Jim Howell is CEO of Grasslands, LCC. Jim was raised both in California and Colorado, where his family has danced since the late 1800s. He graduated in Animal Science from Cal Poly Pomona, USA completing his final year as a foreign exchange student at Lincoln University in New Zealand in 1991.
Grasslands LCC operates five ranches. Four in the US (Montana, South Dakota, Florida) and Lees Valley Station in NZ.
Grasslands, LLC is the land management arm of the Savory Institute. “Their core competency is the skilful stewardship of grasslands, via Holistic Planned Grazing (HPG), toward ecological regeneration, solar based profitability, and thriving rural communities. They match investor capital with undervalued, degraded grasslands, stock them with livestock, and manage with HPG. The mission of Grasslands LLC is the process of restoring biodiversity and soil organic matter to degraded grasslands, and creating economic opportunities in rural communities. Ultimately, their mission is to lead the healing of the earth’s grasslands, thereby sequestering massive amounts of soil carbon and doing their part to halt global climate change.”
Jim showed examples from grasslands of the world and their degradation through the challenges: more people, less land, and climate change. Through improved management which is matched to local conditions they are able to minimise over grazing and reduce bare ground from 20% to 5% while at the same time increasing stocking rate
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