Part of my role as a partner in Understanding Ag is to keeping up to date on the trends in agriculture, staying abreast of what is “new” in agriculture—and what the industry and investors are focused on. I spend a lot of my time talking to the boards of directors of food and agriculture companies, …
One of the true joys of getting to work with so many farmers and ranchers as they move down the regenerative path is watching as they learn how to work in synchrony with nature. It’s especially gratifying when they send along letters that describe their regenerative experiences, like the one I recently received from Daniel …
The Beauty of Working With Creation, Not Against It Read More »
Understanding Ag works with a significant number of gardening operations around the U.S. and has developed several helpful tips for regenerative gardening that you and your garden can benefit from, too. I hope you’ll consider incorporating many of these regenerative principles and practices in your garden this year. When you do so on a planned, …
As a regenerative farmer and consultant, I see the enormous potential of restoring the health of our living and life-giving soil. However, I also see the potential for regenerative agriculture to become a broad and misleading brush by which some companies can disingenuously greenwash their sustainability efforts, confuse consumers and devalue the currency of legitimate …
It’s Time to Get on with the Business of Regeneration Read More »
The Three Rules of Adaptive Stewardship TM have been proven to work in every region of North America and in many other parts of the world. Results are similar relative to differences in soil type, precipitation, temperature, and other environmental differences. The KEY to successful adaptive grazing is KEEN OBSERVATION. Since adaptive grazing is not …
It is important to note that every living cell and organism has a memory and responds to prior experiences accordingly. So, soil microbes have a memory and respond to prior grazing or other management practices. Plant cells have a memory. Animal cells have a memory. If similar practices are employed year after year, then the …
The Three Rules of Adaptive StewardshipTM are: Rule of Compounding Rule of Diversity Rule of Disruption The Rule of Compounding follows the concept that every management decision or practice applied creates a series of compounding and cascading effects that are either positive or negative in nature. There never are any singular impacts and they are never neutral. Simply understanding this …
Research performed by Dr. Stephan Van Vliet, Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences, Utah State University, and the Bionutrient Food Association, found that grass-finishing, compared to conventional grain finishing, increases a wide variety of health-promoting compounds in meat and improves animal health. Phytochemical richness of meat is directly related to the finishing diet of …
Nutritional Comparisons Between Grass-Fed Beef and Conventional Grain-Fed Beef Read More »
In our previous article, we provided an overview list of the many potential benefits dairy farms are observing as they move into regenerative agriculture. Dairy farms are uniquely suited to the principles of adaptive management because they have multiple livestock classes that can utilize a variety of feedstuffs. This provides opportunities for greater plant diversity …
For the past several decades, the food industry has experienced significant consolidation. This is especially true with the meat processing sector. According to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, about 85% of all fed cattle are purchased and processed by the largest four beef packers in the U.S. That leaves only 15% of the fed cattle …
