Kennedy Praises Regenerative Ranching at Black Leg Ranch Event

A USDA regenerative pilot program announced in September could deliver up to $1 billion in fiscal year 2027 to help producers adopt conservation systems, and U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., put that number in front of an audience at Black Leg Ranch near McKenzie, North Dakota, on Thursday morning.

The event, organized by Cramer's office and billed as an ag roundtable with a "special guest," drew the state's full congressional delegation, Gov. Kelly Armstrong, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Cramer served as master of ceremonies.

But before the speeches, there was a dispute at the gate. Health and Human Services staff told most of the media to leave, even though Cramer's office had invited reporters, taken RSVPs and provided directions. Jason Bohrer, Cramer's communications director, confirmed the event was advertised "as open press, with media availability set aside." An Agweek and Forum Communications reporter stayed for part of the roundtable before all media was again ushered out.

The federal agency and the senator's office also disagree on whose event it was. HHS claimed ownership. Hoeven, speaking during the roundtable, told Cramer: "Thanks for setting this up."

What happened at the ranch?

Host Jerry Doan's family homesteaded Black Leg Ranch — named for the Black Angus cattle his grandfather brought to the prairie — and survived in a sod hut in the 1880s. A century later, Doan weathered the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. After attending conservationist Allan Savory's Savory Institute in the '80s, he shifted the operation to adaptive rotational grazing.

"I learned a lot, and it's not rocket science," Doan said.

He credited the transformation with improving both profitability and the family's quality of life. Concrete steps included fencing out two flowing creeks and planting 25 species of cover crops on cropland.

"Soil health equates to good forage health, equates to good livestock health and eventually equates to good human health," Doan said.

The takeaway: a working ranch with measured changes — creek fencing and cover-crop diversity — served as the backdrop for a policy pitch.

What did Kennedy say?

Kennedy, the last speaker before media removal, said he had heard of Black Leg Ranch from others in the regenerative agriculture movement, including Gabe Brown of Bismarck. He praised producers willing to be "outlaws" and do things differently, calling that spirit central to the country's character.

"Those are the impulses that make this country the greatest nation in history," Kennedy said.

He tied soil health to human health at length, citing rising Type 2 diabetes in children, obesity, mental health problems, and low sperm counts and low testosterone in young men. Many of these problems, he argued, could be addressed through better foods and better soils.

"That's what we're going to need if we're going to restore American health," he said.

Kennedy said farmers need "off ramps" to change practices. "They don't want to do something if they don't know if it's going to work," he said. He recalled a White House event that seated conventional farmers alongside regenerative producers and called their exchanges "fascinating" — "a beautiful thing and a beautiful evening."

The health claims rest on the secretary's framing; no data or studies accompanied them.

What are the state and federal plans?

Armstrong highlighted North Dakota's Governor's Legacy Soil Health and Habitat program, a voluntary initiative that pays to take marginal land out of production.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., praised livestock risk management tools enhanced in the budget reconciliation bill — the "One Big Beautiful Bill" — and cited other federal investments in soil health. Still, he said livestock producers need risk mitigation closer to what crop insurance provides grain growers.

Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., said she wants federal help built on incentives, not mandates, and pressed for a new farm bill: "Let's get this farm bill done in the lame duck or — I don't like that — in the closing session."

Burgum outlined Interior Department work on grazing, including the Rangeland Health Initiative he formalized with a secretary's order in late October. The initiative aims to:

• expand grazing opportunities on federal lands
• streamline grazing permitting
• improve rangeland health through managed grazing
• increase transparency about available grazing lands
• reform policies so ranchers can protect livestock from predators
• improve coordination with the USDA Forest Service

Burgum added that cutting red tape on Bureau of Land Management grazing parcels continues.

Why the media flap matters

Reporters who were asked outside for a promised press conference found there would be none — HHS staff said it would be held in Bismarck, and no one from inside the event was made available for comment. What officials said in an advertised open-press setting therefore reached the public mainly through partial access and secondhand accounts.

The Thursday event paired a specific dollar figure — up to $1 billion for fiscal 2027 — with broad health and soils claims that went unchallenged on site; whether the pilot survives the appropriations process, and how USDA measures "regenerative" outcomes, will be the test.