Savory Institute
Founded by exiled Rhodesian counterinsurgency expert Allan Savory in 2010 (current CEO).
The Savory Method
The Savory Institute coordinates the global Savory Network implementing and promoting The Savory Method.
Partner Organizations
The Nature Conservancy, UC Irvine, and Heifer International are listed as "key partner organizations" of the Savory Institute in 2013: <https://savory.global/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2013-2014-ar.pdf>
The Nature Conservancy
Played a key role in supporting successive accreditation standards of the Savory Method in partnership with the Savory Institute:
- 2012: GRASS - with Ovis 21 in Patagonia - launched in 2012[1]
- 2018: Land To Market - see below
- 2021: Carbon+ Grasslands - methodology by Regen Network Development, which sits on the Regen Consortium with the Savory Institute and received its pre-seed funding from the Nature Conservancy's Techstars accelerator[2]
Grasslands Inc
American Grassfed Association
On June 23 (year unknown), Allan Savory was one of three featured speakers in the American Grassfed Association (AGA) Ranch Day line-up.[3] The event was held at the Flying B Bar Ranch near Denver, Colorado, which directed attendees to visit the website of the Savory Institute for more information, or to buy tickets.[4]
In 2020, Jason Rowntree was the principal investigator in a General Mills funded study which had "significant lapses that grossly exaggerate or misrepresent the true SOC sequestration capacity of" farming techniques practiced by White Oak Pastures based on Savory's Holistic Management, including underestimating the impact of Methane emissions by at least 2.5x.[5]
It was later discovered that Rowntree had erroneously declared he had no conflicts of interest, despite sitting on the board of the American Grassfed Association and having received research grants from corporations such as McDonald's which are also seeking to rebrand their beef as 'regenerative'[6]
Buffalo Branding
Savory's presentation in the Climate Collaborative's 2020 report on Regenerative Standards began with a slide showing a lone bison grazing, with the caption "facilitating the large scale restoration of the world's grasslands" and the Savory Institute's logo.[7]
Savory Network
The Savory Institute calls itself a "Decentralized Nodal Network"[8]
There are many Savory Hubs, Frontier Founders, and other organizations collaborating with or coordinated by the Savory Institute in this network.
Many of these hubs, such as Ovis 21, are themselves decentralized networks which also manage or coordinate the activities of many ranches, organizations, and/or professionals.
Land to Market
Savory's regenerative accreditation program, "Land to Market," counts The Nature Conservancy as a major contributor.[9] Savory's promotional material claims that Land to Market is "giving a voice to the land" as the “world’s first verified regenerative supply chain” and the “world’s first verified regenerative sourcing solution.”[10]
Also known as EOV (for "Ecological Outcome Verified"), the first product verified under this standard in 2018 were the "beef bites" made by Savory Frontier Founder EPIC (a brand of General Mills) and sourced from White Oak Pastures.[11]
The Savory Institute claims its Land to Market program supports over half (11/17) of the United Nation's sustainable development goals, including "no poverty," "no hunger," "good health," and "reduced inequality."[12]
It advertises and 'accredits' the Savory Method as:
- The Highest Level of Integrity for Regenerative Agriculture
- The gold standard for land health.
- The leader in regenerative agriculture
- The world’s first outcomes-based verified regenerative sourcing solution.[13]
Methane Greenwashing
On its website, the Savory Institute claims that "the benefits of eco-restoration through Holistic Management far outweigh methane emissions resulting from livestock" because "soil-based decomposition of methane may be equal to or greater than ruminant methane production."[14]
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association—which lobbied for meatpacking plants to remain open during the pandemic—dispatched its former senior director of sustainable beef production research, Sara Place, to assure the conservative media host Glenn Beck[15] that methane emissions from “cow farts” were “fake news” and that cattle “are part of the climate change solution.”[16]
Sara Place is also featured by the Savory Institute, which promoted[17] an article she penned for the Beef: It's What's For Dinner blog, arguing that:
The social battle underway about what type of agriculture is best (local vs. non-local, vegan vs. omnivore, organic vs. conventional, grass-fed vs. grain-fed) is getting us nowhere.[18]
and: "we need... sustainability... regardless of the production system."
Sources
- ↑ https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1129&context=sfh; "Shear Salvation," The Nature Conservancy
- ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/regen-network-pre-seed--669d9926
- ↑ http://www.americangrassfed.org/aga-ranch-day-speaker-line-up-announced/
- ↑ https://www.flyingbbar.com/events/
- ↑ https://plantbaseddata.medium.com/the-failed-attempt-to-greenwash-beef-7dfca9d74333
- ↑ https://medium.com/@unpopularscience/the-regenerative-ranching-racket-fe6cce917a42
- ↑ PAGE 38: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603
- ↑ PAGE 38: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603
- ↑ PAGE 46: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603
- ↑ PAGE 72-74: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603
- ↑ PAGE 63: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603
- ↑ PAGE 68: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/climatecollaborative/mailings/1633/attachments/original/PPT-FINAL-Regenerative_Mapping-min_compressed.pdf?1579205603
- ↑ https://www.landtomarket.com/
- ↑ https://savory.global/fast-facts/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210723053023/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LzLdrewu
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200715212037/https://www.thenation.com/article/society/beef-red-pill-right/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/savory.global/posts/2149423611751076
- ↑ https://medium.com/@beefitsfordinner/latest-study-confirms-an-animal-free-food-system-is-not-holistically-sustainable-69df19dededd