Technical Advisory Committee

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  Gabe Brown

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  Gabe Brown

  Gabe Brown is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement which focuses on the regeneration of our resources. Gabe, along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, own and operate Brown’s Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature’s image. They believe that healthy soil leads to clean air, clean water, healthy plants, animals and people.

  The Browns holistically integrate their no-till cropping systems, which include a wide variety of cash crops, multi-species cover crops along with all natural grass finished beef and lamb. They also raise pastured laying hens, broilers and swine. This diversity and integration has regenerated the natural resources on the ranch without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides. Over 2,000 people visit the Brown’s Ranch annually to see this unique operation. They have had visitors from all fifty states and twenty-four foreign countries.

  Gabe and Brown’s Ranch have received many forms of recognition for their work, including a Growing Green award from the Natural Resource Defense Council, an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and a Zero-Till Producer of the Year Award, to name a few. Gabe has also been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States, and recently authored the book, “Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture.”

  

  Joe Morris

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  Joe Morris

  Born in 1962 and raised in the city of San Francisco, Joe is the fifth generation of his family to steward land and cattle in California. Joe has worked on buckaroo crews in Nevada and California, as a lay missioner, community organizer and social worker with the Catholic Church in Latin America, and has taught high school in Washington, D.C.

  In 1991, he and his wife, Julie, founded T.O. Cattle Company and have used the Holistic Management® decision making framework to enhance the health of their community and land and to produce a living from their work. T.O. Cattle Company leases ranches and markets Morris Grassfed Beef™ to eight hundred families throughout California. As a result, they are a profitable ecosystem based business whose lands are improving even as its productivity is rising.

  Joe has guided over a thousand people across his ranches in the past twenty-five years, has spoken numerous times on the topics of Holistic Management®, stockmanship and ranching and is a founding member of Rancher to Rancher. He was awarded the Clarence Burch award for his leadership and stewardship by the Quivira Coalition in 2012.

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  Steve Nelle

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  Steve Nelle

  Steve Nelle is retired from the Natural Resources Conservation Service where his career spanned 35 years as a range conservationist, and wildlife biologist. Steve often engages as an advisor, teacher and leader in spreading the understanding of riparian areas. He is a major contributing author of Your Remarkable Riparian. Steve has been an advisor and botanist on the Soil for Water monitoring team since its inception.

  “Well-managed livestock grazing is a tool that allows land managers to achieve both ecological and economic goals,” says Steve Nelle, a San Angelo, Texas-based range and wildlife specialist with more than 40 years of experience in the public and private sectors. “It is the only land management tool that can make money instead of cost money, so it is often the most cost effective, and perhaps, the most natural and ecologically friendly tool we have to manipulate vegetation, allowing us to improve range conditions and wildlife habitat.”

  

  Betsy Ross

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  Betsy Ross

  Betsy Ross is dedicated to the principle that healthy soil grows healthy plants, which is necessary for healthy livestock, and ultimately, healthy people. She is CEO and President of Sustainable Growth Texas, LLC and Partner in ‘Betsy Ross Grass-fed Beef’.

  Betsy serves as the lead consultant for natural land renovation projects, guides pasture walks and field days, analyzes land for clients, and shares her expertise regarding what she “observes” with plants, soils, and ecosystem function. Betsy has been a Certified Soil Foodweb Advisor since 2004 and holds an MBA from the University of Texas. She is a sought after speaker at alternative farming and ranching events.

  In addition, she operates with her family, a 530-acre stock farm in eastern Williamson County along the San Gabriel River. The farm is used as a ‘lab site’ for Sustainable Growth Texas and is also home to her herd of grass-fed and finished Red Devon steers. Betsy uses adaptive multi-paddock grazing in her cattle operation to foster healthy land and cattle. Betsy Ross Grass-fed Beef is marketed local customers and through on-farm sales. Tenderness, flavor, and consistency are Ross Farm’s mark of excellence. No corn, hormones, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides are used in the grass-based production system.

  

  David Johnson

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  David Johnson

  Dr. Johnson received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Microbiology for New Mexico State University and is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural Research at New Mexico State University. He currently conducts research in soil microbial community structures and functions by exploring the interactions and interdependence between plants and soil microbes towards improving: plant carbon capture efficiencies, system water use efficiencies, and reduction of soil carbon respiration.

  This research is aimed at developing practical and easily-adoptable mechanisms to significantly reduce greenhouse gases while promoting sustainable agro-ecosystems. Dr. Johnson currently works with Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, Texas A&M, Arizona State University, Michigan State University, University of Hawaii, California State University Chico, University of California, Davis, and the Thornburg Foundation exploring paths to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, improve food security and increase farm and rangeland productivity through the development of beneficial soil microbial community structures.

  

  Dr. Richard Teague

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  Dr. Richard Teague

  Dr. Richard Teague is a range ecologist with Texas AgriLife Research. Dr. Teague grew up and received his schooling in Zimbabwe, Africa. He received his BS (1972) in Grassland Science, from the University of Natal, Pietermaritsburg, South Africa and Ph.D. (1987)in Botany-Ecology at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He has practical and research experience in grazing management systems, brush control with fire and chemicals on semi-arid rangeland in Africa and North America. He joined the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon in late 1991 as an Associate Professor.

  He believes that research and service must provide the linkage that enables managers to base decisions for sustainable land use on the principles of ecosystem function. He has used four key elements to enhance this linkage: a systems research program, resource accounting, long-term assessment and partnering with rancher clientele. He uses a systems approach in developing land and livestock management practices that sustain natural rangeland resources and the people depending on the land. His goals are to (1) broaden the understanding of requirements needed to sustain rangeland resources and economic viability, and (2) generate science based information to allow producers to improve management practices on rangeland.

  Dr. Teague has been an active advisor to the Soil for Water Project since its inception