ARDMORE, Okla. (Feb. 20, 2024) – Noble Research Institute, the nation’s largest independent 501(c)(3) agricultural research organization and public charity, announced that it has been awarded one of 16 new working lands grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the Conservation Partners Program.
The $468,400 grant was awarded to aid in implementing regenerative management programming across Southern Great Plains working lands. Noble predicts activities funded by the grant will help it connect with at least 1,650 farmers and ranchers across the Southern Great Plains in 2024 and 2025, potentially impacting more than 373,000 acres as those producers use regenerative practices to improve soil health and support biodiversity and economic productivity on their grazing lands.
“Noble is focused on accelerating the implementation of regenerative ranching concepts by farmers and ranchers across the nation,” said Josh Gaskamp, regenerative ranching advisor and manager at Noble. “The Conservation Partners Program grant will support our continued development and delivery of our foundational and advanced courses in regenerative land, grazing and business management, in person and online, within the Southern Great Plains.”
The Conservation Partners Program is a partnership between NFWF and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Cargill, The J.M. Smucker Co. and Nestlé, with additional support from a recently announced collaboration between General Mills, Walmart and Sam’s Club. The program supports efforts to accelerate the adoption of voluntary conservation practices and regenerative agriculture principles on private working lands.
This is the second major grant from a NFWF conservation program awarded to Noble in recent months. In October 2023, Noble announced it would be using a $471,000 award from the Southern Plains Grassland Program to expedite the expansion of integral water and fencing infrastructure on Noble ranches and facilitate multispecies adaptive grazing, allowing for more rapid soil health reinvigoration across the organization’s 13,500 acres. The two grants are interconnected as learnings from Noble’s own regenerative ranch transformation will be used to inform the educational programming funded in part by this most recent grant from NFWF.
About Noble Research Institute
Noble Research Institute is the nation’s largest independent agricultural research organization and public charity, supporting ranchers and farmers with research, education and mentorship for regenerating soil health to improve their land, livestock and livelihood. Since 1945, Noble Research Institute has been a leading, trusted resource in agricultural research and education dedicated to land stewardship. Demonstrating our ongoing commitment to regenerating our nation’s grazing lands, Noble actively manages 13,500 acres of working ranchlands to provide real-world insights and applications for farmers and ranchers.
To learn more about Noble Research Institute, visit www.noble.org.
About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, foundation and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 6,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $8.1 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.
For media inquiries concerning the Noble Research Institute, please contact:
Kim Leaston, Public Relations Specialist | 580-223-5810
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