Southern Oregon Rancher Builds Fences And Bridges To Keep The Wolves At Bay

An unlikely partnership between ranchers and conservationists is working together to protect grassland biodiversity on the Zumwalt Prairie Preserve in Oregon. The Nature Conservancy has cultivated relationships with landowners in the area to promote sustainable grazing practices. While some ranchers are skeptical about the organization’s intentions in the area, one rancher says they are “a good neighbor” and because of his alliance with the nonprofit, his pastures have consistently achieved good ratings over the years.

A robust population of grizzly bears can be an indicator of healthy land; however, the bears also can destroy grain bins, consume vegetation, and kill livestock. Ranchers work with the Canadian government and local conservation groups to protect their resources with bear-proof grain bins and electric fences.

In order to get a handle on the spread of COVID-19, and to prevent future zoonotic disease outbreaks, China introduced temporary regulations banning commercial breeding of wildlife for meat consumption. These have hit farmers hard, with at least 20,000 farming operations shutting down by the end of February. With the bans on their way to fully becoming a law, local governments are trying to provide training and loans to help farmers transition to new products, but some claim the process is slow and doesn’t go far enough to prevent the breeding of the banned creatures for fur farming and traditional medicine.

By using new technology and shared knowledge, the Dutch have become global leaders in agricultural innovation and solutions to fight famine. Work being done at Wageningen University & Research has allowed farmers in the Netherlands to grow crops year-round and in all kinds of weather, while eliminating the use of chemical pesticides and reducing the dependence on water by as much as 90 percent at some farms. Exporting these techniques to other countries has its challenges, but international graduate students are working to implement these programs in their home regions to help people experiencing hunger.

University research in Kansas and California is providing technical solutions for small farmers to help them compete against large scale farms.

In Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council was formed after a severe drought to bring together federal, state and regional governments and bridge parochial concerns. It was meant to manage the basin as a whole and end overuse and salinization of farm land, leveraging new technologies to adapt to new realities.

When cattle die on ranches in Montana, they can attract grizzly bears that can come dangerously close landowners, ranches, and living livestock. Blackfoot Challenge, a coalition of ranchers and landowners who work with the government, collects and composts dead cattle into odorless woodchips. These woodchips are effective at repurposing carcasses into high-way side revegetation projects.

Environmental advocates got 1.75 million signatures to change Bavarian farming laws to protect biodiversity. The Save the Bees Campaign calls for using subsidies to nearly triple the amount of organic farming, creating a network of wildlife corridors, and other actions to protect bird and insect life. Initial results show that, since the law took effect, the share of organic farmland increased and thousands of more acres of forest have been protected. Farmers have also adjusted their view of productivity, including protecting nature as a way to be productive. Similar efforts are happening across Europe.

As the agriculture industry faces crop and profit loss due to catastrophic weather events, many farmers and ranchers are being catalysts for conversations with politicians, scientists, and environmental groups about how to combat the effects of climate change. Throughout the United States, key stakeholders in the food supply chain have formed working groups to discuss climate change and how their industry can work together to improve soil health and sequester carbon. While there are some who are not supportive of these efforts, there is a growing consensus around the importance of having these discussions.

Small farmers in Indiana are working together to "manage the spaces they share, and to use those resources to improve their community by growing healthy food, and distributing that food to the people around them." Although the efforts started with a retiree population, young adults are now joining in, and the coop is gaining attention from economists and universities.