Soil Carbon Cowboys Revitalizing Land, Livestock, and Lives
The Soil Carbon Cowboys documentary introduces us to the world beneath our feet and multiple solutions held within soil. Peter Byck, the filmmaker, explores the interaction between regenerative grazing and soil health resulting in nutritious food production grown in a way that is good for the planet, the consumer, and good for the farmers and ranchers who share their journey of soil carbon farming and economic sustainability.
By Denice Rackley
A new generation of livestock producers are spreading across the US and Canada. These “soil carbon cowboys” are working with nature to revitalize their land, livestock, and lives.
“Utilizing the natural interactions between cattle, plants, and soil, we can revolutionize the agriculture industry. This revolution can provide more nutritious food and provide a comfortable income for farming and ranching families while offering one significant solution to climate change, storing carbon in the soil ,” says Peter Byck, Soil Carbon Cowboy filmmaker and professor of practice at Arizona State University.
Byck, while producing Carbon Nation, a documentary film that focuses on solutions to climate change, was intrigued by the experiences of several ranchers. Introduced to regenerative grazing, its positive impact on soil health and its ability to remove carbon from the air and place it back into the soils, Byck set out to explore this revolutionary way to raise cattle.
The first documentary, in a series of ten, “Soil Carbon Cowboys,” highlights 3 ranchers that changed from traditional ranching using significant amounts of high-cost synthetic products to manage weeds and insects and fertilizers to grow forages to a managed grazing system that improves their land and animals while decreasing their costs and debt, helping them become economically sustainable.
The premise of the series is simple, look to nature for answers.
Mimic Nature
Natural grasslands in the US were grazed by large herds of buffalo then allowed to rest and regrow when the animals moved on. The buffalo stomped vegetation and activated the seeds within the soil while depositing manure, urine, and saliva, providing organic matter and nutrients for both plants and soils.
When livestock mimic this action, grasslands and soil health improves. Plant diversity is supported, improving health of stock and increases biodiversity underground.
These soil carbon farmers and ranchers are no longer focused on crops and livestock, the focus is on building healthy soils. In exchange for this mental shift, ranchers benefit by decreasing their input costs while raising healthier livestock. The good news is this move to becoming focused on soils can be utilized anywhere in the world resulting in improved health for people, livestock, and the environment.
Healthy Soils are the Key
The world beneath our feet is incredibly complex, containing more life than above ground. Soil microbes are at work repackaging nutrients utilized by plants, building organic matter, storing unused nutrients, and maintaining the porous structure of soil.
To maintain healthy soils rich in organic matter, store large quantities of carbon, hold lots of water to combat both drought and storms, and stay in place without erosion, thriving diverse plants that cover and cool the soil are needed.
In Nature - Everything is Connected
How do we maintain healthy, growing plants that are vital for soil health? Grazing then allowing adequate time to rest and regrow provides the answer.
Mimicking nature, fencing the livestock into small paddocks to intensely graze forage then moving them quickly through multiple paddocks allows the grasses to rest and regrow while soil is built and carbon is captured. Adaptive multi-paddock grazing (AMP) is the term coined in the documentary.
“The documentaries highlight ranchers who show that livestock, when properly grazed, offers potential solutions for soil health, animal health, human health, nutrition, water availability, and carbon sequestration,” says Byck.
These films are educating and inspiring countless agriculture producers who are following the AMP grazing method on their farms and supporting extensive research efforts detailing the benefits of AMP grazing and soil carbon sequestration.
The research is providing data that supports what the ranchers are seeing – Grazing livestock in the AMP method builds soil health and provides a sustainable process to store large amounts of carbon in the soil, improving the health of the livestock, us, and the planet.
For more information and to view documentary – www.carboncowboys.org
Published Research https://carboncowboys.org/amp-grazing-research
Regenerative farmer and advocate featured in the film
Gabe Brown http://brownsranch.us/
Dr. Andy Williams https://understandingag.com/who-we-are/
