Meet the 2024 Regional ESAP Winners

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As committed stewards of the land, cattlemen and cattlewomen must continuously evolve and innovate as they strive to be better producers and caretakers. Corteva Agriscience proudly supports these efforts in multiple ways, including serving as the longest-standing sponsor of the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP).

Environmental Stewardship Award winners are nominated by local organizations, conservation groups or fellow producers. A blue-ribbon Environmental Stewardship Award Selection Committee picks the regional winners. This year’s class includes seven regional winners. The committee selects one national winner from these regional award recipients and announces the name during the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Legislative Conference each year.

Congratulations to the following 2024 regional Environmental Stewardship Award winners!

Region I: Angus Glen Farms, LLC — Watkins Glen, New York

Owned and operated by Brett Chedzoy and family, Angus Glen Farms is an entirely grass-fed cow-calf operation located in New York’s Finger Lakes region. Protecting natural resources is a high priority for the Chedzoy family, which shares this dedication with the hundreds of visitors who tour the farm each year. The Chedzoys take pride in educating farm visitors on the importance of environmental stewardship and the role cattle production plays in preserving critical ecosystems. In addition to tours, Brett Chedzoy uses his forestry background and grazing experience to regularly educate cattle producers on sustainable practices, such as silvopasturing.

Region II: Kempfer Cattle Company — Deer Park, Florida

Kempfer Cattle Company is a sixth-generation family ranch owned and operated by brothers Billy and Reed Kempfer and their families. Although purebred Brahmans and commercial cattle are their primary focus, the Kempfers also manage a sod company, a sawmill and a replacement heifer development ranch located in Macon, Missouri. Their approach to controlling invasive species and managing wildlife and forestry, along with their innovative use of technology for efficient sod production, showcases their holistic view of ranching as part of a larger ecosystem.

Region III: Little Timber Farms — Blackduck, Minnesota

Little Timber Farms is a fourth-generation farm that blazed the trail for sustainable cattle production practices in northern Minnesota. Rachel Gray and her family have been stewards of the land for generations, not because the public demands it, but because it is simply the right thing to do. Rachel started transitioning from a cow-calf herd into a heifer development operation in 2017, and the family never looked back. The Grays work diligently to implement rotational grazing, restore pastures, protect riparian areas, incorporate cover crops and manage nutrient cycling on their ranch.

Region IV: Blue Ranch — Moore County, Texas

Rex and Susan McCloy saw an opportunity to expand their extensive farming and cattle operation in 2013, which led them to purchase what’s now known as Blue Ranch. Their last decade has been spent completing multiple brush management, water system and pasture improvement projects that have contributed to efficient cattle production and a thriving wildlife habitat. Today, the ranch is a benchmark for regenerative ranching. The McCloys, along with ranch manager Mike Turner constantly seek and implement environmental improvements to the sundry rolling prairie in the northwestern Texas Panhandle.

Region V: LeValley Ranch — Hotchkiss, Colorado

LeValley Ranch is a generational ranch owned and operated by brothers Hank and Mark LeValley, as well as their families. They run an Angus-based herd of over 425 mother cows and background more than 100 yearlings each year. They strive to integrate federal and private rangeland in a way that supports livestock production, wildlife habitat, and range vigor through diverse plant communities. The LeValleys also take pride in connecting with consumers and local residents through direct marketing of beef and co-ownership of retail stores and USDA processing facilities.

Region VI: Cottonwood Ranch — Wells, Nevada

Cottonwood Ranch is a sixth-generation cattle (primarily cow-calf) and horse ranch that has been committed to environmental stewardship for more than six decades. The ranch includes 1,200 acres of private land, along with permitted cattle grazing on approximately 35,000 acres of federal lands. Currently, four generations reside on the ranch. In 2009, McKenzie Molsbee and her husband, Jason, moved back home to take on management of the ranch. Today, in addition to managing the ranch, they own most of the livestock. They sell their calves through videomarkets and offer custom beef sales.

Region VII: Downey Ranch — Wamego, Kansas

Downey Ranch, Inc. (DRI) was founded by third-generation cattle producer Joe Downey in Kansas’s Flint Hills in 1986. Today, it is owned and operated by his daughter, Barb, and her husband, Joe Carpenter, along with their daughters, Anna and Laura. DRI is a 550-head registered and commercial cow-calf operation that produces Angus and SimAngus seedstock bulls and females and feeder calves. The Carpenters strive to maintain a balance between the economics of ranching and the intrinsic ecological values of one of the world’s largest remaining native tallgrass prairies.

Learn more about each of these outstanding cattle producers and how to nominate other outstanding stewards at EnvironmentalStewardship.org.