Why Is Land to Market an Important Certification?

As an environmentally conscious consumer, it’s important for you to purchase foods raised in an ecologically responsible way. That’s why the Savory Institute’s Land to Market certification is so critical. It is the world’s first verified regenerative sourcing solution. When you buy Land to Market certified goods, you know the farmers raising this food are dedicated to restoring the earth and combating climate change. Your buying decision contributes in its way to the rejuvenation of the planet.

The Savory Institute, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, but operating on a global scale, created the Land to Market program. The Savory Institute focuses on facilitating the regeneration of grasslands. As the institute notes, properly managed grasslands have the capacity to address the world’s great challenges, including food insecurity, water pollution, climate change – and poverty. Lack of good management has resulted in the accelerating desertification of grasslands. The Land to Market program aims to turn that around. 

At Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, we are proud of our regenerative agriculture practices and Savory Institute’s Land to Market certification. This certification makes the connection between land and brand undeniable.

Land to Market Certification

Land to Market connects the products of the regenerated land to the consumer. The program verifies that the farmer or rancher follows regenerative agricultural practices via its scientifically rigorous Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) plan. There is no guesswork involved. Either the land meets regenerative agricultural standards, or it does not.

 EOV verifies land health using a wide variety of data points. These include:

• Biodiversity
• Ecosystem function
• Soil health

EOV measures the health of the land holistically, as the living system it is. When soils are healthy, they absorb more carbon. Such carbon sequestration keeps CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming and climate change. Regenerative agriculture makes soils more fertile. It reduces runoff and water pollution. When biodiversity is enhanced, native plants and animals benefit. Plants become more resilient, and the wildlife population increases.

A healthy ecosystem cycles water, energy, and nutrients into a continual regenerative process. That elemental process consists of birth, growth, death, and decay, leading back to new birth once more.  

To date, Land to Market has certified more than 50 brands committed to verified regenerative sourcing.

Why Land to Market Certification is Different

There are all sorts of agricultural certifications, but Land to Market is in a class by itself. That’s because the ultimate natural certification is regeneration. Land to Market certification is not designed to compete with other certifications. Instead, it adds more to them. No other certification has profound improvement in world ecological systems as its primary goal. 

Industrial agricultural methods degenerate the land. There is the degradation of the soil, fewer native plant and animal species, and loss of water. Just improving agricultural practices to attain sustainability is not sufficient. Sustainable is preferable to degenerating, but it still means the land is in a static state. It is only when regeneration takes place that true restoration occurs. That’s the significance of the Land to Market certification. The food or fiber derives from truly regenerated soil.  

Land regeneration takes time. The focus is on constant incremental improvement of land. Participating farmers and ranchers are subject to short and long-term monitoring. They are assisted in their endeavors by EOV and the critical tools it provides so that farmers can reach its outcome-based benchmarks.

Order 100% Grass Fed, Grass Finished Beef from Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed

By ordering 100% grass fed, grass finished beef from Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, you are making more than a meat purchase. You are recognizing the connection between healthy soils, humane farming practices, and sustainability.

Our beef are raised holistically. Their diet consists of grasses and forage, the way cattle evolved to eat. They do not receive growth hormones or antibiotics, both common in grain fed cattle. The result is a delicious, low-fat, and low-cholesterol meat full of omega-3 fatty acids and chocked full of vitamins. Shop our online store today!