Doug Sieck, past Chairman and current board member, is the owner and operator of Deep Root Ranch in North Central South Dakota. He has been a member of the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition since its inception in the summer of 2015. Sieck holds a Bachelors of Science in Ag Business from South Dakota State University and also serves on the board of the South Dakota Grasslands Coalition. He was awarded the “Excellence in Range Management” Award in South Dakota at the annual meeting of the South Dakota Section in 2015.

Sieck utilizes a wide variety of soil health practices throughout his farming and ranching operations, some of which include: intensively managed rotational grazing, grazing of full and partial season cover crops, no-till, livestock integration, as well as diversity in crop rotation through the use of cover crops and deep rooted perennials.

Sieck’s goals for the future of soil health on his farm and ranch is “To maintain and grow a livestock based operation which utilizes cropland to produce forage materials in a manner which requires little chemical or commercial inputs and allows family to participate in a comfortable and low stress environment.”