Where are they now: Ford Smith, 2018 Project Intern

Ford Smith, a former intern at TomKat Ranch, loves soil and rangeland health and has pursued his interest in both through research and entrepreneurial ventures. His passion for soil began in Montana on the ranch where he grew up. Searching for a way to apply his knowledge about soil health, he founded Organic Lawn, a lawn care company aimed at prioritizing good management without chemical inputs. “Growing grass on your lawn is the same as growing grass in your field as far as soil management is concerned,” says Smith. 

Upon learning that TomKat Ranch shared a similar approach to land management, Smith accepted a Winter 2018 internship, the first of many years in which Smith conducted research at TomKat Ranch. During his internship, Smith contributed to several projects about practices related to soil biology including compost teas, extracts, and the Johnson-Su bioreactor. At the same time Ford was learning about soil, his father became interested in EarthFort, an Oregon-based company focused on soil biology. Their shared interest helped kickstart a research paper to determine if and how biological inoculants impact soil microbial communities. Over the next three years, Smith returned to TomKat Ranch twice a year to continue the research, which was published in 2021.

This sequence of events was instrumental to where he is now. “My initial internship opened up a world of research for me. It gave me the tools to build my business and reinforced my instincts to never stop asking questions,” Smith says. Smith set up a similar trial in Paradise Valley, Montana with the help of Montana State University. This research led him to pursue a graduate degree in soil science and then towards a PhD. Ten months into his PhD however, Smith made the decision to leave academia to focus more broadly on how his knowledge of soils could be applied in the real world and founded Regenerative Land Solutions, an agricultural consulting company based in Montana. 

Today, Smith seeks to help ranchers understand the nuances of different grazing management strategies from his role at Kateri Carbon, a company that seeks to improve range health through ranch planning and technology. “I believe that the data Kateri is collecting on management, plant communities, and soil carbon will help push the industry towards a more nuanced grazing approach,” says Smith. He is a passionate advocate for understanding plant species composition, especially in relationship to animal health, as a way to develop grazing plans—an approach that Smith and TomKat Ranch’s Manager, Mark Biaggi discuss to this day. 

When reflecting on his time at TomKat Ranch, Smith appreciates the role that the ranch plays in agricultural innovation and continues to enthusiastically engage with the TomKat team in learning about grazing management practices. “I think the work that TomKat is doing is hugely helpful—just being able to ask questions and engage in conversations with me, years and years later, is terrific,” says Smith. From the start of his journey with TomKat Ranch to his current work, Smith retains an unwavering commitment to improving rangeland and soil health.