Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1084252
The Charter ranch, a cow-calf operation located in rolling sage brush country near the Bull Mountains north of Billings, is a laboratory for soil-building agricultural practices and a think tank for changing the way Montanans eat. In order to save agriculture and Montana's family farms and ranches, Steve and Annika believe we need to start from the ground up. "Healthy soil is the basis for everything. We've been on this track in agriculture where we treat it as if it's all just about chemistry and physics. We take a soil test, find out what's missing, and go and purchase what we need to add. We've lost that fact that the soil is a living organism," Charter said, "It's the elephant in the room." Soil health is one of the biggest emerging issues in the state - soil acidification, desertification, and loss of soil fertility are challenging farmers and ranchers everywhere. Charter notes that because of improper practices using fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, and over-tilling and over-grazing, our soil is suffering. "We've damaged the underground microbes that help fight plant diseases, make food nutritious, and capture carbon. For decades we didn't know, but now we do. Once you start understanding your soil and what's underneath your feet, you're never going to relate the same way to it again." Charter said. The Charter's ranch is in semi-arid country and building soil organic matter on grazing lands is critical, in order to keep more moisture in the ground and increase the nutrients in the plant. They are experimenting with a variety of regenerative agricultural practices, one of which is the use of vermiculture, the process of using compost worm castings as a soil builder. "What goes into a worm, the fungi and bacteria, comes out 10 times richer with more microorganisms," Charter said. "It's not exactly a fertilizer; it's more a way to inoculate the soil with these microbes." Once that underground soil biology is working properly, it begins to build carbon and humus so the soil can hold on to the scare precipitation. He also manages his cattle to mimic, as much as possible, the herds of bison that roamed the land before settlement and pasture feeds his cows. Charter hosts soil workshops on his ranch, sponsored by Northern Plains Resource Council, led by local and international soil experts for other producers to learn the complicated relationships between microbes, mycorrhizal fungi, and plants. Mycorrhizal fungi are 21 farm406 Steve Charter with his cows at his ranch near the Bull Mountains north of Billings, Montana. Charter is using regenerative agricultural practices to restore his soils.