Kip and Odette Mortenson have been working their ranch, abundant with natural prairie grass lands and located on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, since 2000. They brought years of organic farming and ranching experience with them from rural West Virginia. First certified organic in the late ‘80’s, Kip and Odette have been employing organic management techniques long before the word became in vogue. Across their years as organic farmers, they’ve raised sheep and wool, vegetables and herbs, small grains, market vegetables, and flowers. Finally they became involved with Hereford/Angus cross cattle as they believed this to be the most sustainable use of their high mountain valley soils and climate. “Converting grass to protein through ruminants seemed a viable approach to land stewardship and quality food production simultaneously,” said Kip.

Kip and Odette have been active in forwarding issues important to land stewardship, sustainable farming practices, and organic farming in general. Having traveled extensively around the world, they have only the highest hopes for agriculture on this planet. “We are very fortunate to be able to care for the lands with which we have been entrusted using techniques we firmly believe in and have seen work over and over again across a multitude of climates and countries,” Kip added. “We support consumers’ awareness of the power they wield merely by what they choose to consume!” Their ranch manager, Chris Bechtold, sits on the board of MOPC. Chris lives and works on the ranch with his family.