Morgan was raised on a small family farm in the San Luis Valley. This began her love for water and appreciation for agriculture. Her participation in 4 H further developed her personal connection to ag while highlighting the importance of leadership and civic engagement in rural communities. Her previous work with USDA has emphasized the importance of agriculture to her life and she is thrilled to continue it through the Rye Resurgence Project, in addition to stepping more into the operations of her family farm as the 5th generation. She looks forward to working to help preserve the agricultural way of life here in the SLV, and to build strong, resilient farms and communities for the future.

Plenary Panelist

Preserving Heritage Crops and Livestock: A discussion with stewards in the Southwest

It takes many hands to keep the tradition of raising heritage crops and livestock going. More than food, crops and livestock that exist on the margins of commodities embody culture, biodiversity, and stewardship of a holistic approach to agriculture. In this panel discussion, hear from producers who are maintaining a place-based, sustainable agricultural practice by growing culturally relevant and ecologically resilient crops and livestock. Learn about how they navigate a premium market as a small-scale producer. Understand the challenges faced by those in both the early and later stages of their lives and careers as farmers and ranchers. And, get to know what makes some of the resilient heritage crops and livestock grown in the Southwest special.

Moderator: Mary-Charlotte Domandi
Panelists:
Kiera McCabe (Skoden Farms)
Morgan McMaster Neely (The Rye Resurgence Project)
Tyrrell Tapaha (weaver and sheepherder)

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

Don Hankins is a distinguished professor of environmental geography at CSU Chico and the field director of the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. His extensive expertise encompasses pyrogeography, water stewardship, conservation, and climate resilience. He integrates academic insights with Indigenous knowledge to engage in transdisciplinary research and actions, including prescribed and cultural burns, ecocultural restoration, and policy development. Don collaborates with various organizations, agencies, and Indigenous entities across North America and Australia, earning international recognition for his innovative work in Indigenous fire stewardship and ecocultural restoration. His leadership includes co-founding the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network and Indigenous Stewardship Network, as well as serving on the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force executive committee. He is a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and a Grist 50 Fixer.

Plenary Speaker

Burning with Intent

Indigenous fire stewardship is a key ecocultural process that has shaped ecosystems for millennia and has enhanced soil, biodiversity, and resilience to climate change among other benefits. The removal of such processes from many places has degraded ecosystem health. Restoring Indigenous fire stewardship and related practices are critical to regenerating, maintaining, and sustaining ecosystem and cultural benefits spanning diverse places and applications. Applied studies spanning woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, rangelands, and policy illustrate the opportunities and challenges of this work.

Eric Boatti is the Senior Manager of Farmer Advocacy at the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), and brings over a decade of experience working on and providing technical assistance to regenerative livestock farms. In his role he manages the new FACE Ag Network, a national platform for pasture-based farmers and ranchers to advocate for policies that promote humane, healthy and resilient farms and rural communities.

Roundtable Speaker

Organizing to Advance Policy Solutions that Support Regenerative Livestock Production

As public awareness of and interest in regenerative livestock systems grows, farmers and ranchers have a unique opportunity to ensure that our public policies match this demand for more humane, healthy, and resiliently-produced food. Join representatives from the FACE Ag Network- a new national network of pasture-based producers organizing to support policy solutions that benefit animals, people and the environment – to discuss how best to amplify farmer voices in the policy space. Attendees will learn about the resources and tools FACE provides to its members, while sharing their own experiences, successes, and challenges when participating in advocacy. We hope attendees will discuss the issues most affecting their farms, ask questions about the advocacy process, and explore how state and federal policy can support the adoption and viability of regenerative farming & ranching practices.