These are the people who volunteer and work hard to serve eastern Montana’s regenerative ag community.
We typically meet the second Wednesday of the month via Zoom. All are welcome to attend. Times vary, please contact us for details.
Bryan Phipps – Vice-Chair
a driving force behind EMRA
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More to come.
Wally Harbaugh – Member
Ranching is a family affair.
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More to come.
Daniel Magalsky – Chairman
biggest joy to ranching is having his kids works alongside him
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Daniel, his wife, Jenna, and 3 littles ranch near Lindsey on Daniel’s family ranch. They raise goats. Everything starts in our home. From our passion to follow Jesus to our love of stewarding His creation. Here are some of the ways we cultivate soil health in our home. We use mulch and winter cover crops in our garden to promote good soil function and continue capturing solar energy.
On the ranch we use short duration(1-2days) and long recovery(12+mo) grazing management to give our 400 hd meat goat herd the least exposure to internal parasites. More importantly this style gives our perennial forages the ability to express their full potential by setting their roots deep, exudating solar energy to the surrounding soil biology and building more above ground biomass to help cover our sandy loam soil. The goats naturally stay together in one tight group which brings a nice smashing effect to the leftover old forages still standing, laying it down to contact the soil. This allows the soil biology to cycle it and build up our shallow topsoil.
We are also working toward raising healthy cover crops to benefit the goats and the land. Goats are not grazers, but browsers so prefer broadleaf plants over grasses. Multiple specie forage crops have brought a lot of opportunities to us like extending the length of growing season on the land. With the mild winters we’ve been experiencing we really enjoy seeing green cereal rye still photosynthesizing in January.
Colin Manuel – Past Chairman
believes in using all the tools in his toolbox
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Colin believes in the capabilities of the soil and is willing to try new things.
Levi Forman – Secretary-Treasurer
electronic engineer turned rancher
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Levi, along with his brother Luke Foreman, operate the Cecil Brown Ranch near Knowlton,
Montana. The ranch was started by his grandfather. Levi spent ten years as an electronic
engineer at California’s Sandia National Laboratories.
Levi is a life-long learner, always looking for ways of applying what he’s learned. Some of the
most impactful workshops he’s attended have been the Bud Williams low-stress livestock
handling and the Sieben Ranch winter grazing workshop.
Being active in the agricultural community is important to Levi. He’s on the Montana Farm
Bureau Federation Resource Management, Environment and Technology Committee and the
Montana Farmers Union Board of Directors.
Through his quiet manner, Levi makes bold contributions to the EMRA Board of Directors.
Our Staff
EMRA employs two staff members that work part-time but are full-time regenerative enthusiasts. Reach out to either of them with questions or to learn more about EMRA. Our staff members also sit on the board of directors.
EMRA Executive Director
Sue FitzGerald
Growing up, Sue experienced a deep respect and appreciation for those who cared for the land and provided food for the world: from the local community level to a global level. Her passion is bringing groups of people together to learn, share, and stretch their imaginations in the pursuit of creating diverse, healthy landscapes. With thirty-six years of experience working with producers in Eastern Montana, she understands their struggles, their concern for the land and compassion for their animals. Sue knew there was a need for community amongst producers who were adapting a regenerative approach to their management and mindsets. In 2020, she co-created Eastern Montana Regenerative Agriculture to ensure the ‘soil health’ movement stayed strong in her sparsely populated part of Montana. EMRA is Sue’s passion project.
EMRA Coordinator
Tanya Funk
Watch this space. More to come.
