Maurie Hobbs is the fourth generation in her family to work on the French Ranch in Humboldt County, California.  It was her great grandparents’ homestead, and when the management was passed to her and her husband, Marty, they weren’t exactly sure what their first steps should be to create the future they wanted on the land. Growing up on the ranch, Maurie knew the ins and outs of cattle raising, grazing, and day-to-day operations, but she still had some questions about where to go from there.

“We weren’t really sure in the sense of where we were and where we wanted to go. We have dreams. We have ideas,” said Hobbs.

These ideas ultimately led her to the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District. There, Agricultural Enhancement Program Manager Jake Taulbee helps producers like the Hobbs track field measurements to assess soil health, plan various conservation efforts to improve soil quality and operation efficiencies, and navigate and apply for funding from federal, state, and local programs.

For several years, Taulbee and the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District have leveraged NACD’s Technical Assistance (TA) Grants to help producers like the Hobbs. This funding has enabled the district to put more boots on the ground, provide conservation technical assistance to their county’s producers and land stewards, and increase the number of conservation plans in their community.

Taulbee says that their relationship with NRCS and other resource conservation districts in California is essential to bringing funding and timely technical assistance to producers. The TA grant funding helped the district invest in the education and development of staff, including Taulbee, who completed training courses and working towards his planner three   with NRCS. Through this investment, the district became more well-versed in NRCS programs and funding opportunities to better serve their producers. The district also strengthened its relationship with NRCS, which has opened doors and allowed the district to explore other areas in which they didn’t previously have expertise, thus building programs that better serve their community, including a new forestry program.

Perhaps most importantly, the TA grant funding gave the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District the bandwidth to meet producers where they are and cater to their needs. The district was able to adapt conservation plans to adhere to NRCS policies so that producers had a smoother transition from planning to implementation, making it easier to pursue other NRCS programs in the future. This was something the Hobbs found especially helpful after starting with a Carbon Farm Plan on their operation.

Maurie and Marty found developing a Carbon Farm Plan enticing because it would allow them to establish a baseline with soil testing and funding to implement the plan. Taulbee visited their ranch to talk through their goals and design a plan together. Once hesitant to reach out and invite someone out to their operation, Maurie found it helpful and less intimidating than she originally thought.

“I haven’t ever felt with any of the people we’ve worked with any kind of feeling that we’re ignorant producers,” said Hobbs. Once wary that others would visit their operation and pass judgment on their processes, a sentiment many producers share, Maurie said she “never felt that anybody we’ve worked with has been like, ‘You’re not supposed to do it that way.”

After enjoying the collaboration with Taulbee and finding benefits in the Carbon Farm Plan, the Hobbs, with the help of the district, began to experiment with other regenerative agriculture practices. French Ranch Farms is in a mountainous area where the landscape can be difficult to navigate and implement specific best management practices (BMPs). Riparian exclusion fencing, rotating grains, cover crops, no-till or reduced tillage, and prescribed burns are just a few methods they are trying to find systems that work for their land and goals.

It’s this flexibility and specificity  that has helped the relationship between French Ranch Farms, the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District, and NRCS flourish. As true thought partners, they’ve been able to exchange ideas that benefit the Hobbs’ operation and other producers passionate about agriculture and natural resources conservation.

“Marty and Maurie have been so great and passionate about regenerative agriculture and jumping into the deep end. Maybe they came to us for a little advice in the beginning, but now we are reaching out to them,” Taulbee reflects. “We may have helped them in the beginning, but now they are helping us.”

Maurie says they are still trying to determine what works best for their goals. While they’ve seen some success, they’ve also had learning experiences through this process, which Maurie recognizes as an essential part of moving toward the future she and Marty dream of creating on French Ranch Farms.

“You learn, and you fail, and you grow forward.”