If you are interested in Regenerative Ag, Soil Health, Holistic Management, Animal Welfare, Sustainable Ag, Permaculture, Organic Production, Adaptive Management, Ranching For Profit, or anything connected to these related fields of thought, let’s talk about the basics behind our resource base. We all need a piece of God’s green earth to work with. Once we have secured that piece of land, we will find it in a certain condition or “form”. To go about managing this piece of land, we will most likely be looking to change it’s current “form” to a “form” that we have in our mind that is “better” for our intended use or goal.
The Four Ecosystem Processes
We utilize the four ecosystem processes to read the health of our land. We work within our local environment, in God’s order of creation, to raise high-quality protein for our customers. We are in the business of converting solar energy into flavorful, nutritious pasture-raised protein.
1 – Water Cycle
Earth is a unique planet because of water. As the word “cycle” indicates, water is constantly cycling through, on, and above the Earth’s surface. Water can change from liquid to vapor, to ice, and into a fourth phase known as “structured”. Healthy soil (the product of plant root exudates and microbes) with good organic matter is key to an “effective” water cycle. We want every drop of water that hits our farm to be absorbed and utilized by microbes, plants, and animals. What water is not used percolates through the soil to maintain our underground aquifer and keeps our springs flowing. Compacted, bare soil results in water runoff and water evaporation, leaving our farm. Animal hoof action is a tool we use to combat capped, bare soil.
Water Cycle Indicators: GOOD = Soil is covered, open worm channels, deep straight plant roots. POOR = Bare soil, capped soil surface, high soil surface temperature.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11
2 – Mineral/Nutrient Cycle
In the Tallgrass Prairie region of Nebraska, we are blessed with mineral-rich soils and parent material (glacial till and wind-blown loess). An effective mineral cycle utilizes well-adapted and diverse plant species to bring nonliving nutrients from deep in the soil back to the surface, allowing the cycle to repeat. It is the interaction between living organisms and the non-living nutrients that is key to making the cycle work. When the plant brings those minerals above the soil, proper grazing moves some of those minerals into the animals. A typical ruminant animal will then deposit a large quantity of those digested plants and minerals back onto the soil surface as manure and urine. Healthy soils with an active microbial community will move those minerals from the soil surface back into the soil. A key mineral that we work with is CARBON, which cycles among solid, liquid, and gas. For a detailed walk through the carbon cycle, watch Keith Berns CARBONOMICS presentation.
Mineral Cycle Indicators: GOOD = Covered soil, active worms, sweet smelling oxygen rich soils, high organic matter in the soil, manure pats that quickly disappear. POOR = Bare soil, sour-smelling soil, low organic matter in soil, manure pats that last throughout the growing season.
3 – Community dynamics
Here we are looking specifically at the biotic, living community. Diversity is a key component of this process. We want species, genetic, and habitat diversity. Diversity of plants gives us the best opportunity catch incoming solar radiation along with access to all kinds of minerals below the soil. For example, western ragweed is good at bringing phosphorus up from deep in the soil. Communities are always in a state of change or succession. The management applied to each pastures can greatly effect the rate of succession. Everything in nature is connected. When we implement one practice it has a ripple effect throughout the entire pasture ecosystem. This is most evident by observing the state of our communities. A mowing of our pasture versus grazing of the pasture results in big differences in the succession of the plant community.
Community dynamics Indicators: GOOD = covered soil, decaying organic matter at the soil surface with diverse litter color and depth, little mechanical disturbance (mow or till). POOR = Monoculture of plants, poor yield or biomass, increased inputs being used.
4 – Energy Flow
Note, this ecosystem process is a flow of energy from the sun to the earth, not a cycle. This ecosystem process relies on plants as solar collectors, converting solar energy into stored energy here on Earth (carbon, see Carbonomics link above). Plants store and use some of this energy, but most of this energy flows out of the plant roots into the soil. Plant root exudates feed a huge underground community of microbes and other living organisms. The energy from plants is the source of energy for all other life forms on Earth. For this process to continue efficiently, it is important to leave enough plant material behind following a graze event. Excess removal of a plant’s “solar panel” without appropriate plant rest and recovery will shut down energy flow. Short graze events with long recovery periods allow us to capture the greatest amount of solar energy throughout the year.
Energy Flow Indicators: GOOD = vigorous roots, effective solar panel 24/7/365 days a year, cool and warm season plants for effective photosynthesis throughout the year. POOR = Any bare ground (no solar panel).
Summary
By looking back through the indicators for each ecosystem process, you soon realize that Public Enemy #1 is bare soil. We must keep the soil covered. In addition, any management that we implement that increases Energy Flow generally raises the effectiveness of the other three ecosystem processes.
If you try to source the origin of the current “Regenerative Ag” movement, you may end up with some of the early writings of Alan Savory and Stan Parsons. You can find the most recent versions of these ideas at Holistic Management International, The Savory Institute and Ranching For Profit. We have utilized the training opportunities provided by these organizations and recommend them to others.