Food Tank

JANUARY 5, 2024

Eric Boor took over his great-grandfather’s nine-acre farm in southern Iowa four years ago. Eric and Mikala both knew that they could raise hogs outdoors, but it wasn’t until they started partnering with Niman Ranch that they could make it work financially and begin to grow their business. “I

Ranching 128

Ranching Farming Farming Acre 128

AgriLife Today

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

The $13 million facility is a joint.

biotechnology 122

biotechnology Construction Acre Livestock 122

Civil Eats

OCTOBER 2, 2024

He and 100 caprine teammates can clear about an acre a day. “I Founded in 2020, Happy Goat farm sits on a 2,000-acre property in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park. That amounts to approximately 200 acres in addition to the 220 acres the goats take on each year back at the farm. Photo by Craig Kohlruss.

Acre 145

Acre Farming Farming Compost 145

Food Tank

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Today, he’s a sixth-generation pig farmer partnering with Niman Ranch. Williams, his wife Hannah, and their toddler Lyle now live on Williams Family Farms, sustainably and humanely raising pigs and farming about 400 acres of cropland. The best thing about Niman Ranch is how transparent they are.

Ranching 106

Ranching Family Farming Farming Farming 106

Modern Farmer

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Surveying the aftermath of the Kula Upcountry Fire—one of three devastating wildfires that raged across Maui last month—Brendan Balthazar noticed a striking pattern emerge across his cattle ranch. Peppered throughout some 500 acres of charred pastureland, he found sizable patches of grass left unscathed by the blaze.

Plantation 114

Plantation Pasture Acre Ranching 114

Civil Eats

MARCH 4, 2024

It’s no wonder that hospital food gets a bad rap, says Santana Diaz, executive chef at the University of California Davis Medical Center, a sprawling, 142-acre campus located in Sacramento, California. As such, strictly grass-fed or grass-finished operations tend to be modest in scale, says Cheung, with the majority of ranches in the U.S.

Pasture 142

Pasture Ranching Supply Chain Cattle 142

Modern Farmer

APRIL 24, 2024

Nearly four decades ago, Ron Mardesen and his wife Denise stopped using antibiotics on their hog farm, A-Frame Acres, in Elliot, Iowa. In 2002, Mardesen started selling his pork to Niman Ranch, a network of independent family farmers that raise livestock without antibiotics or added hormones.

Cattle 130

Cattle Food Acre Livestock 130

Farm Credit of Southern Colorado

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Colorado’s semi-arid climate can be unpredictable, presenting challenges for ranchers and livestock producers. PRF insurance is available for haying and grazing, and you can insure part or all your acres. Contact your local insurance agent today to learn how PRF insurance can benefit your ranch. What is PRF Insurance?

Livestock 52

Livestock Forage Ranching Pasture 52

Caff

JUNE 16, 2022

Brisa Ranch went through their first 3rd Party Audit in 2020 because they participated in the USDA’s Farm to Food Box Program (a COVID-19 response program) and needed the certification to sell to the program. Crops, livestock, and other essential farm (and community) resources often need to be carefully tended to during evacuations.

Ranching 52

Ranching Food Crop Farming 52

Modern Farmer

APRIL 8, 2024

Without farmland to grow crops or ranchland for livestock, we don’t eat. The ATF predicts that more than 300 million acres of farmland and ranch land could change ownership within the next two decades, with some of it transitioning out of agriculture use permanently. Conserving farmland underpins a stable local food supply.

Farmland 111

Farmland Acre Real Estate Ranching 111

Modern Farmer

JANUARY 20, 2024

Mickey Steward has worked hard to rehabilitate her ranch. You can’t buy a good ranch,” Steward jokes. You have to buy a ranch that, for whatever reason, has gotten rundown.” Steward runs Red Angus cattle on about 1,000 acres of land over the Crow Reservation in Montana, right at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains.

Ranching 81

Ranching Plowing Cattle Acre 81

Modern Farmer

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

Tony Prendergast’s XK Bar Ranch sits slightly south of Crawford, Colorado, near the Smith Fork of the North Fork of the Gunnison River on the southern edge of the agriculturally rich North Fork Valley. We bought the ranch by forming a land cooperative with three other families and collaborating on different uses of the land,” he said.

Ranching 93

Ranching Livestock Acre Ecology 93

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

MARCH 8, 2024

Furthermore, new and beginning producers , defined as farmers and ranchers who have operated a farm or ranch for not more than 10 consecutive years, increased in both the number of producers and the share of all producers. million farms and ranches across the U.S. – farms and ranches produced $543.1 million acres to 196.5

Agriculture 111

Agriculture Agriculture Acre Farming 111

Civil Eats

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

For three generations, Fanny Brewer’s family has been ranching the same land in South Dakota’s Ziebach County. million-acre Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation , where she grew up, the county is among the poorest areas in the United States. Encompassing part of the 1.4-million-acre

Agriculture 145

Agriculture Agriculture Farming Farming 145

UnderstandingAg

DECEMBER 31, 2024

Over-winter feed costs are often the largest expense for livestock owners, and in many parts of the country where hay is more expensive, it can rob the profit out of cow/calf pair production. We had 200-plus acres of stockpile from the previous year to graze throughout the green up process. What class of livestock are they?

Pasture 97

Pasture Forage Livestock Manure 97

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 24, 2023

The certification, funded by the Rodale Institute, Patagonia and Dr Bronner’s, insists on five practices to improve soil health: integrating livestock, keeping the soil covered, minimizing soil disturbance, incorporating diversity and zero chemicals, as well as a soil test every three years. Photography courtesy of Cabriejo Ranch.

Food 96

Food Ranching Ecology Fertilizer 96

Food Tank

JULY 14, 2023

In 2019, they connected with Niman Ranch, which is a network of more than 600 small and mid-size farmers and ranchers across the United States. Niman Ranch offers a guaranteed market for its farmers’ and ranchers’ products in exchange for a high standard of practices. Right now, Steven and Alaina both work off-farm jobs.

Farming 97

Farming Farming Ranching Farmland 97

Modern Farmer

MARCH 27, 2024

Maintaining and building fences is a yearly job on every ranch, costing at least $20,000 per mile. Once these fence posts are hammered into the ground, ranchers battle trees, wind and damage from livestock knocking them over. The livestock impact is what most fields have been lacking for the last 75 years.”

Pasture 125

Pasture Technology Livestock Cattle 125

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 12, 2024

But Sonoma has a less genteel side: The area is also home to approximately 3 million head of livestock held in concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. In November, county residents will have the unique opportunity to ban CAFOs with a ballot initiative that would completely prohibit industrial livestock operations.

Livestock 61

Livestock Acre Poultry Farming 61

ATTRA

DECEMBER 10, 2024

acres of corn and 10 acres of hay to feed them. Winter is underway, and people, land, and livestock are still struggling to recover, but I am impressed with the outpouring of assistance and volunteers who are still trying to get lives back to normal. Gene has a small beef farm with 15 cow/calf pairs and raises 1.5

Farming 97

Farming Farming Acre Rural Development 97

Daily Yonder

MARCH 4, 2024

Finding adequate, affordable health insurance can be a huge challenge for people who run small, family farms or ranches, said Alana Knudson, director of the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. Texas leads the nation in the number of farms and ranches, with 248,416 , and has the highest rate of uninsured residents, at about 18%.

Ranching 99

Ranching Ruralism Farming Farming 99

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 8, 2023

Alfalfa hay, the nutrient-rich backbone of the dairy, beef and horse industries in the West, produces more protein per acre than any other field crop. Al Noorda of Cedar Fort, Utah started using fodder for his grass-fed beef cattle and horses in 2014, following years of drought at his mixed-use ranch.

Cattle 89

Cattle Technology Ranching Acre 89

ProAg

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

billion in emergency relief payments to eligible farmers and livestock producers. These much-needed payments are helping farming and ranching operations recover following natural disasters in 2020, 2021 and 2022. FSA is closing out the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) for losses suffered in 2021.

Agriculture 59

Agriculture Agriculture Livestock Forage 59

UnderstandingAg

MAY 3, 2024

We should feed the soil more like we feed ourselves and our livestock. Living ground cover is especially critical on acres receiving manure from confinement operations. Critics of this approach will likely argue that it would require too much labor and take too many acres to grow cover crop seed. These are features, not bugs.

Pesticide 83

Pesticide Crop Manure Fertilizer 83

Agwired

OCTOBER 17, 2024

A project let by TH Cattle Company is quantifying the soil and biomass impacts of climate-smart ranching practices and rewarding livestock producers through premiums for added-value beef. Over 5,000 acres of ranchland are participating by implementing climate-smart grazing practices that will enable access to these markets.

Greenhouse 45

Greenhouse Ranching Acre Marketing 45

Civil Eats

JULY 2, 2024

The ice cream shop is an extension of the Nicholson family’s sixth-generation, 120-acre farm in nearby Ferndale. More Eyes Per Acre As one of California’s oldest cheesemakers, Rumiano Cheese has a storied presence in the North Coast’s dairy shed. The more dairies, the more farmer “eyes per acre,” Baird says, referencing Wendell Berry.

Pasture 142

Pasture Production Marketing Supply Chain 142

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 10, 2024

Patrick Brown, who was named North Carolinas Small Farmer of the Year by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University this year, grows almost 200 acres of industrial hemp for both oil and fiber, and 11 acres and several greenhouses of vegetablesbeets, kale, radishes, peppers, okra, and bok choy.

Plantation 144

Plantation Farming Farming Acre 144

Food Tank

AUGUST 30, 2023

I just returned from one of my favorite events, the Niman Ranch Hog Farmer Appreciation Celebration in Des Moines, Iowa, at which Food Tank is honored to co-host an Educational Summit. I have been fortunate to call Niman Ranch Founding Hog Farmer Paul Willis a friend for many years, and I still get emotional at this event.

Food 52

Food Ranching Farming Farming 52

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

DECEMBER 8, 2023

In central New Mexico, for example, Christy Everett ’s family ranches, Jones Corona Ranch and Jones Mountainair Ranch, have seen not only hotter, more challenging summers, but a shift in the summer monsoons. Perennial livestock systems have similar capacities to reduce vulnerability to climate impacts.

Ranching 72

Ranching Greenhouse Crop Pasture 72

Civil Eats

MAY 6, 2024

land, with cropland expanding by 1 million acres per year, fueling habitat loss for wildlife and mammals. A good example is Christina Allen’s 10-acre farm in Maryland. One of the main examples is the wolf population in the American West—and you have in Montana, Idaho, and California issues with predation of livestock by predators.”

Farming 143

Farming Farming Pesticide Agriculture 143

Trimble Agriculture

AUGUST 9, 2023

Agritourism is any venture on a farm or ranch that’s not directly related to raising and harvesting produce or livestock commercially. Generally, it complements the farm or ranch’s usual undertakings. A 2022 study estimated an average of 2,000 acres of farmland are lost each day. What is agritourism?

Farming 98

Farming Farming Farmland Finance 98

Agwired

JANUARY 29, 2025

Recognizing the vital role that four-legged friends often play on family farms and ranches, Farm Bureau launched the Farm Dog of the Year contest several years ago now a popular feature of the American Farm Bureau Federations Convention.

Supply Chain 45

Supply Chain Livestock Farming Farming 45

Civil Eats

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

His mom, Christy Walton—widow to Sam’s son John—has a net worth of about $11 billion, which she has used to fund restaurants, large ocean aquaculture projects, and a 40,000-acre ranch that offers a “regenerative experience” to tourists and has acted as a site for research on land and livestock management. It won’t be easy.

Supply Chain 145

Supply Chain Food Agriculture Agriculture 145

The Lunatic Farmer

MARCH 18, 2021

His love of the west generally and bison specifically led to a massive accumulation of ranch lands. Unlike Turner, Gates is buying cropland (farmland) not ranch land. Gates now owns 242,000 acres of cropland which is far different than the rugged range land and prairie ecosystems Turner loved and wanted to restore.

Ranching 52

Ranching Farmland Fertilizer Mechanics 52

Civil Eats

AUGUST 29, 2023

Before RiCharde and his wife, Anna, took over Good Wheel Farm outside of Asheville in 2019, he managed the livestock operations for another farm in Western North Carolina. He’s still in the livestock business—cows, chickens, and goats all graze across Good Wheel’s 42 acres.

Marketing 98

Marketing Harvest Harvesting Harvester 98

Real Agriculture

JUNE 1, 2023

Over a 50 year time period, the returns from grain farming are $508/acre higher than cow-calf production, according to the research modelling. Read More

Acre 130

Acre Grain Ranching Crop 130

Farmbrite

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Introduction to Key Metrics When you’re managing a ranch, it's important to track key metrics that tell the story of your herd. The calculation can be done two ways: Using an average of every animal on your ranch, or Using an average of all animals that were born within a certain year (this will only include cows that have calved once).

Cattle 52

Cattle Ranching Acre Livestock 52