Webinar Week

We will be offering access to a full schedule of virtual workshops during the week of October 24 – 28. Sessions will occur between 9am MT and 7pm MT. Register for the week and you get access to all workshops and the recordings. Contact Lynne at [email protected] with any questions.

If you have any tech issues during Webinar Week, contact out tech support line at 505-393-1425.

Monday, October 24

Leasing Your Future

9:00am – 10:30am MT

A lease, as defined in the dictionary, is a contract by which one party conveys land, property, services, etcetera to a second party for a specified time usually in return for a periodic payment. There is a great deal of room for innovative thinking in that definition, which is why understanding leasing is so important to a young person who may not own land, livestock, or equipment for starting a business. In this workshop, learn how to take the grazing skills you have and combine them with a leasing opportunity. The presenters will share what makes for a win-win grazing relationship and how a lease provides clarity and structure for this. The presenters will also discuss some of the economics behind leasing land and discuss some unconventional leases that are being implemented in a constantly changing agricultural landscape. This workshop is geared towards beginning or aspiring ranchers who are in the first 10 years of their career.

Instructors: George Whitten and Bridger Rardin

The Carbon Farming Market

11:00am – 12:30pm MT

Corporate buyers are looking for accurately measured carbon credits to meet their sustainability goals. Farmers are capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in their soils by adopting sustainable practices like cover crops.

Now, farmers across the country are getting paid for that work in the form of high-quality carbon credits to meet buyers’ growing demand. For the first time ever, these credits are being issued at scale, backed by rigorous science, independently verified by third parties, and with investments from leading corporations.

Instructors: Bryan Van Stippen, Brian Bartle, JD Drennan

Erosion Control and Amendments

1:00pm – 2:30am MT

Across the intermountain west, interest has been growing in using organic amendments and native seeding with erosion control structures to increase plant establishment and productivity while ameliorating active headcuts. Quivira’s Carbon Ranch Initiative has built rock rundowns on five ranches across New Mexico, with treatments of compost, mulch, and a native grass mixture to measure and compare the impacts of the treatments on different soil health indicators. This webinar will explain how we’re conducting this research, and the initial results we’ve found one year after building the structures and adding the treatments.

Instructors: Eva Stricker and CJ Ames

Economic Success with Regenerative Grazing

3:00pm – 4:30pm MT

This talk will focus on economic viability of grazing; creating 3-6 times more biomass oer acre, improved animal health and reproduction, how management of the solar collector with ruminants creates consistent high-quality meat. Calve in sync with nature, winter graze and use limited structure to avoid concentration of nutrients. Measure success by evidence of rumen function (manure quality). Economic success with AMP grazing also creates resilience and combats drought and flooding. Ridge Shinn is the co-author of the recent book Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World.

Instructors: Ridge Shinn

Young Agrarians Panel: Can Agriculture Be Viable?

5:00pm – 7:00pm MT

Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program partners with Valley Food Partnership’s Creating Farmers & Ranchers that Thrive as well as New Mexico Acequia Association’s Los Sembradores Program to hold a panel with 3 young agrarians finding unique ways to grow food for their communities. They will talk about ways they care for the triple bottom line as young agrarians tending leased and family operations.

Panelists: Samantha Wynne, Donne Gonzales, and Marcos Baez

Tuesday, October 25

Introduction to a Zero-Waste Production System

9:00am – 10:30pm MT

This presentation by White Oak Pasture’s Walker Holmes will include the following topics:

Introduction to the Makerspace- Why do we do what we do?How does the farm benefit from this?
Leather- How do we preserve the hides? How do we get our hides tanned? How do we utilize the Glowforge in Leather Crafting?
Tallow- How do we use Tallow in our Recipes?
Pet- What is a Grassfed Rawhide? What is the production process for creating Rawhides? Other Species – Lamb, Goat, and Rabbit
Dehydrated Goods… What does that include?

Instructor: Walker Holmes

Regenerative Agriculture: Dedication, Grit, and the Stories We Live and Tell

11:00am – 12:30pm MT

There is a lot involved in the industrial-to-regenerative transition. It is a process that asks us to return to the indigenous roots of agriculture and partner with Nature. It can also be difficult to establish an educated and supportive community base as the complexity of working in relationship with Nature can be difficult to explain.

In partnership with the James Ranch (a regenerative ranch in Durango, CO), we are creating an educational storytelling tool kit with the goal of enabling people to experience the excitement, beauty, health, and hope of Regenerative Agriculture and Holistic Land Management and what it means to listen to, learn from, and work in relationship with Nature. The intent is to help give you the tools to share the story of your operation.

Instructor: Mandy Magill

5 Steps to Protect Your Farm, Legally Speaking and Building Your Farm Team

1:00pm – 2:30pm MT

Are there a few key steps that provide a big impact when it comes to the farm or ranch’s protection from legal risks? We’re so glad you asked! Yes, there are, and every farm or ranch, no matter its size, location, or longevity, is in a great position to build resilience. Join us for a webinar that will build knowledge and confidence around essential farm law issues.

Instructor: Eva Moss

Organic Amendments on Rangeland

3:00pm – 4:30pm MT

Hear about the process and outcomes of adding biochar, compost, or bale grazing to dry rangelands. Everyone has so much going on, so we are looking for ways that we can make dealing with waste, such as composting or charring manure, food waste, or nuisance wood, help a ranch or farm be more productive. Additionally, if a ranch or farm already supplments livestock with feed, how can that time and expense be used to build organic matter in the soil and help you reach your goals?

Instructor: Eva Stricker

Determining Value, Risk, and Scale: How to do a Gross Profit Analysis

5:00pm – 6:30pm MT

A Gross Profit Analysis (GPA) is an essential piece of Holistic Financial Planning and a great way to determine your cost of production for any enterprise. You can also determine the risk involved in that enterprise at different scales so you can determine the right scale for you for any enterprise as well as the profit you can expect from that enterprise. A GPA will also help you determine the right price for your products. In this experiential workshop you will have time to practice this financial tool so you will have the skills to do a GPA on your enterprise. Bring your calculator to the workshop! Taught by HMI Certified Educator Ann Adams who has been teaching Farm Service Agency Borrower Training and Beginning Farmer Financial Planning Training for over 20 years.

Instructor: Ann Adams

Wednesday, October 26

Cultivating a Restorative Lifestyle

9:00am – 10:30am MT

The most important part of any agriculture operation is the people doing the work. Farming and ranching can be very rewarding and also very hard on our mind and body. This workshop will explore ways that people working in agriculture can prioritize and support their own mental and physical well-being along with the well-being of the people they work with. It will also look at how the needs of the crops, and livestock inform the needs of the people raising them. Restorative economies depend on restoring the health and well-being of the farmers, ranchers, and agriculture workers that make them possible.

Instructor: Clinton Wilson, Chad Reznicek

Low-Cost, Low-Risk Grazing

11:00am – 12:30pm MT

In this 90-minute webinar, experienced grazers Wayne Knight & Linda Pechin-Long will examine risk, stress, and quality of life in production decisions and share their experience with the “Safe-to-Fail Trial” method for grazing management.

Instructors: Wayne Knight & Linda Pechin-Long

Being Strategic When Selecting an Insurance Agent, Accountant, or Attorney for the Farm

1:00pm – 2:30pm MT

The best farms leverage the strength of many as they build their resilience for the long term. An insurance agent, accountant, and attorney each can play a valuable role in helping the producer achieve the operation of their dreams. Yet, building out a team can be a lot harder than it seems. Farms and ranches struggle to find folks they trust and can afford. There are solutions, and this webinar will help producers understand where to look, the questions to ask, and how to keep fees manageable when working with essential business supporters.

Instructors: Rachel Armstrong

Accessing Markets for Regenerative Practices

3:00pm – 4:30pm MT

Join the Colorado Savory Hub, The Colorado Regenerative Network, to learn about how to use your regenerative practices to access markets for your protein and fiber products. We’ll hear from several producers as well as the Land to Market team to hear about the potential of these markets, successes and failures.

Instructors: MJ Pickett

Homeopathy in Livestock Health Management

5:00pm – 6:30pm MT

Homeopathy is a self-contained system of medicine. Practiced at its best, Homeopathy is far more than prescribing little white pellets to “fix” a symptom of concern. The art and science of Homeopathy considers Hygiene (including diet, environment and lifestyle) as an integral component in, and influencer of, health and wellness. Homeopathic medicines are used, in conjunction with species-appropriate Hygiene practices, to dynamically catalyze the individual’s return to health.

Susan Beal, DVM will introduce the basics of Homeopathy philosophy and practice. This will include discussion about the dynamics of disease, obstacles that impact vital health and the response to treatment, and the pattern of responses to treatment. There will be instruction about how to give a homeopathic medicine, the timing of the doses and how to assess the response to the medicine. Concepts will be illustrated using both real case studies as well as “paper cases” drawn from actual field situations as Dr. Beal presents a variety of situations commonly found in all aspects of farming and husbandry. This session is appropriate for all animal species; two and four legged, feathered or furred. It is specifically geared for those who have little or no experience with the art and science of homeopathy.

There will be time for questions and answers in this interactive workshop, but please don’t expect to have individual health care needs addressed in this session.

Instructor: Susan Beal

Thursday, October 27

Biochar in the Southwest Panel Discussion -Production Methods and Quality

9:00am – 10:30am MT

Making biochar is easy…making high-quality biochar cleanly, efficiently, and with consistent properties is more challenging. This presentation will cover the types of biomass and reaction systems that can be used to make biochar, and will provide an introduction to biochar characterization and evaluation. Determination of what is a “good” biochar is not always straightforward as biochar properties that offer advantages for one application, may not be advantageous for another application. For example, biochars intended to increase the pH and mineral nutrient content of an acidic, weathered soil may benefit from having a higher and more alkaline ash content. That same biochar applied to an alkaline, saline (desert) soil would be at a disadvantage. In this presentation, we will look at the kinds of biochar properties that can be measured and how those properties can inform decisions about each biochar’s use.

Instructors: Sanna Sevanto, Rosa Soriano, Catie Brewer

Making Decisions Regeneratively with Holistic Management®

11:00am – 12:30pm MT

When we think about regeneration we need to think broadly about interconnection. Regenerative agriculture is about land, but it is also about human and economic relationships. If we are going to be regenerative we have to look after the Land AND the People AND the Finances.
Do you struggle with wondering what is the right decision to make to help you farm or ranch more regeneratively? Learn how to use HMI’s Holistic Management(R) Decision-Making Matrix and the 7 testing questions that have helped thousands of farmers and ranchers improve their on-farm/ranch decisions. With these questions you can learn how to test decisions towards a whole farm/ranch goal so you take into account social, ecological, and economic factors and address the root cause of problems you are facing.
Another element of being regenerative is being adaptive and responsive to our situation, be it ecological, social or financial. That is where Holistic Management’s (R) monitoring and replanning can be of great help.
During the workshop we will explore these tools and share some stories of how they have worked in our lives at Meeting Place Organic Farm.

Instructor: Tony McQuail

Great Grazing: Pasture Partnerships, Weird Feeds and Higher Profits

1:00pm – 2:30pm MT – CANCELLED!

We hope to reschedule in the future.

Measuring soil carbon and health on rangelands: A how-to webinar

3:00pm – 4:30pm MT

In this webinar, we will hear from scientists at Point Blue Conservation Science on how to measure and monitor soil carbon and health on rangelands. Focusing on the emerging Range-C Monitoring Framework, the group will discuss how to select indicators, identify the study area and sampling locations, determine the number of samples needed, and ensure data quality. By the end of the webinar, attendees will have a working understanding of the key decisions that go into measuring soil carbon and health in a way that produces reliable results, and how the Range-C Monitoring Framework can help navigate those decisions during the monitoring process.

Instructor: Dr. Chelsea Carey

Friday, October 28

2023 Farm Bill – Dismantling Big Ag’s Fragile System Propped up by Myths and Hidden Costs

9:00am – 10:30am MT

Time and time again, advocates have tried to shift government support away from industrial agriculture and toward a more resilient and equitable system, and have failed because Big Ag controls the narrative surrounding the agricultural policy debate. Every Farm Bill cycle, they use this false narrative to influence policy and further strengthen their stranglehold on our food and ag system. In this presentation, we will:

1. Call out the hidden costs of industrial agriculture
2. Dismantle industrial agriculture’s deceptive myths, and
3. Empower advocates to redesign the Farm Bill so that it is fair and resilient and benefits our farmers, food system workers, and communities — not just the CEOs of multinational corporations.

Instructor: Sarah Carden

Congruence: Aligning health care choices with personal priorities and paradigms?

11:00am – 12:30pm MT

Rocky Mountain Food Collaborative – Developing a Marketplace Owned by Producers to Incentivize Economic, Social & Environmental Change

1:00pm – 2:30pm MT

The Rocky Mountain Food Collaborative is a network of beginning and established farmers, ranchers, and supporters in the process of developing a producer owned cooperative grocery store with a cut facility, butcher counter, and restaurant. Over the last two years, we have worked to identify ways to bring more profit back to producers, increase all customers’ access to local food, and incentivize regenerative agriculture, social equity, sustainable operations, climate change adaptation, and consumer awareness.
Our new market channel will accomplish the following:

— Provide producers with a new year round direct to consumer mechanism. One in which products are moved with the volume
and ease of wholesale while retaining the higher prices that the small direct-to-consumer models provide.
— Build a strong vertically integrated supply chain to support regenerative producers and ensure communities access to regional,
nutritious food for years to come. Enable the rebuilding of a resilient, local agricultural economy.
— Foster resource sharing, technical assistance, political presence and a decrease in work load amongst and for producers in
a mutually beneficial way.

Instructor: Margaret McRoberts, Katie Miller, Lance Wheeler, Tom Scott