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EOV Verified –Savory Institute: Year 2023-2024 

REGENERATIVE

Oxford defines regenerative as “having the effect of making something develop or grow stronger”

That’s not to be confused with sustainable or status quo.  Research has shown that common grazing practices such as continuous grazing, herbicides for weed control and pesticides on animals do more harm by their effects on the soil health and unintentional species including humans. To be regenerative, one must be improving, and or regrowing.   That sounds simple, but grass-fed is not necessarily regenerative.  The grass-fed label in your grocery store can include conventional grazing practices, chemical fertilizers, glyphosate, GMO stored grasses, animals fed and fattened on cover crops on active cropland using GMO crop, glyphosate, fungicide, pesticides and more.

How is improvement measured?  We can see the improvement in our land each year.  We can also see the improvement in our animals’ health because of the land improvement, but observations can be subjective.  Having tools to measure the land health will help us manage toward the proper outcomes.  Regenerative is a word that is being tossed around a lot. To be sure that we are constantly improving, we partnered with the Robina Institute,  a Savory Institute hub, for the EOV Verification Process and we received our first verification from Savory Institute in December 2023.  Each year we will continue to monitor in order to verify our practices are improving the soil health on our farm.

Ecological Outcome Verification, EOV, is a globally accepted and scientific land monitoring protocol that is used to verify the Regenerative status of the land and management.  EOV  measures key indicators of the health of ecosystem process such as soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem function including the water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow and community dynamics.  EOV uses the Ecological Health Index (EHI) to provide in-depth analysis for a complex multitude of biological indicators.  Using a numerical scoring method, the EHI analysis provides in depth information about the condition of the land.

Instead of a certification, EOV is a verification. To be EOV Verified, the numbers need to be improving each year.

What does this mean for you? Animals raised and fattened on regenerative land and forages are more nutrient dense. Animals raised birth to harvest on chemical free pastures are clean and healthier which transfers to the protein that you consume. Regenerative practices cycle carbon and promote biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem, a win for All.

Our passion is to improve the land for future generations, and we want to know that we are truly Regenerative and always moving in the right direction

Water Infiltration Test

One of the many improvement factors measured is the land’s ability to infiltrate water.  Compacted soils from heavy equipment, dead land (periods of  nothing  growing) chemicals, and tillage, all affect the water infiltration rate.  The more water the land can infiltrate per hour, the less runoff, and erosion.  The soil’s ability to hold water is key in making forage less vulnerable during dry periods.