Currently, the Agriculture Division provides operative oversight to almost sixty thousand acres within five counties, and employs 21 full-time employees who primarily focus on our pecan, ranching and wildlife enterprises. As you can imagine, the natural resources and human capital utilized within this working environment are diverse, thus the management plan and strategic approach must be equally diverse. This operational diversity, when coupled with a for-profit mindset, provides a very unique information-sharing opportunity. In a nutshell, the Choctaw Nation’s seven ranches, accompanied with their enterprise, (i.e. cow/calf, heifer development, bull development, back-grounding, stocker, retained ownership, etc.) emphasis can be seen as proxies pertaining to realistic operational outcomes. Our intention is to share as much of this information as possible with as many as possible to hopefully assist with decision-making for those managing lands. That said, we know not everything we do applies to all operation; however, there are many activities that will. Not all actions and product/technology implementation will be successful, but we will share both the experiences as well as the successes. We have all probably heard the saying, “when you try new things, sometimes you’re a leader and sometimes a bleeder.”
We have been both, but we try and learn from each outcome.