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Online conversations on soil health
Our guest starts with a short presentation, followed by conversation with participants.
A retired soil scientist who performed soil surveys across the state to create soil maps for the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Charlie Hibner now devotes his time to running a cow-calf operation west of Cebolla, New Mexico. He says he ranches because he loves it as a way of life.
The rangeland he leases on both public and private lands includes forest, dry land, rolling hills, scattered meadows, and wilderness areas containing steep canyons. For each land type he has developed unique soil health management strategies, but overall increasing soil organic matter is critical for retaining water and fostering the growth of microorganisms.
Hibner received the Land Steward Award from the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts in 2019 and serves as the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union policy representative for New Mexico. He is also a NM Soil Health Champion and his ranching operation is profiled in the report Building Soil Health in New Mexico by Ken Meter, produced for the NM Healthy Soil Working Group.