In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, say many climate-change experts, we have to consume lessred meatanddairy. They argue that cattle and other ruminantstake up too much land and produce too much methane. Not only that, the crops we feed livestock—including 70% of all soybeans and 40% of all corn grown in the U.S.—require massive amounts of energy, water and land to grow.
The world is finally paying attention.
In the two years that Ibarra-Howell worked with Savory on a 35,000-acre test ranch in New Mexico, she says, he became a “great mentor and friend.” She continued to consult with him during the 17 years that followed, when she and her husband, Jim, managed their family ranch in Colorado, observing firsthand how Savory’s methods improved the productivity and biodiversity there. “We did our own boots-on-the-ground research, understanding what this approach was all about,” she says. “We became great believers.”
When she helped Savory create the Savory Institute in 2009, Ibarra-Howell’s mentor tapped her to be its CEO. “Daniela’s intelligence and character impressed me when she came through the first full training program I ran many years ago. She was the obvious choice for CEO,” writes Savory in an email. Now in his 80s, Savory continues to serve as the institute’s president—but Ibarra-Howell has turned his theories into a global movement.
Howdoyou change ranching around the world—especially when every ecosystem, every culture, every economy is different? Even though the institute has trained almost 16,000 farmers who collectively manage 54.3 million acres of land, there is no recipe for sustainable ranching, let alone for making it profitable for farmers in Kenya, Australia and Oregon.
Too many climate change interventions, Ibarra-Howell says, drown in “eddies of intellectual discussions.” She takes a more entrepreneurial approach, which is based in theinstitute’s networkof 51 regional hubs in 34 countries. Each hub is anchored on a ranch or educational institution that hosts trainings and research studies and helps ranchers who practice holistic grazing succeed economically.
There are already 20 hubs in the United States alone—includingMason, Texas;Santa Barbara, California; andEast Lansing, Michigan—and the pace at which new ones form is accelerating, Ibarra-Howell says. “We need to make sure that our impact lands, and that’s what our hubs are good at,” she says.
“[Daniela’s] a great leader, a great co-worker and a great communicator,” says Carrie Balkcom, executive director of theAmerican Grassfed Association. “She understands that this is important work for the soil and for the Earth.”
Some scientists have contested Savory’s claims about how holistic grazing might reverse climate change. So, under Ibarra-Howell’s guidance, the institute has partnered with researchers at universities including Michigan State and Texas A&M to study the long-term environmental effects of practices such as moving livestock from paddock to paddock to spur the vegetation to grow back healthier and denser.
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