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March 2021

Picture of the Month

Greener Pastures. Photo - Hayley Strohm

Introduction: Grass Springs Eternal

by Wendy Millet and Kevin Watt

Kevin Watt

Spring is a hopeful reminder of the resilience of our living planet.  Watching the world of plants and animals re-awaken after Winter is inspiring and invigorating.  It’s worth noting that some of the most amazing moments of Spring are often unseen such as the nearly imperceptible shift that occurs in a dormant seed when it miraculously begins to sprout. This first creative spark is transformative and a more significant state change than all subsequent growth that plant may experience. 

However, not all seeds sprout.  Some sit in the soil for decades and never make the shift to becoming active in the community of life.  For humans, Spring is a reminder that we can choose to sprout or stay dormant.  We have nearly limitless capacity to create through our thoughts, words, and actions. The ideas we share, the communities we grow, and the projects we start are the seeds that we plant.  Whether or not they have the impact we intend is secondary to the first intention of saying “yes” to the creative process.

Women in Ranching video.

The above video from the Women in Ranching (WiR) Program is a beautiful example of the tremendous impact the spirit of “yes” can have.  WiR started as an idea that snowballed as generous and diligent women saw, experienced, and supported the transformative power of this unique and crucial community.

This Spring, we hope you will feel inspired to say “yes” in whatever way expresses your own unique values and perspectives.  Whether you are adding a paddock to your grazing plan, starting a new trial or experiment, incorporating a new food into your diet, or reaching out to welcome a new voice or community in your work, the seeds you plant can become a gift to the entire world.

Transformative Investment in Climate-Smart Agriculture: Deep Dive and Introduction

by Megan Shahan

Megan Shahan

A new U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action (USFRA) report, “Transformative Investment in Climate-Smart Agriculture: Unlocking the potential of our soils to help the U.S. achieve a net-zero economy” makes the case that increased attention and investment in agriculture is necessary and urgent.  Why? Because scientific consensus is clear: global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut in half by 2030 and reach “net-zero” by 2050 to avoid more extreme impacts of climate change, including disruptions to food production, water supply, and global economies. 

This rapid timeline emphasizes the immediate need for significant emission reductions of all sectors, effective mitigation solutions, and increased investments in a net zero economy. According to the report, “U.S agriculture is a low-cost opportunity for all three.”

The report states that regenerative, or climate-smart, farming and ranching practices adopted at scale have the potential to make U.S. Agriculture the first carbon negative sector in the economy (sequestering more carbon than it emits). Climate-smart practices, like cover crops, reduced or no-till crop rotations, managed grazing, compost application, and integrated crop and livestock systems, are currently practiced on a only fraction of the nearly 900 million acres of agricultural land in the United States.

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Digging Deeper On A Pasture Soils Trial: A Question and Answer Session with Ranch Manager Mark Biaggi.

Fertility Flat pasture - Before | After

Following Regenerative Ranching Coordinator Hayley Strohm’s discussion of TomKat’s on-going soil amendment trials, we did a Q & A session with Ranch Manager Mark Biaggi to dig deeper into the process and remediation steps employed at Fertility Flat, a windswept hilltop on the west side of the ranch. Over the years, an aggressively encroaching shrub species popularly known as coyote brush has increasingly spread over Fertility Flat. During the Pleistocene epoch, browsing megafauna species likely kept coyote brush, along with other woody species in the California coastal region, in check (Northern Coastal Scrub and Coastal Prairie page: 190). Later, the indigenous peoples of the region used fire as an effective tool to limit coyote brush expansion into grasslands. Today, however, many areas of California have no such controls to limit woody plant encroachment.


 

Q: Please describe the state of the pasture – its vegetation and soil conditions –  prior to the trial.

Mark BiaggiA: In simplest terms, the field appeared tired and worn out. In some areas the briars and brush covered the field so thick you could barely walk, the soil was compacted and hard, and the plants weren't flourishing. Soil tests indicated low calcium levels with a SOM (soil organic matter) level of 3.5%, normally indicative of a fairly productive field. However, Fertility Flats still lacked productivity. An agroecologist described the area as ‘sleepy soils’ while Nicole Masters, a soil scientist and friend who works with the ranch, called it  ‘constipated’.

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Bar-C, the Why and How: A Focus On Rural Food Security

by Kathy Webster

Kathy Webster

At the peak of its local meat supply industry, California once had more than 70 meat harvesting facilities. Today, that number is half what it once was and those that remain are strained to meet demand by high volume and the variability of custom processing requests of small producers. 

Today, most small to mid-scale ranchers in the Bay Area travel approximately 250 miles—one way—to harvest livestock at one of the five USDA plants in the state that process multiple livestock species—beef, pork, lamb, and goat. Of those five, two do not offer ranchers the option of processing under their own label which further limits service to livestock sold by small- and medium-scale producers.

This reduction in meat harvesting options has created a bottleneck for local producers and resulted in a fragile supply chain that leaves small-scale regenerative ranchers and farmers scrambling. For people new to the ranching business, it’s even harder. In order to get into a crowded processing line, it may take a credible relationship with a processor to ‘write you in’, and relationships like this can take years to establish.

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Interview with Local Radio Host (KPDO) About Series on Prescribed Burn 

by Annie Fresquez

Annie Fresquez

At TomKat, we work to implement regenerative land management practices and share what we learn. This month we had a chance to sit down with Cathrine Perry, manager of our local community radio station KPDO. As part of an ongoing radio series, she recently completed three interviews with some of the people involved with our prescribed burn program. Now it’s our chance to get her perspective on what she’s learned about prescribed burns as a result. 



Q: Tell us about you and KPDO?

A: I’m station manager for KPDO 89.3 FM, aka Pescadero Public Radio Service, a nonprofit educational community radio station. I’ve been working on rebooting KPDO since 2011 when the former station manager absconded with our funds and a lot of our equipment, and left the country. At that point, I was a mere DJ with a show called Pescadero Pesos about Pescadero businesses and nonprofits.

(Use the CONTINUE READING button to listen to Catherine’s conversations using the audio links at the end of the article.)

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