Ranchers Regenerate Texas Hill Country with Soil for Water

Texas farmers Jeremiah and Maggie Eubank are among a growing network of farmers, ranchers, and land managers across the United States who are taking steps to catch and hold more water in the soil with the aim of regenerating the land and strengthening their businesses.  

Nearly 215 farms and ranches have joined the free and voluntary Soil for Water network, a regenerative agriculture project supported in part by NCAT and ATTRA. The project aims to include farmers and ranchers who discover and share land management practices that improve soil health, catch more water in soil, reduce erosion, sustain diverse plant and animal life, and filter out pollutants, all while improving the profitability of their businesses. 

First-generation farmers Jeremiah and Maggie Eubank manage 2,000 acres in Texas Hill Country. They’re raising cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and ducks on land between San Antonio and Austin. It’s beautiful, tough land that Maggie Eubank says has been overgrazed for a century. They’re working to change that.   

“The Soil for Water Project is connecting us with a network of other ranchers who are doing what they can to use animals to grow more grass and keep more water in the ground,” Eubank explains. “Regenerating this ranch is the focus of our job, but we can also show other ranchers and farmers that it can be a viable business.”  

The high interest in grass-fed, sustainably produced meat and locally grown products is not only an economic benefit to these producers like the Eubanks, but also a quality-of-life benefit to their communities when healthy, locally produced food is available in neighborhood markets.