White Buffalo Land Trust: Regenerative Organic Agriculture in Santa Barbara County

In early 2018, Steve Finkel founded the White Buffalo Land Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to regenerative agriculture. Its first property, a 12-acre legacy avocado orchard in Summerland, CA, serves as the nonprofit’s flagship location. Primarily a demonstration and educational site, the Summerland ranch showcases regenerative organic ag techniques including multistrata agroforestry, composting, cover cropping, the creation of pollinator habitats, and holistically managed animal grazing.

Steve Finkel, founder, White Buffalo Land Trust

The nonprofit gets its name from two white buffalo who were born in Colorado but made the improbable journey to a Santa Ynez Valley ranch in 2001. A group of Lakota elders who were friends with the ranch’s owner, Bobbie McMorrow, had contacted her to see if she might be able to provide a home for the two rare animals, who were initially slated for life on a casino property. McMorrow agreed to take them, and they became a beloved part of her family. Her daughter, Lyndsey McMorrow, formed a strong connection with the animals, and she came to see them as “a reminder of our responsibility to the earth and to be in better relations with all living things.” Lyndsey passed away in 2018, and her husband Steve Finkel founded the White Buffalo Land Trust in her honor and to continue her vision. 

Bobbie McMorrow

At the time of the White Buffalo Land Trust’s founding, Bobbie McMorrow was living in Summerland, having purchased a home with a 12-acre avocado orchard there in 2015. She donated a lease of the orchard to the nonprofit, and Jesse Smith was soon hired as the director of land stewardship. Previously, Jesse and his wife Ana Smith had managed Casitas Valley Farm, an organic 50-acre property near Carpinteria that featured diverse multi-cropping systems and integrated animal production. In 2013, the pair had moved back to the Santa Barbara area, where they were born and raised, in order to be closer to family and to start Casitas Valley Farm. “We knew that we both truly wanted to invest in creating a long-term viable healthy food shed and wanted to do it in our own home,” says Jesse.

Ana and Jesse are particularly interested in soil health and its beneficial effects not only on food quality but also on the health and resiliency of the environment (regenerative practices aid soil water absorption and storage, which can help prevent fire and flooding). Evacuated from Casitas Valley Farm first for the 2017 Thomas Fire and then again about a month later due to the Montecito mudslides, the pair have experienced firsthand the devastation of climate extremes and so are deeply aware of the value of a resilient environment.

Jesse Smith, director of land stewardship, White Buffalo Land Trust

Not long after the evacuations, the land the couple had been leasing for Casitas Valley Farm was sold, and they found themselves in a transitional period. Through an acquaintance, they were introduced to Steve Finkel, who at the time was in the process of founding the White Buffalo Land Trust. The three hit it off, and Jesse was named the director of land stewardship, with Ana joining the team as project director not long after. The couple’s prior farming experience and the relationships they’d formed with Santa Barbara’s food and farming communities have helped White Buffalo grow into what it is today—a thriving demonstration of regenerative organic agriculture.

The Summerland site features three main cropping systems: an irrigated avocado orchard (now intercropped with turmeric, ginger, and canna); a more drought-tolerant, Mediterranean-inspired orchard of pomegranate, fig, pineapple guava, persimmon, and jujube; and a dryland section of agave, aloe, and Peruvian apple cactus. Also planted throughout the 12 acres are pollinator-friendly hedgerows and herb gardens that include medicinal and culinary plants, such as sage, pine, oregano, lemon balm, calendula, and echinacea.

Most of the harvest from the Summerland ranch will be sold to local restaurants or used to create value-added products such as vinegars, hot sauces, marinades, dressings, teas, infusions, and skincare creams and tonics. This past December, the White Buffalo Land Trust released its first product—a persimmon vinegar. “What we intend to do, and what we’ve started to do, is to utilize the crops that are coming off the property to … tell the story of what their role is in the ecosystem, how they support ecosystem functions, whether they be soil health or water resources or biodiversity,” says Jesse.

One benefit of creating value-added liquid products like persimmon vinegar is that the solid remains of the fruit can be composted and then used to help build up the ranch’s soil. Jesse currently manages two compost systems on the property—a thermophilic compost and a composting bioreactor (a modular and affordable DIY system developed by Dr. David Johnson, director of the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at New Mexico State University, and his wife Hui-Chun Su Johnson).

White Buffalo persimmon vinegar

In addition to composting, the White Buffalo Land Trust also builds and enriches the fertility of its soil with pollinator-friendly cover crops, holistically managed sheep grazing, and minimal tillage. The nonprofit is working with Soil Life Services, a soil health research organization based out of UC Davis, to test and monitor soil quality and composition (including carbon sequestration) and is supported by a Healthy Soils grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Education and training are a significant component of the White Buffalo Land Trust’s mission. The nonprofit currently hosts several field days per year that are open to the public, features a speaker series at its co-working space in Santa Barbara, and works with several local schools to teach kids in a hands-on way about regenerative agriculture.

With its flagship Summerland location well established, White Buffalo has begun focusing on the addition of another location—Jalama Canyon Ranch, a 1,000-acre property approximately an hour north of Santa Barbara. “We’ve raised about half of the acquisition costs for the property as of March 1st and are in an extended escrow that leads up to the end of this year, December of 2020,” says Jesse. “We’re feeling really good about where we’re at and the excitement from our community around this project.”

White Buffalo’s plans for Jalama Canyon “are focused on rangeland restoration, regenerative viticulture, and multi-story agroforestry utilizing climate-appropriate crops, such as persimmon, jujube, olive, and mulberry,” says Jesse. “Cattle, sheep, and goats will be integrated throughout the property, including [into] range, forest, and orchard systems, to help stimulate soil fertility, hydrological function, and increased biological diversity (through their manure, saliva, and hoof impact).”

Jesse Smith, director of land stewardship, White Buffalo Land Trust

One of the main goals for Jalama is to demonstrate the financial viability of regenerative agriculture at scale to help encourage larger ranching enterprises to adopt similar practices. The property will have a Center for Regenerative Agriculture dedicated to education, training, scientific research, and the development of financial models of regenerative systems.

“Regenerative agriculture at scale holds a power and so much potential to address climate, biodiversity, and food security challenges,” says Ana. “As far as a rapid adoption of regenerative principles and practices, we need to focus more on economic viability and access to training and really getting producers involved and excited about what’s possible on their landscape.”