Regenerative Ranching
We believe healthy food can and should be produced in harmony with nature.
Our regenerative ranching program is the largest in the West, with 120 ranchers on 7 million acres in 11 Western states, including Country Natural Beef’s 100 producers and other like-minded family and Tribal ranchers.
Together, we are producing high-quality food in ways that benefit nature, people, and local economies.
WHAT IS REGENERATIVE RANCHING?
Regenerative ranching is a way to produce food in harmony with nature. The focus is on the soil because healthy soil is the foundation for everything. Healthy soil stores water and carbon, naturally filters the water, and supports diverse plants and wildlife.
WHAT DO REGENERATIVE RANCHERS DO?
Each ranch is different, but when ranchers are practicing regenerative agriculture, they are usually rotating cattle across pastures to prevent overgrazing, using natural fertilizers and pest control whenever possible, planting native plants, promoting native birds and insects on their land, and protecting water quality.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE NORTHWEST DOING?
Sustainable Northwest offers consulting services to help ranchers in our program to find ways to produce beef in harmony with nature. We work directly with the rancher to identify goals and objectives specific to their ranchlands, and create a plan for how to get there.
Our regenerative ranching program includes financial and educational resources, along with rangeland monitoring and consulting, to create a product that is better for the climate and demands a higher market price.
REGENERATIVE RANCHING PROGRAM INCLUDES:
-
In partnership with County Natural Beef and Northway Ranch Services, we have created a peer-to-peer learning network of local ranching peers to share experience, troubleshoot local threats, learn from one another, and capitalize on their collective experience and knowledge. We also provide education stipends - annual stipends to spend towards education opportunities: training, speakers, travel to events, etc.
-
We meet with each of our 120+ partner ranches to collect field data - allowing us to monitor how the implementation of regenerative ranching practices is impacting their land.
Our program starts with baseline monitoring and a 5-year follow up to track progress on the following metrics: Spatial data that measures biomass and forage classes over time, water infiltration rates, soil health, biodiversity, bare ground, life cycle analysis, and soil carbon.
We also prioritize short term monitoring, where the rancher will be responsible for annual monitoring on selected pastures. This will be a simple monitoring with help from a specially designed app on your phone.
-
We understand that shifting practices from traditional to regenerative ranching requires added resources, so we take part in providing updated equipment and tools. For each of our producers, we create Ranch Management Plans that include land health objectives and management actions. We also provide a landowner dashboard where each landowner can visualize their ranch, access data from monitoring, track grazing and more.
-
Working with Beef Northwest and Country Natural Beef, we have launched a climate-smart finishing project by planting 260 acres of corn in year one.
-
Landowners will benefit from a $1 million marketing grant that will go towards educating consumers about regeneratively raised beef, maintaining and growing market share for this product, ultimately resulting in a premium for producers who are part of this program.
In partnership with DHM and CNB, we have done extensive research to better understand the priorities of the consumer - so that we can better meet their needs and encourage the adoption of climate smart beef.
120
Family- or Tribally- owned ranching businesses
7M
Acres of public & private rangeland
$67M
Estimated annual increased market return for program producers.
13
Western States
OUR PARTNERS
-
A progressive, relationship – driven cattle feeding company committed to profitability and sustainability through operational excellence. Visit their website!
-
A leading environmental sustainability consultancy that partners with major organizations across the globe to drive sustainable transformation and align business with planetary boundaries. Visit their website!
-
A network of forward-thinking ranchers united by a common philosophy: Leave the land better than you found it.
Over the past 36 years, Country Natural Beef has grown to become the largest ranching cooperative in the western US. Visit their website!
-
A small, women-owned creative strategy agency in Portland, Oregon. They believe creative brand work requires bringing together many parts, pieces, characters, and flavors. And everything that they put into it takes great consideration. It’s about the intention and the slow build, like a great stock, to create something stunningly rich and deeply satisfying. Visit their website!
-
Northway Ranch Services specializes in providing technical support for ranching operations, empowering you to leverage your most valuable resource: time. Visit their website!
-
Texas A&M University is an engine of imagination, learning, discovery and innovation. Here, you'll learn essential career skills while discovering the rich values and time-honored traditions that make our university so special. Link to their website.
