Regenerative Agriculture Spurs Growth on This Montana Farm [Video]

A holistic triple bottom line guides every management decision Jeff and Marisa Sather make for their fourth-generation Sather Farm and Ranch northeast of Glasgow, Montana. “We want to maximize profit for our operation, as well as maximize the ecological benefit to our land and the social benefit to our community,” says Jeff, who manages the northeast Montana operation with his wife, Marisa, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The three-pronged goal springs from the Sathers’ relatively newfound commitment to regenerative agriculture. It sets their operation on a course veering sharply from the traditional management practices once underpinning the farm and so many others like it in the surrounding community.

The previous generations practiced tillage and grew a 50-50 wheat-fallow rotation. After graduating from college and becoming involved in the farm’s management in 2006, Jeff began making changes.

“We had eliminated some tillage by planting with a hoe …