Originally from the Santa Rosa area of New Mexico, Jim grew up working alongside his family for local ranchers. Without the benefit of inheriting land, and cattle, Jim and his family set out to build a ranch from the ground up. Twenty-three years ago, they began with a small grazing lease for 12 head of cattle outside Santa Rosa. Through hard work and determination, they’ve since grown into a 370-head cow-calf operation, carving out a niche in the grass-finished beef market in New Mexico through their business, A&G Family Meats L.L.C. Jim has spent the past 16 years working on and off with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as a wildland firefighter and Rangeland Management Specialist. He is deeply committed to agriculture and supporting fellow ranchers through practical, science-based solutions. A strong advocate for the soil health movement, Jim believes in its power to improve rangeland and cropland conditions through simple, accessible principles that yield visible results: Helping farmers and ranchers get to “better days through better ways” remains at the heart of his work.

Plenary Speaker

Building a Ranch from the Ground Up Using Regenerative Agriculture Principles

Learn how implementing regenerative agriculture principles helped the Armendariz family build a ranch from the ground up. This family started their ranching journey as ranch hands and cowboys taking care of other people’s land and livestock, all while learning the trade and quietly nurturing the dream of a ranch of their own. Through years of sacrifice and hard work and unwavering faith, they built a ranch from the ground up on the foundation of healthy lands, restoring thousand of acres of rangelands in New Mexico. This opened up doors to acquire more land and livestock and grow the ranch. Today they run over 300 head of cattle and a “ranch to table” meat company (A&G Family Meats), providing grass-finished beef , pork and lamb to families all across New Mexico at a price that beats most grocery stores.

Sarah serves as the Coalition Director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, leading strategic direction and governance for this 170-member policy advocacy coalition since 2019. She has spent her career at the intersection of farms, food systems, and grassroots power-building: organizing nationally coordinated campaigns focused on advancing more sustainable, equitable federal farm and food policy over multiple farm bills, developing communities of practice for farmers and leaders in rural communities, and building community-scale, community-led food systems infrastructure in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Raised in Florida helping tend cattle and citrus groves, she is equally at home washing and packing produce for market and devising tactics for farm bill floor debates.

Plenary Speaker

Grassroots Agricultural Policy: A conversation with Sarah Hackney and Xochitl Torres Small

Xochitl is a sunny New Mexican who loves the land. The granddaughter of farmworkers, Xoch went on to serve her home as an attorney practicing water and natural resources law, a United States Representative, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary. Now, she’s proud to continue forging solutions as executive director of Quivira Coalition, which fosters resilience on working lands.

Xochitl lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with her husband, horses, dogs, and cats. They spend as much time as possible hunting and exploring the great outdoors.

Plenary Speaker

Grassroots Agricultural Policy: A conversation with Sarah Hackney and Xochitl Torres Small