NEW YORK- Panorama Organic Grass-Fed Meats, owned by Perdue Farms, announced on April 6 it would partner with the National Audubon Society to add nearly 1 million acres to its Conservation Ranching Initiative.

The company and the environmental organization will create individual habitat management plans for Panorama’s network of ranches.

“With 95% of grassland birds living on cattle ranches in the United States, and the bird population in steep decline, the connection between cows, birds and land conservation is a priority for Panorama Organic and the National Audubon Society,” said Kay Cornelius, general manager of Panorama Organic.

Cornelius also committed to doubling the rancher network to 2 million total acres of certified lands by 2030.

“Over the last 50 years, no ecosystem has been more imperiled than the grasslands, including pastures and rangelands that birds like the Grasshopper Sparrow and Western Meadowlark rely,” said Marshall Johnson, director of Conservation Ranching for Audubon. “When birds go silent, that’s an indication that we're losing our soil health and wildlife habitat. We recognized early on that partnership between Audubon and ranchers was mission critical to saving them.”

Panorama Organic’s 34 independent family ranchers currently span eight states and nearly 1 million acres of USDA Certified Organic grasslands in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado and Wisconsin.

“Each ranch in our network hosts the most important plants and animals in their states,” said founding Panorama Organic rancher, Darrell Wood of Leavitt Lake Ranches of Vina, Calif. “I am confident that with this Audubon certification program, our ranchers will be able to further embrace regenerative agriculture to improve the environment for our children, grandchildren and generations to come.”

Panorama says its meats are USDA Certified Organic, non-GMO, Global Animal Partnership Animal Welfare step 4, Paleo- and Whole 30-approved.