The non-profit Soil Health Academy recently announced that Kim Barmann has been appointed president of the regenerative agriculture education organization. Barmann, who previously served as vice president, is a managing partner at CS Ranch in Colfax County, New Mexico. She replaces Dawn Breitkreutz who recently stepped down as president of SHA after serving for two years in that position.
In its seventh year of operation, SHA provides education and practical, on-farm schools and workshops throughout the country to help farmers and ranchers successfully and profitably apply lower-input, regenerative agriculture principles and practices in their respective operations.
Barmann’s family ranch has become a popular and effective SHA “outdoor classroom” for teaching ranchers how to implement profit-improving, drought-resilient regenerative ranching principles and practices. The ranch has employed holistic management principles since the mid-1980s and has made regenerating the health and function of the ranch’s soils the cornerstone of improving production and profitability.
In addition to announcing Barmann’s selection, SHA also announced that Eric Fuchs and Doug Voss have been appointed to its board of directors filling the positions of vice president and secretary/treasurer, respectively.
Fuchs owns and operates a diversified livestock operation in Southeast Missouri where he raises hair sheep and contract grazes all classes of cattle, using holistic planned grazing and implementing a managed grazing system for more than 20 years. A former wastewater industry water protection technician who worked with communities to help protect their drinking water resources, Fuchs is a consultant with Understanding Ag, a regenerative agriculture consulting company.
Voss is a third-generation “farmer-turned-AMP-grazer” at his family’s operation near Paynesville, Minnesota, where he and his wife Beth are raising their family of five boys. The farming operation features custom grazing on owned land and public land to achieve ecological goals. Voss also serves as a consultant with Understanding Ag.
“I’m delighted to lead SHA on its critical mission to help our fellow farmers and ranchers successfully and profitably transition from conventional to adaptive grazing and less chemical-dependent regenerative agricultural principles and practices,” Barmann said. “With experienced regenerative farming practitioners like Doug and Eric on the board with me, I am excited about taking our organization to the next level, and I look forward to serving SHA and its diverse clientele well into the future.”
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