The American Farmland Trust’s Beef Grazing Network is launching a redesigned Beef Producer Economic Resilience Initiative, in part with the USDA’s Advancing Markets for Producers Program. The $42 million project will support 700 beef producers from the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Texas. These funds are aimed at making producers’ operations more profitable and resilient, through sustainable grazing systems.
Dr. Richard Watson, AFT’s Senior Soil Health and Grazing Specialist, said, “Producers learn best from other producers who’ve already done the work. This network supports experienced grazers as they continue improving their own operations while mentoring other producers, improving forage production and utilization, reducing operating costs, and building a producer network that creates better market opportunities through cooperation and consistency of supply.”
AFT National Climate and Soil Health Director, Dr. Bianca Moebius-Clune, said, “Sustainable grazing systems can create value for producers, communities, and the land. Through the Beef Grazing Network, we’re bringing producers together to aggregate supply aligned with grazing standards they shape. That creates economic resilience through opportunities for price premiums. It also advances soil health and the many co-benefits of healthy soils. These outcomes build more resilient supply chains in stronger rural economies.”
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.