June 2021

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Regeneration is the Status Quo

by Wendy Millet and Kevin Alexander Watt

Human beings have a strong tendency to make decisions or adopt ideas that maintain how we think things are. 

This “status quo bias” emerges from a range of well-studied quirks in our brains, such as our disproportionate fear of loss and our strong preference for the familiar. While useful at times, these evolutionary survival tactics — remnants from our earliest days as humans — can be a severe limitation as we work with natural systems that are more complex and far-reaching than our ancestors ever dealt with.

Marketers and negotiators know that if you frame your position, even dishonestly, as the default or status quo choice, you are more likely to convince people of your position. In today’s world, conversations about food systems are seriously tainted by this bias. 

The industrial food system — still in its infancy relative to the timescale in which humans have been eating and cultivating food — is viewed by most as the default way humans ought to raise food, and this framing is widely accepted. As a result, advocates for a regenerative food system are faced with the bizarre task of convincing people of the merits of an alternative — an agricultural system that is ecologically and socially diverse, resilient to inevitable shocks, equitable across race and gender, with the potential to mitigate the devastating impacts of man-made climate change on the only planet we know of that supports life.

The idea that ecological regeneration is a new and untested approach is not rooted in fact. Regenerative systems are the reason life has existed and thrived for 3.8 billion years. Regenerative systems are diverse, resilient, productive, and support vibrant synergies that are greater than the sum of the parts. In contrast, simple, reductionist systems, like the industrial food system, are brittle, vulnerable, exploitative, and unsustainable. Their numerous inevitable failures are backed by historical as well as scientific evidence that shows how cultivation practices have contributed to the rise and fall of civilizations across the globe for thousands of years.

In our work to grow a regenerative food system that is diverse, inclusive, and resilient, it's helpful to remember that regeneration is the 3.8 billion-year-old status quo. If people or organizations aim to fabricate systems that exclude or eliminate elements of how the planet has successfully sustained itself and grown abundant and diverse life, it is critical that we continue to use science and fact to guide our collective efforts to sustain and cultivate life. This work has never been more important—or more urgent.
 

Picture of the Month

Bale Grazing - Stewardship During Drought to Grow Soil Health

by Mark Biaggi and Celia Hoffman

Background on bale grazing:

When fresh grass is not available in the winter across much of the US and Canada, ranchers feed cattle big bales (1,000 lbs+) of hay either in a feeder or rolled out randomly across their pastures. Decomposing uneaten hay (some would call it “wasted” because it didn’t contribute to animal performance) combined with manure and urine can boost the soil microbial community and provide beneficial biomass. This “wasted” groundcover sustains microbes when Spring arrives leading to healthier soils, improved infiltration and retention of snow-melt and rainwater, and increased land productivity.

Given all of the benefits, this is an amazingly efficient and effective way to feed both livestock and microbes and puts this practice squarely in the toolbox of options for regenerative ranchers. As is often the case with planned grazing, organized and planned bale grazing has shown incredible results for both livestock and growing healthier and more resilient soils. Unfortunately, many practitioners do not fully recognize the benefits and so choose to place the hay bales in locations based on convenience more than potential impact.

Joining the Savory EOV Program and Moving Towards Regeneration Verification

by Kathy Webster

We recently completed the Savory Institute’s onboarding process for the Ecological Outcomes Verification™ (EOV™) as part of their Land to Market certification. EOV is a protocol for monitoring land health that measures and identifies trends in leading (things that change quickly such as diversity or amount of bare ground) and lagging (things that can be slow to change, like soil carbon) indicators of ecosystem function. 

EOV measures trends in soil health, biodiversity, water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow, and community dynamics which, in the aggregate, indicate positive or negative trends in the overall health of a ranch or farm operation. The Savory Institute provides this information as feedback to farmers and ranchers while also taking into account contextual variances such as cultural and economic circumstances. Overall, the EOV information collection and feedback protocol helps farmers and ranchers make better holistic management decisions. 

Artist Day at the Ranch - “Get Your Goat”

by Annie Fresquez

Welcoming people to TomKat Ranch so they can experience ranch life for themselves has always been part of the fabric of our mission. Along with the splendor of the outdoors, time spent at the ranch can intimately connect people with regenerative cattle grazing and food production.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic put a large wrinkle in that objective. Now, after over a year and a half, we are eager to welcome people to the ranch once again and are immensely grateful for the success and efficacy of the vaccine program and the ability to be involved in our community after all this time.

Parting is Such Sweet... Oh, Grasshopper Sparrow! A Farewell to Mel!

by Hayley Strohm

Mel Preston, rangeland field ecologist with Point Blue Conservation Science at TomKat Ranch, is moving on to new adventures. Wishing her well by Hayley Strohm.

For years, you’d never know where you might cross Mel’s path while out at the Ranch. It might have been at the bird banding picnic bench—tucked into the Honsinger riparian area—with a bird’s wing splayed gently across her hand for a group of wide-eyed kids (and adults) to glimpse as she counted its feathers and estimated its age based on visible wear and tear—all while spinning a beautiful story of its life. Maybe you would spot her out along a ridge, her “Cal-dingo” dog, Laz, scouting her path while she estimated brush cover and geeked out on a new Danthonia californica patch she couldn’t wait to tell us about. When not in the field, we often found her in the Point Blue office, designing a monitoring program to answer one of the many questions the Land and Livestock team had, patiently listening and interjecting when our ideas got way off base.