Ministry of Agriculture To Open Office In Humboldt

The Ministry of Agriculture is moving to Humboldt next year.

 

In March, the Ministry will be relocating its office from Watrous along with its current staff.

 

Agriculture Minister David Marit says the Watrous office was being underutilized.

 

“It had been averaging, you know around 70 walk-ins a year for the last few years, so we felt it was just totally being underutilized. You know a lot of the folks that are using the service are phoning in. I think just Humboldt being a larger center it will probably have more walk-ins coming into that service. So, we just thought it was better place to utilize our Regional Specialists and have them serve that area.”

 

Marit says Humboldt is a strong agricultural community and will benefit from having the regional extension services there.

 

There are five staff positions that will work out of the Humboldt office including two administrative personnel, along with a Crop Extension Specialist, Range Management Extension Specialist, and an Agri-Environmental Specialist.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.