion for coalition building to work. Building power and strength in place-based communities and getting rooted in trust building among all land stakeholders was her new call. With her new position with Virginia Tech Extension, the Virginia Soil Health Coalition had an advocate, a leader to help bring a burgeoning organization together.
The Virginia Soil Health Coalition is a collaboration of soil scientists, policy advocates, practitioners, and farmers seeking to further soil-health practices across Virginia. The Coalition’s work is, however, about much more than fostering soil-health practices. Their work is more complex than just adding cover crops and no till; it takes a systems orientation and working with collaborators on the more intangible aspects of partnership, such as strategic planning and evaluation. Where do you start? There are so many intangibles, so where do you draw the lines of where you are having an impact and how do you record the results you do not see, such as a general awareness of soil practices among the greater population? And how do you get more people on board, addressing them where their actions are, where they live, whether they are advocates, gardeners, or farmers?
Virginia Ag. Expo in Caroline County, VA
Working with agencies and core nonprofits—NRCS, Extension, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Conservation Districts, Forage and Grassland Coalition, and many more—the Coalition currently has about 35 partners. There is a seat at the table for all who have this vision of soil health, and it is a vast network. Mary’s job is to make the Coalition, through advocacy and education, accessible to all involved. “There is a lot going on in Virginia related to soil health,” she said, “but the partners are spread so thin.” With a goal of knowing and supporting what each group is doing in the Coalition, the intangibles become more evident. The synergies between each disparate organization result in more collaboration, more conversation, and more farmers implementing practices that, on their own place and according to their own needs, hold more water in the soil, keep nutrients out of the bay, and in turn increase the productivity and economic resilience of Virginia agriculture.
In the fall of 2021, Soil for Water entered the scene. The Virginia Soil Health Coalition was well set, through connections with Virginia Tech Extension, a core Soil for Water partner, to serve as a hub to facilitate a broader partnership across Virginia. Soil for Water is furthering the adoption of regenerative grazing practices that keep water in the soil and the Coalition is key to this success. Each member of the Coalition has connections already solidified, making communications and cross-pollination among groups more productive.
Variable Nitrogen Rate Field Day in New Kent, VA
The focus on regeneration is crucial. According to Mary, the idea of regeneration goes beyond the soil component. It is about building more life into something. “We have such diverse partners, and we do not have a comprehensive definition for soil health. Rather, it is what a partner brings to the table that is important, for each has a different, though corresponding, definition…There is no check box of what to do in regenerative agriculture, and it is challenging but exciting. Defining regenerative agriculture is difficult, a buzzword we must move beyond toward a focus on more life in the soil and more widespread consideration of soil health,” Mary said. She invites us to “come together around ambiguousness” in this journey of regeneration. Again, the intangibles. I want to be engaged; how do I do that? Who are we reaching outside the Coalition? If Mary is right, engaging and knowing who to go to, and instilling a more common language and understanding of soil health among the broader population, is key. Building a spark and fostering energy among the myriad layers of influence in the community. This is the real work of coalition building.
So, what is the level of interest and commitment in Virginia to regenerative agriculture? “It is high, but maybe that’s my hope,” she said. “Maybe people don’t call it regenerative, but that is their perspective.” And maybe it is a little easier on a smaller scale. The biggest farms in Virginia are on a smaller scale than those in the West and Midwest, so it can be easier to implement certain practices, such as cover crops and no-till. “There are many progressive farmers in Virginia; there is energy and momentum. Who knows how good a particular farmer’s soil is, but they are thinking about it,” and that’s the point to start from.
“So much of state leadership is pushing for it [soil health, regenerative agriculture], so much cost-share is available on a state level. Even if some farmers will never apply for cost-share funding to implement a practice, it does trickle down.” Awareness is growing and to Mary, that is the point of the Coalition. “There is wide interest in Virginia, but the implementation piece needs work, especially on the economic front, because more farmers are paying attention and have numbers around this. It can be a strong incentive for others to adopt soil health practices.”
I asked Mary at the end of our conversation what advice she would give to a farmer interested in making a change to his soil-health practices. She responded that she would advise them to pursue farmer-driven resources, and farmer-to farmer-networks, and, importantly, to open the space for others to learn from the failures of their peers. “There is lots of innovation out there, but it is a slow process, and we are always pushing for the next step. People don’t get into farming to get rich, but they do need to make money and minimize risk. Most farmers want to learn and experiment but don’t want to risk their bottom line.” In Virginia, there is a focus on the bay and soil quality, and soil quantity and water capture are almost forgotten. This is an important paradigm for her producers and practitioners to realize, not to mention economics.
This focus on water capture and economics is what the Soil Health Coalition and Soil for Water are good at. Our common goals are connecting and networking, telling stories, and helping people imagine their own future.
Soil for Water and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition are sharing events and building capacity because there is so much overlap between them. We can leverage our work to reach a bigger audience. “We are working toward same goal, which is all that matters,” said Mary. “Let’s make it happen.”
The National Center for Appropriate Technology’s (NCAT) Soil for Water program and Understanding Ag provided scholarships enabling seven beginning small-acreage livestock producers from four different states to attend the Soil Health Academy workshop in Uniontown, Alabama, May 17-19, 2022. Scholarships covered workshop costs, which included meals, on-site travel expenses, and materials such as notebooks and cooling cloths. The food provided was grown regeneratively at Bois d’Arc (BDA) Farms, highlighting the importance of local and the sense of community and environmental stewardship.
Soil for Water technical advisor and soil health movement pioneer, Dr. Allen Williams, was one of the speakers at the school, along with two other nationally famous leaders of the regenerative agriculture movement: Gabe Brown and Doug Peterson. The hands-on workshop took place at Dr. Williams’ BDA Farm.
Photo: NCAT
Attendees learned soil health basics and regenerative grazing techniques—more specifically, how to plan adaptive grazing with multiple species to build resilience and profit. Participants experienced intensive mob grazing and the moving of a one-million-pound herd. Additionally, they broke into teams to learn by observation about soils, forage diversity, plant identification, and herd impact. The core message of the training was that “Regenerative agriculture is not a set plan; it is an adaptive plan.” The Soil Health Academy teaches according to the ‘6-4-3’ rule: Six Principles of Soil Health, Four Ecosystem Processes, and Three Rules of Adaptive Stewardship.
A goal of NCAT’s Soil for Water program is to show that regenerative agriculture can be done at any scale, at low cost, and by anyone—beginners and experienced producers alike. To learn about other upcoming regenerative agriculture workshops, check out NCAT’s event calendar .
https://soilforwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/soil-health-academy-healthy-soil-1-scaled.jpg14432560Cathy Svejkovsky/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/soil-for-water-logo-101921.pngCathy Svejkovsky2022-06-09 09:22:192022-10-12 12:53:37Soil Health Academy: More than Just a Soil Health Workshop
Tammi and Stephen Bell are the kind of couple who believe that less is more. Their motto seems to be to let the plants and animals do the work. That’s exactly what they’re doing at Waterline Farm in Pryor, Oklahoma.
Now, they are not completely hands off. Although they don’t usually mow their lawn, much to the chagrin of their neighbors, their goats do the mowing by grazing it. Similarly, they believe it’s important to first think about infrastructure. That means digging small trenches to direct the flow of water and building hügelkultur mounds to slow and keep water on their land a bit longer. It also means being patient and observing the land. They may agree with Michelangelo when he said “the task of the sculptor [is] to discover [the statue].” They want to discover the beauty of the land and help it become what it wants to become.
The Bell’s goal with Waterline Farm is to become a homestead demonstration site practicing regenerative agriculture with an emphasis on ecological stewardship. Their operation has seen its fair share of challenges, but the Bell family has turned them into opportunities. In 2019, a massive flooding event raised the level of Lake Hudson in Oklahoma, on which their property is located, and crept up several hundred feet onto the pasture. As the water receded, it created natural contour swales, which they used to plant sycamore and oak trees to increase water absorption and retention, therein slowing the flow of water to the lake. Realizing that their shoreline was fragile after seeing how their neighbor’s shoreline receded, they also planted several more sycamore and cypress trees closer to the shore, creating a wide strip of protection. Additionally, they made use of the silt the lake water brought and let the native grasses grow tall, allowing the deep roots to take hold in the soil. This added organic matter, created more soil aggregates, and increased the presence of wildlife, such as Monarch butterflies and a resident bald eagle. Both of those changes served to expand their silvopasture system while making progress on their goals of regeneration and wildlife conservation by simply giving the land more of what it could use.
But not everything can be accomplished by watching from afar. Stephen is adamant that one needs to get their hands dirty, their boots muddy, and observe the land from various places to get an idea of where the water is going and what the land is doing. Then, it’s important to act. In this way, he noticed that rainwater was flowing from his property into his neighbor’s. So, he built up hügelkultur mounds along that edge of his property to slow the flow of water. Most recently, he dug a trench with his 39-hp tractor to direct water to his orchard. All these actions serve to catch and hold more water in their soil, lessening the potentially damaging effects of floods.
Even though the Bell family doesn’t do it for the money (they’re both comfortably retired), they expect to turn a profit this year. They are saving money by not buying costly fertilizers and by supplementing their groceries with the food they grow and harvest themselves. Even their livestock enjoy the fruit of their harvests, which means less spent on buying animal feed. Moreover, their farm has garnered the attention of Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), the Oklahoma Forestry Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), and perhaps most importantly, their fellow community members. Some of this has led to grants and other beneficial financial opportunities. Tammi says it is “the big circle coming back.”
The Bell family says that the peer-to-peer learning systems such as Women, Livestock, and the Land course and the Soil for Water Network, both part of NCAT, have been instrumental to their success. “People feel isolated and when they see others doing something similar, that works,” says Tammi.
The National Center for Appropriate Technology has officially re-launched its Soil for Water project, opening access to the free, voluntary network to all commercial farmers, ranchers, and land managers across the United States. Soil for Water aims to connect farmers, ranchers, and land managers who are interested in land management practices that improve soil health, catch more water in soil, reduce erosion, sustain diverse plant and animal life, and filter out pollutants all while sustaining a profitable business.
In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Communications Director Emilie Ritter Saunders speaks with NCAT Regenerative Grazing Specialist Linda Poole about the expanded Soil for Water effort and the new community-building tools we’ve launched to support this expanding network.
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You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG. Learn about NCAT’s other cutting-edge sustainable agriculture programs.
https://soilforwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ep-241-photo.png600800NCAT IT/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/soil-for-water-logo-101921.pngNCAT IT2022-02-23 11:49:272022-02-23 11:50:03LISTEN: NCAT’s Soil for Water Project to Connect a Community of Regenerators
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This project was based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2020-38640-31521 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number LS21-345. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
