I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 8. It started as a way to make a “grown up” decision. And, honestly, it was not a very bold decision considering that my family did not eat red meat. But I’ve stuck with it because I know I personally could not handle killing animals for food. I do not feel comfortable outsourcing that task to a cruel food system with a horrendous environmental footprint.

So as I soaked up information at several farming conferences, my Viva Farms course, and through my new job, I was not looking for information on raising livestock. And I was shocked to learn that meat production might actually help address climate change.

Grasslands used to have large herds of herbivores. These animals stayed in herds and kept moving in order to stay as safe as possible from predators. They trampled and munched the grass, deposited manure, but because they kept moving, they didn’t overgraze any one area. They left a nice mulch, rather than bare soil.

Without native herbivores like buffalo, livestock could play a similar role in reviving grasslands and storing carbon in those healthy soils.

I am by no means an expert on rotational grazing, but learning about it has really shifted my perspective and made me eager to learn more.

Just to be clear, there is a huge difference between this type of rotational grazing system compared to the way that most meat and dairy in the U.S. is raised. So the guidance that cutting down on [confined animal feeding operation (CAFO)] meat and dairy consumption could make a dent in the climate crisis is correct. But could eating meat raised using a different way really reverse climate change?

I am both inspired and sad. There was a functioning ecosystem that many indigenous groups valued and supported. Colonialism :(. Those same profit driven destructive forces still wreak havoc on our food systems.

But giving credit to indigenous people who have been thoughtful land stewards since time immemorial (something that Savory does not do in his talk) and learning from that wisdom seems like the right way forward.

Since I have trouble killing the slugs that are aggressively mowing down vegetables, raising animals for meat probably isn’t for me. But learning about the impact of rotational grazing has me day dreaming about raising sheep for wool.

If you’re in Washington State and interested in purchasing meat raised thoughtfully, check out Spoon Full Farms, Green Bow Farm, Lazy R Ranch, and Bright Ide Acres.

2/3/2021 UPDATE: There is definitely not research to back up Savory’s bold claims that this is the only route/an important strategy to address climate change. This article gives a good overview of the available science: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2017-2-march-april/feature/allan-savory-says-more-cows-land-will-reverse-climate-change