Economic Comparison of Traditional Rangeland Management and Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management
This fact sheet summarizes findings from a long-term collaboration between AgNext and the USDA Agricultural Research Service comparing Traditional Rangeland Management (TRM) and Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) at the Central Plains Experimental Range in northeastern Colorado.
The resource highlights differences in labor requirements, cattle performance, infrastructure costs, and overall profitability while examining how adaptive management changes influenced economic outcomes over time. It also explores how grazing management decisions can affect both ranch profitability and broader ecosystem goals, providing producers and land managers with research-based insights to support informed decision-making.
Key Scientific Literature:
Augustine, D. J., Derner, J. D., Porensky, L. M., Hoover, D. L., Ritten, J. P., Kearney, S. P., Ma, L., Peck, D., Wilmer, H. & CARM Stakeholder Group. (2024). The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at the Central Plains Experimental Range: Collaborative adaptive rangeland management. Journal of Environmental Quality.