Look for minerals in food, advises rancher Steve Campbell, and you will find a healthy diet. That concise guiding principle for the consumer also forms the core of the rancher's commitment to socially responsible agriculture.  The pastures in New Meadows were not always managed with that knowledge.  The Campbell name arrived in the valley from Indiana in 1879.  The homesteaders found productive pastures with nutrient rich grasses for livestock.  Above the valley floor, mountain lakes retained spring snow melt, storing water  for later summer irrigation. 


Without the turn of a shovel, landowners mined minerals from the soil and pastures of New Meadows.  Flood irrigation practices transported minerals further down the soil profile, and then they traveled the groundwater's route.  Other minerals left above ground, in hay that was grown, sold, and hauled down the country roads.  Agricultural scientists conclude that this management regime will deplete minerals within forty years.  Landowners in New Meadows have practiced the management style for over a century.


Steve and Debra Campbell recognized that a healthy diet begins with  investments that restore minerals to the fields - the natural capital that forms the economic base of the Trinity C Ranch.  Plants assimilate the nutrients, offering a quality food source to cattle.  However, a rancher must select a cattle breed that has retained the metabolism to finish on grass.  The Trinity C ranch raises grass-finished Devon cattle, a breed with a United States presence for over 400 years.  The management strategy combines mineral restoration of the land with an intense rotation regime that moves the cattle frequently during the growing season.   "If you want a healthy diet," advises Steve Campbell, "look for the minerals".   Food rich in minerals is food that builds immunity to disease for the entire food web: the soil, plants, cattle, and ultimately the consumer.
 

Granite MountainHow does a landowner restore minerals to the landscape, after decades of mining the minerals?  Two years ago, the Campbells experimented with Redmond sea salt.  Located south of Salt Lake City, the company Redmond Natural processes a salt deposited by an ancient sea.  Minerals are not additives to the salt, but bonded centuries ago within the salt crystals  Used for livestock feed supplements, the rancher decided to apply the salt on the pastures at a rate of 100 pounds per acre.  Although this treatment conjures up images of Roman armies destroying fields of their enemies. the outcome of the sea salt application was  renewed pasture.  Within a short time following the treatment, the cattle stopped eating the supplement from feed bins, and relied on the grasses from the field.  The mineral content of the pasture satisfied the cattle.


Cattle can overgraze fields, eating their preferred plants down to the soil.  As a result, the less desirable vegetation moves into the space and lowers the quality of the available feed.  To address this issue, the Campbell's implemented an aggressive field rotation on their 312 acres of fee land, and 340 acres of leased pasture.  During the 40 days of peak growth, the ranchers move the cattle twice a day; the rest of the season they move once a day.  The technique not only allows the desired plants to rebound, but so does the root system.  The roots and other organic matter form the carbon sink of New Meadows.  By comparison, the typical field rotation in the regain is 3 pastures, with the cattle moving once every week to two weeks.  The plants and root systems on the Triangle C sequester carbon throughout the growing season.  Without the use of fossil fuel intensive fertilizers and pesticides, the carbon footprint is a social and environmental gain.


Annually, the ranch fields receive their shaker of salt, seasoned to the livestock's taste.  Ironically, the commodity livestock industry  selectively bred cattle that respond to grain finish, and not grass.  The Devon is a notable exception.  A small number of breeders kept the genetic purity out of the market trend to blend.  The cow's physical attributes (pictured in the inset) are nearly ideal, according the Steve Campbell.  The features are  key indicators of tender beef for the consumer.  Breeders pair bulls and cows with confidence that the four small legs behind the udder will mature  into an adult with the same fine qualities, without genotype surprises surfacing.
 

SRA Project WebsiteSocially responsible agriculture (SRA) describes the management philosophy of the Trinity C Ranch.  SRA is a term that "industry can't assume", notes Steve Campbell quite proudly.  By sharp contrast, organic labeling standards responded to the large producers by diluting the standard to increase supply in the food market.  Steve Campbell is a "like minded" consultant for the Reclaiming Food side of the organization, a non-profit dedicated toward positive action in favor of alternative farming practices . Reclaiming Food involves a business strategy that keeps more of the income home on the farm.  Successful implementation of the strategy means that ranchers can maintain open space, raise their families, be kind to the environment and animals, and bring home a living that will be sustained. The SRA Project website notes that as consumers of farm goods, "we all vote with our fork".   The choice of food purchases between alternative suppliers is a public option.


High quality food that offers greater immunity to disease is a public option rarely discussed in the National Health Care Debate.  The Campbells are well aware of journalist Michael Pollan.  In recent opinion columns, and on the lecture circuit, Pollan recites the offsetting trends in health care and food costs.  Between 1960 and 2009, the percent of U.S. GDP spent on food declined from 16% to less than 9%.  During that same period, spending on health care increased from 5% to 18%.  Are the trends a coincidence? 


The owners of the Trinity C Ranch think not.  They believe that the consumer not only votes with a fork, they invest with it.  Shopping locally for high quality food is an investment in personal health, with a future payout of lower medical bills.  When making  fully informed food purchases, the consumer also invests in a community of agriculture that sits on the edge between commodity and sustainable production.  One ranch in New Meadows is not simply open space waiting to be filled.  The operation is rich in cultural history, agricultural knowledge, and responsible management.  Markets can, and ought, to reward the contribution.  Seek out the Campbells in your community.  The purchase may be your most reliable public option.

 

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