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A marvelous community of farmers, pastoralists, ranchers, scientists and entrepreneurs from around the world gathered in London for the Savory Institute conference – “Putting Grasslands to Work” – on August 1-2, 2014. Attendees were inspired and empowered by the rich stories, scientific research, learning and networking that took place. The presentations are available HERE to watch.

We were obviously disappointed by the article by George Monbiot, published in The Guardian.  It was unfortunate Monbiot could not attend the conference. He was invited personally in early July, added to our email blast list, and again invited when he contacted us during the conference. It was also unfortunate that he didn’t seem to find time to watch the presentations via the webstreaming or engage separately with scientific experts, practitioners, and Savory Institute staffers we made readily available to him before he released the article.     

We are in fact admirers of much of Monbiot’s work and there is so much
common ground for us to stand on. For example, Monbiot’s TED talk on the intrinsic value of predator-prey relationships is one of our favorites and we’ve shared it through our network.  

When we planned the conference in London, journalists like Monbiot (him included) were high on our list of people we wanted to build personal relationships with, to discuss what we agree on and respectfully debate what we don’t. We knew the caliber of speakers and participants would make for an incredible educational opportunity that would then allow them to responsibly educate their followers. We depend on a deeply educated public that can drive signals to food producers with their daily food purchase choices – that is what will shift agriculture, including the proper raising of livestock on grasslands. To that end, resources were shared with Monbiot via e-mail prior and after the interview with Allan Savory, from explanations and contextual responses to his concerns, to peer-reviewed papers that have observed whole operations being managed holistically, to the scientific rebuttals to the papers on which he bases his criticisms. None was reflected in his article.

However, this message is not intended to go after Monbiot, but to address some misunderstandings in The Guardian article that may shine light on the matter and help us all find common ground upon which to build opportunity.