140. Nicolette Hahn Niman on Regenerative Ranching with Integrity

Is beef ranching bad for the environment? What can ranchers do to make sure their operation is ethical and environmentally healthy? On today’s episode of the Thriving Farmer Podcast, we’ve got Nicolette Hahn Niman. She is an esteemed author and former environmental lawyer. Nicolette spends much of her time speaking and writing about the problems of industrialized livestock production. She explores these topics in her books: ‘Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms’ and ‘Defending Beef.’ Before her exploits into ranching and authoring, she was the senior attorney for the environmental organization Waterkeeper Alliance, where she was in charge of the organization's campaign to reform the concentrated livestock and poultry industry, and before that an attorney for National Wildlife Federation. Find out where she finds the time for all these accomplished endeavors on today’s show!   You’ll hear: What Nicolette’s transition to vegetarianism and back to being omnivorous was like 2:46 What kind of ingredients the average faux burger contains 16:48 About the research for determining the methane output of ranching beef 29:37 What Niman Ranch is all about 39:57 What kind of steps ranchers can take to ensure the integrity of their beef operation 51:45   About the Guest:Nicolette Hahn Niman is a rancher, former environmental lawyer, and author of three books about sustainable and regenerative meat. She has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal, and was a regular blogger for The Atlantic. She lives in Northern California with her husband Bill Niman,founder of the meat companies Niman Ranch and BN Ranch, and their two sons.   Resources:Website - https://www.chelseagreen.com/writer/nicolette-hahn-niman/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/defendingbeef