Two months into the job as executive director of Quivira Coalition, I found myself in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the REGENERATE Conference for ranchers, farmers, and land stewards. Even though I was new, the conference – co-hosted by Quivira, Holistic Management International, and American Grassfed Association – felt like a family reunion. This feeling was in no small part generated by the number of kids running around with attendee name badges dangling around their necks. Two parents, Jesse and Leah Pinkner, took turns in the hallway, one pushing a stroller while the other took notes on the mainstage speaker. Both are graduates of Quivira’s New Agrarian Program apprenticeship; Jesse is now a manager fellow, and after years of planning, training, and negotiating with family, they’re fully-fledged owners and operators of LZ Ranch.
At almost 30 years old, Quivira Coalition is multiple generations into a movement based on bringing unlikely people together for resilient lands. During the 1990’s range wars, a rancher and two environmentalists started Quivira. Their purpose was to show that “ecologically healthy rangeland and economically robust ranches can be compatible.” They aimed to do so not by hiding behind compromise or even limiting the scope of solutions to common ground. Instead, founder Courtney White committed to calling out the issues and, by exploring alternatives, achieving a shared vision. The name, Quivira Coalition, is a reference to that elusive, shared vision. “Quivira” was a term used by 14th-century Spaniards to describe unknown lands in the west. Around the same time as Quivira’s founding, rancher Bill McDonald of the Malpai Borderlands Group used the term Radical Center to describe similar work. Collaborative conservationism provided an alternative to the constant litigation and legislation that defined this period.
As lofty as Quivira’s ideals began and remain, the work is practical. White described how his point of conversion from “bumper sticker environmentalism” to a third way of doing things happened on a tour of cofounder Jim Winder’s ranch. As they drove by healthy grass and running water, Winder asked White what he actually wanted the land to look like. They discovered they wanted many of the same things. For Winder, it was a recognition that the war between ranchers and environmentalists was a distraction. In fact, both camps were losing to economics and demographics. Without a truce, the open spaces both interests sought to protect would be subdivided, exploited, or abandoned.
If ranchers are going to help keep these open spaces alive, their businesses have to pencil out. That’s a tall order for any rancher. Conventional wisdom will tell you that moving cattle more and restoring riparian areas will pile costs onto an already strained way of life. Even low-cost, nature-based climate solutions can be expensive to effectively site and scale for western lands. Debt cycles and limited liquid assets often force ranchers to focus on short-term goals. Meanwhile, they are also staring down decades-long droughts and catastrophic wildfires that threaten to put them out of business. It’s challenging to prioritize long-term environmental benefits when fighting these immediate pressures.
Alternatives to this zero-sum game do exist, though. Personal accounts and scientific data support practices that both mitigate costs during drought and fight climate change. If a soil’s carbon content increases by one percent, that soil is able to hold up to 25,000 gallons of additional water per acre. Every year, ranchers like Alex Guerrero have demonstrated to Quivira audiences how holistic practices improve cow composition and make their ranches more resilient during drought. Quivira seeks out and amplifies practices that support both a rancher’s economic needs and a regenerative ecosystem.
Quivira also doggedly supports farmers and ranchers who investigate opportunities to sustain their practices by adding value, expanding regional and local markets, and diversifying income. Last year, Zachariah Ben shared how Bidii Baby Foods uses traditional, value-added processes to make his sustainable agricultural practices economically viable. Jodi Benoit shared how White Oak Pastures has diversified into everything from tourism to beef tallow. And, we’re teaching manager fellows like Pinkner how to assess direct marketing options for their operations. New funding sources have to also be considered. MAD Capital, a REGENERATE sponsor, spoke to ranchers about new financing models. Government grants should be a workable part of the capital stack; increasingly, states and federal entities are recognizing ranching practices with co-benefits like healthy soils, resilient watersheds, and rural vitality. As governments invest in programs to increase these positive results, Quivira works to make these public-private partnerships more accessible to ranchers throughout the west. Each of these solutions are fundamental to continuing resilient land stewardship for another generation.
