Project Overview
Commodities
- Agronomic: grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial)
- Animals: bovine
- Animal Products: meat
Practices
- Animal Production: grazing management, grazing - rotational, pasture fertility, range improvement
- Education and Training: demonstration, extension, farmer to farmer, mentoring, on-farm/ranch research, technical assistance, youth education
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, financial management
- Soil Management: soil analysis, soil quality/health
Proposal abstract:
This project by the Northeast Grass-Fed Beef Initiative, Vermont State University (VTSU), and Parmelee Farm will complete and document the 2024 pilot season of Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing on VTSU farmland in Randolph, Vermont, including comparative analysis of key environmental and financial outcomes.
This project aligns with broad community interests (as documented in recommendations from more than 40 stakeholders) and with sustainability recommendations from around the region.
Parmelee Farm and VTSU co-designed this project with NGBI to meet their needs:
- Parmelee Farm seeks training and additional land access to implement AMP grazing. In response, VTSU will provide land access and NGBI will provide grazing training.
- VTSU wants to develop educational programming in grazing and grass-fed beef production. In response, Parmelee Farm will implement AMP grazing on VTSU pasture and NGBI will document the grazing model.
Expected project outcomes include cost reductions for Parmelee Farm and improved farmland stewardship for VTSU. The project and outcomes will be widely publicized through a multi-dimensional outreach plan, to include an on-farm event and a summary document about the grazing transition and outcomes.
In the long term, this project will enable a pipeline of valued educational programming intended to serve farmers and farmer advisors. Increasing local community grazing knowledge is needed to meet community demand for grazing support and achieve VT-NRCS goals. Research confirms that soil health is an important farmer concern, and this project will develop a model for future grazing education and skill development in support of soil health and farm profitability.
Project objectives from proposal:
This project seeks to:
1. Complete and document a pilot season of AMP grazing operation on VTSU farmland, to conclude in November 2024.
- Between August 1, 2024 and grazing season end, NGBI will provide an average of 21 hours per month of grazing training, adaptive planning, site and partner coordination, technical assistance, project management, documentation, and administration.
- NGBI will document grazing pilot season progress, such as grazing plan adaptations, challenges encountered and solutions found, milestones achieved, and farmer experience. Methodical photographic documentation will show visible progress and specific procedures.
- Track and analyze key environmental metrics and changes to soil and forage.
- Perform In-Field Soil Health Assessments (IFSHA) and soil testing in May 2025.
- Compare results from May 2025 assessments to results from May 2024 to determine whether conclusions can be drawn regarding the environmental impact of grazing at the sampled sites.
- Track and analyze financial metrics.
- Track farm input expenses and income attributable to the grazing operation during the pilot season.
- Compare pilot season data to historical farm financial data to determine any financial impact from grazing implementation.
- Condense documentation together with environmental metrics and financial findings into an engaging summary of an AMP grazing pilot season.