The Back 40

In celebration of Earth Day, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman announced the Beel family  as the recipient of the 2013 Leopold Conservation Award, the state’s premier award for private lands conservation, during a ceremony at the State Capitol on Friday. The award, which is presented by Nebraska Cattlemen, Cargill, and Wisconsin-based Sand County Foundation, recognizes outstanding, [...]

Wisconsin-based Sand County Foundation and the Kentucky Agricultural Council have announced the launch of the Leopold Conservation Award in Kentucky. Kentucky is the ninth state to offer the $10,000 award, which honors farmers, ranchers, and foresters who do outstanding work to enhance natural resources as part of their agricultural operations.  Applications are being accepted until July 31, [...]

A recent article, by William R. Wootton, linked below, argues that too many American colleges, especially liberal arts institutions, which typically advocate for issues like sustainability, environmentalism, and social justice, often turn to large corporate agribusiness to handle their food service. In fact 50-60% of college food service is handled by large corporations and three [...]

The United States has been experiencing an anti-meat movement as of late. Critics have deemed meat to be a contributor to obesity, illness, and negative environmental impacts. However, as the article below points out, rarely do we hear about the meat producers across the nation who care deeply about their animals, products, and the effects [...]

Texas ranchers Gary and Sue Price have been named the recipients of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Environmental Stewardship Award. The Prices own and operate 77 Ranch, located near Blooming Grove. Gary and Sue have a long tradition of enhancing land, water, and wildlife habitat on their ranch. Their efforts on and off of [...]

Sand County Foundation‘s work on behalf of the land ethic relies on good science.  Deeply as philosophical and political beliefs may move us, our work involves us inescapably with the physical world, specifically what Aldo Leopold liked to call the biosphere:  that part of our world that affects life.  We are therefore led to consider [...]