Melissa is a southern New Mexico birthworker and co-director of the New Mexico Doula Association, where she leads statewide efforts to advance reproductive justice and community-rooted care. A fifth-generation Native from a lineage of caregivers and land stewards, she is reclaiming her family farm as a site of ancestral healing, economic empowerment and collective care through her work with the the New Mexico Agrarian Commons.

Plenary Speaker

Regenerative Agriculture and Somatic Healing
with Shahid Mustafa

How regenerative agriculture helped us reconnect with our ancestral roots and become more grounded in our knowing of purpose as it relates to land stewardship. Hear the story of how Shahid and Melissa came together under unlikely circumstances to realize and achieve their shared goal of preserving ecologically significant agricultural land and agrarian community real estate.

Shahid is the co-founder of New Mexican Agrarian Commons and founder of Taylor Hood Farms. Taylor Hood Farms is named in honor of his maternal grandfather Archie Taylor and Tom Hood who were occupational farmers in the early 20th century. Located on multiple sites in and surrounding El Paso, Texas, Taylor Hood is a small diverse farm dedicated to educating and training community members about growing food and local food systems. We are committed to providing community members access to a variety of fresh, nutritious locally grown vegetables. Through the New Mexico Agrarian Commons, Mustafa and his team are working to create land access and equitable opportunities for next-generation and underserved farmers by holding land to provide long-term, affordable and secure lease tenure for regenerative agriculture.

Plenary Speaker

Regenerative Agriculture and Somatic Healing
with Melissa Lopez-Sullivan

How regenerative agriculture helped us reconnect with our ancestral roots and become more grounded in our knowing of purpose as it relates to land stewardship. Hear the story of how Shahid and Melissa came together under unlikely circumstances to realize and achieve their shared goal of preserving ecologically significant agricultural land and agrarian community real estate.

& Roundtable Facilitator

Rooted in Land, Regenerating Futures: The Agrarian Commons Model in Southern New Mexico

The Agrarian Commons presents a transformative model for land stewardship—one that shifts ownership from private control to collective care. Developed by the Agrarian Trust, this framework supports land access, long-term tenure, and regenerative agriculture for next-generation, historically excluded farmers. It centers ecological restoration, community governance, and land justice. Learn more at agrariantrust.org.

This roundtable will be led by Shahid Mustafa, a farmer, educator, and land steward in Southern New Mexico who is working to return a historic Hispano family farm to production through regenerative practices and Commons-based governance. Melissa Lopez-Sullivan will support the conversation by sharing insights from ongoing collaborations, including efforts to build youth education, food sovereignty, and cooperative infrastructure.

Together, we will explore how the Agrarian Commons model can take root in arid landscapes, restore ancestral land relationships, and regenerate soil, culture, and community. Participants will engage in dialogue around local implementation, collective ownership strategies, and the possibilities of building a future where land is held, cared for, and cultivated by and for the people.

Ariel Greenwood is a land and livestock manager and occasional painter. She has farmed and ranched in North Carolina, California, Montana. With her husband Sam, she now operates a large leased commercial ranch in northeastern New Mexico.

Plenary

Putting It All Together: Applying Regenerative Ranching Principles on a Working Commercial Ranch

This talk features practical examples of how regenerative agricultural principles can be applied in a commercial ranching context in the semi-arid southwest. Grass Nomads LLC, a due of first generation livestock managers, is applying the principles of regenerative agriculture on a 120,000 acre leased ranch in New Mexico. Learn how creative partnerships, stockmanship, adaptive water development, wetland enhancement, and planned grazing all play a part in running a for-profit livestock operation while improving the range.

Gail’s life journey has taken him on a path from a 3200-acre conventional corn/ soybean farm to a 162-acre food farm. Along the way, he has learned the value of healthy ecosystems to both his farming operation as well as his own health. Fuller puts emphasis on principles, not practices and believes farming should be about (re)growing communities. He envisions growing our food in systems designed to live and thrive according to nature’s principles.
Gail has spoken at conferences and workshops all over the country and in 2012, along with help from his partner Lynnette and Dr. Jill Clapperton, started the Fuller Field School. It has quickly become recognized as one of the premier educational events in the US with speakers and attendees coming from all over the globe. Gail and Lynnette also host other educational events and enjoy connecting people with new thoughts and ideas. Gail believes the only way to change food production in the U.S. is from the bottom up. To fix our broken food system, to heal our broken farmers, and to reverse our health crisis begins with healing our farms and our farmers at the same time. Let’s heal!

Plenary

Heal the Farmer, Heal the Farm

How can we talk about healing farms and landscapes without healing the farmer? It isn’t possible, they must go hand in hand. As one of my heroes, Masanobu Fukuoka said, “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” Let’s Heal!

Brittany Duffy is co-founder of Uncompahgre Farms, a regenerative ranch in western Colorado. Though she grew up on a sailboat, her childhood dreams were firmly planted in the soil—she always imagined one day being able to farm. In 2019, that dream took root when she and her co-founder Caleb Valdez started with just five cows and three leased acres. With tenacity, creativity, and a whole lot of fence-moving, they’ve grown a vibrant, community-focused farm that raises grass-finished beef and lamb while hosting educational programs and on-farm events.

Brittany’s path to farming has been anything but conventional- from teaching high school English, to serving three years in Nicaragua as a Peace Corps volunteer, and conducting environmental analysis for the Forest Service. While she holds a Master’s in Natural Resource Management, she credits most of her learning to experience—hands in the soil, deep conversations peppered with endless questions to patient mentors, good podcasts, and a willingness to try, fail, and try again.

Whether walking the fields, moving fence, hosting a farm tour, or trading stories at the farmers’ market, Brittany believes the most resilient systems—ecological and human—are those rooted in relationship, humility, and continuous hands-on learning. She always dreamed of farming, but she never imagined how much her cup would overflow- and she can’t wait to encourage and serve others on their own journey!

Plenary Speaker and Roundtable Facilitator

Depth Over Breadth: Rooting in Place to Cultivate True Resilience

Kyler Grandkoski combines his passion for local food systems, collaborative facilitation and regenerative stewardship at Quivira Coalition. In his role as Grants Manager he supports the Operations, Fundraising and Programmatic teams with cross-functional and simple systems for securing and managing grants. Originally hailing from the mountains of northwest Montana, Kyler has a background in multi-stakeholder projects working toward food systems infrastructure and alternative land access in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest. He is trained as a participatory facilitator and strategic planner, which he employs in service to community-informed, place-sourced projects and initiatives through Aligned Action, LLC. In his leisure time you’ll find him stewarding parts of the Mancos Valley in Colorado, sharing food, stories, music and adventures with his family and friends.

Roundtable Facilitator

Unconference