Keep the Land Alive: Sustainable Ag Practices

After revisiting the Ranchwest.com Web site, I became enamored with the idea of sustainable agriculture.

So often, radical environmentalists paint pictures of ranchers and farmers as money-hungry folks who will do anything, including leaving the soil deficient in nutrients and leaving barren wastelands where once grass-covered prairies were, to make their million dollars.

Ranching families who are struggling to make ends meet and ranchers who are working to find ways to preserve their natural resources don't always get a lot of press time.

I was fortunate enough to be granted an e-mail interview with Nol Ward, "The Ol' Rancher," the Web master at Ranchwest.com. Mr. Ward has ranching in his blood and has been around enough schools and pastures to know his business. To see the full text of my interview with Mr. Ward, go to http://www.suite101.com/topic_page.cfm/6... and check it out.

Briefly, Mr. Ward's key ideas are (from the Ranchwest.com site):

• Economy of scale
• Ecologically sound range management
• A working with Nature approach toward beef herd management
• Vertically integrated livestock production and marketing
• Ranch diversification
• Sound financial management
• Dislike for unsound government policies and programs
• Avoidance of infrastructure overspending and debt
• Aggressive pursuit of useful technology
• Strict code of land ethics

I encourage you to read the whole interview and see what Mr. Ward has to say (you can also go to the Ranchwest site, listed on my Links page under "Ecological Ranching"). Meanwhile, I managed to wrangle a few more sustainable agriculture sites for you to peruse.

Until next month, may your rangeland be more manageable than my hairdo. :)

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