
Career Profiles
Beef Farmer

Grazed Right Ranch, owned by Ben Campbell and his family, sits on Alberta’s native grasslands. Here, they produce high-quality beef by raising their cattle on pasture year round.
Grazing cattle can support the grasslands which provide a number of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, flood mitigation and wildlife habitat. Ben rotates the cattle onto new pasture regularly, spreading manure that helps build organic matter, and promoting the growth of important, but less competitive plants species. He’s created buffer zones around ponds and sloughs that serve as a duck nesting habitat and filters surface runoff before it enters the water bodies. “We hope to pass the farm onto our children, which is why protecting it and the planet through sustainable agricultural practices is so important.”
In the recently-released documentary Guardians of the Grasslands, Campbell explains how the grasslands sequester millions of tonnes of carbon. His ranch alone can store 39,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which roughly equals the emissions that 2,000 Canadians produce in a year.
And they don’t keep the beauty of the Canadian grasslands all to themselves. Only a short drive from Calgary, the ranch is perfectly situated to reconnect customers with where their food comes from. “We are happy to invite our customers for a tour, by request, so they can see firsthand how the cattle are raised and the land is cared for,” said Campbell.