Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack meets with Thousand Hills to recognize climate-smart regenerative ag practices

Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, a Minnesota-based regenerative agriculture company, met with United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC) conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania in October to discuss climate-smart regenerative agriculture practices.

Secretary Vilsack attended the PCSC conference to address the success and future of the USDA’s climate smart projects. Thousand Hills was hand-selected to discuss their project with Secretary Vilsack prior to his address at the general conference, due to their success with selling climate smart commodities.

“It’s clear from Secretary Vilsack’s remarks and our conversation with him that there is a viable alternative to the ‘get big or get out’ agricultural model that’s been prevalent since the 1980s,” said Matt Maier, owner of Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed. “He astutely recognizes that regenerative agriculture is the way forward to a more sustainable system supporting family farmers, rural communities, our food system, and the planet.”

The USDA PCSC program works to support climate-smart practice implementation, marketing, and monitoring through focused grants. There are currently 135 projects in the program; Thousand Hills’ climate-smart ranching project was one of only six highlighted by Secretary Vilsack in his address. The company’s 20-year history of bringing climate-smart, regeneratively-raised commodities to market reflects the vision of the Secretary and the goals of the PCSC program.

“The timing and substance of Secretary Vilsack’s remarks validated our life’s work,” said Maier. “It’s rewarding to know that our approach to regenerative agriculture—holistically grazing cattle for their lifetime—is being recognized as a standard-bearer for change in our agriculture system.  We’ve seen firsthand the positive impact on soil, water cycle, habitat, nutrition, and generational family farms when climate-smart commodities are successfully brought to market.”

Organic & Non-GMO Insights December 2024