Roundtable Information

Thursday, November 7, 3:25 – 4:35 p.m.

Friday, November 8, 10:20 – 11:30 a.m.

*times subject to change

 

Participants will sign-up for their preferred roundtables next to the registration/check-in table! There are 10 roundtables to choose from each day, with a cap on all roundtables except the “Unconference”. Some roundtables will repeat on the second day. Refer to the map in the program to find the location of the roundtables you signed up for. 

See roundtable facilitators listed below, as well as the speakers, facilitators, volunteers and contributors. The goals of the roundtables are to:

  • build relationships between participants and speakers/contributors around topics they care about
  • learn from the wealth of knowledge and experience that everyone brings to the Regenerate Conference
  • deepen participants’ understanding of where they themselves and other people are coming from
  • interact with and ask questions of speakers/contributors
  • create momentum and inspire collective engagement

 

Roundtable Topics and Facilitators

1. How to Raise Money & Build Brand
November 7 & 8
Facilitator: Christine Martin

Do you have a great product and want to take your business to the next level? Have you been successful at building your brand and getting more people to buy your product than you can supply? Whether you are just beginning building brand awareness or have had incredible success, this roundtable will be facilitated to allow people to share their questions and experiences around marketing agricultural products and services as well as finding ways to fund business growth.

 

2. Working with Conservation Easements & Other Ag Land Protection Ideas
November 8
Facilitator: Deborah Clark

With increasing land values and development pressure across the country, agricultural land is becoming more difficult to keep in production, providing many valuable ecosystem and aesthetic services. How do we keep our working lands working? How do we provide support to land owners and land managers alike so we can protect these lands and make them accessible to the next generation of land stewards and agricultural producers to continue to build resilient, regional food systems? Come with your ideas and questions so we can grow our toolkit of options to protect agricultural lands and values.

 

3. Regenerative & Conservation Grazing: Building Soil Health, Wildlife Habitat, and Economic Opportunity
November 8
Facilitator: Brian Wehlburg

Regenerative & Conservation Grazing is a suite of practices that help land managers to build soil health and improve wildlife habitat and economic opportunity. This roundtable will touch on everything from how to plan for wildlife needs in your grazing plan to engaging with state and federal agency leases. Bring your experiences and questions on grazing, monitoring, business planning, and collaborating as we all learn how regenerative grazing can create win/win for all parties involved.

4. What is Meaningful Regenerative Agriculture Monitoring & Research
November 7
Facilitator: Linda Pechin-Long

Research on the effectiveness of regenerative agriculture is quickly helping to prove not only the environmental benefits these practices provide, but also the potential profitability it can offer the producers using these practices. Key to research on regenerative practices is on-farm/on-ranch research as well as successful collaborations between research institutions and producers who need to understand the potential ramifications of these practices to make effective management decisions. Come prepared to share your own research efforts and challenges to help others learn from your successes and learnings. Also be prepared to discuss what types of research problems we still need research institutions to tackle for us to take regenerative agriculture to the next level.

5. Is Your Management Team Struggling?: Moving from Conflict to Alignment
November 7
Facilitator: Kelly Sidoryk

Many people see regenerative agriculture as a suite of tools that improve land health. But if we want to regenerate the human resources on our working lands as well as our economic and natural resources, we need to figure out how to get our management teams working better among themselves and with their resource base of vendors, customers, and collaborators. If your management team is struggling or you figured out how to get your team functioning at the next level, bring your ideas and challenges to the table.

 

6. Centering Farmer and Rancher Voices in Carbon Removal
November 8
Facilitator: Gretchen Kroh / Carbon 180

While the agriculture and forestry sectors have received increased attention in the carbon removal space due to the clear connection between managing for soil health and building soil carbon, incentives for carbon management have not always centered producers’ needs. This roundtable discussion will focus on farmer and rancher experiences with managing soil carbon and soil health, following up on Carbon180’s workshop on the same topic during the conference. Discussions will dig deeper on what carbon removal means to producers, challenges and opportunities producers face in building and maintaining soil carbon, types of soil carbon practices that are of most interest to producers, and specific incentives and types of support different producers need to actively manage for soil carbon. We welcome you to join the roundtable even if you can’t attend the workshop. Producer input during the roundtable will inform Carbon180’s future policy proposals and our current policy advocacy ahead of the upcoming Farm Bill.

7. Agricultural Management & Asset Transfer Opportunities & Challenges
November 7
Facilitator: Joe & Jenn Wheeling

With an aging workforce and much land ready  to change ownership in the coming years, agricultural succession is on everyone’s mind. Come ready to share your ideas and experiences (as well as ask questions) on how to prepare for this management and asset transfer opportunity so all parties win and more working land remains working land.  What are the stumbling blocks you have faced? What have been the creative solutions you’ve developed? Whether you are young or old, actively engaged in transfer planning or just getting started, come learn what others have learned or share your experiences.

8. A Community Approach to Regenerative Agriculture
November 8
Facilitator: Melinda O’Daniel

There are many examples of individual success stories of how regenerative agriculture has saved the family farm and ranch. But how do we encourage our neighbors to try these new practices to improve land health, animal welfare, business profit, and quality of life? How can we engage communities of practice to support individuals as they navigate changing practices in a landscape where regenerative agriculture is still a new concept. Come to this workshop ready to share your experiences of how you’ve engaged others in your community and created allies and collaborators. We all can offer a piece to the puzzle of how to increase the practice of regenerative agriculture across communities and strengthen our community ties.

9. Supporting Innovation and Flexibility in Public Land Grazing
November 7
Facilitator: Robyn Paulekas and Sara Schmidt

Join us for an engaging discussion on strategies to strengthen innovation and flexibility for public land grazing in the Western United States. Public land grazing is important to the economic viability of many ranches. However, the current permitting process often doesn’t support innovation or allow the flexibility to respond to changing conditions. This session will explore specific ideas that support both ranch sustainability and ecological stewardship of our public lands.

The discussion will explore:

  • Policy Solutions: Potential policy changes or administrative solutions that can support sustainable grazing practices and benefit ranchers.
  • Data and Information Solutions: Strategies for leveraging data and information to build trust and a shared understanding of management outcomes.
  • Strengthening Trust and Relationships. Discuss opportunities to build and reinforce trust among ranchers, public land managers, and the broader conservation community.

You will have the opportunity to share your experiences, insights, and ideas for advancing practical and impactful solutions. Don’t miss this chance to contribute to the future of public land grazing in the West!

10. Creative Solutions to Addressing Labor Challenges in Agriculture
November 7
Facilitator: Patrick O’Neill

Labor is a huge issue for many agricultural operations around the world. Whether your experience is from a farm/ranch labor perspective or farm/ranch management perspective, the need for creative solutions to labor challenges is huge. In this roundtable we will be sharing the various labor challenges (such as shortages of qualified labor and shortage of year-round labor positions that pay a living wage with decent working conditions.) as well as brainstorming ways to address these needs or reduce labor and input needs through regenerative agriculture and effective farm/ranch management systems as well as using alternative labor pools or cooperative arrangements. Come be a part of this exploratory labor dialogue.

11. Silvopasture Dreams and Challenges
November 7
Facilitator: James Calabaza

Silvopasture, a concept dating back to ancestral agroforestry practices, is an afforestation system that benefits land health while building resilience to climate change. In this roundtable, we will discuss the robust potential of integrating trees, crops, and livestock. We’ll ask questions like; what would happen if Silvopasture was practiced more widely? What agroforestry practices embody a silvopastoralism approach? How does a silvopasture practice foster a connection to land, water, and community?

 

12. Advocacy, Storytelling and Allyship
November 7
Facilitator: Alicia Thompson

This roundtable focuses on creating a safe space for marginalized farmers and ranchers to explore farm bill advocacy in their communities, uplift stories of discrimination and hardships, and highlight the importance of race equity and accessibility. We want to hear from farmers and ranchers from marginalized communities who have experienced discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, veteran and/or disability status. Allies are welcome to join and actively listen (don’t worry, we will go over this learned skill!).

13. Unconference Experience
November 8
Facilitators: Marie Von Ancken, Kyler Grandkoski

Not your average roundtable! The unconferenced experience will feature an open space-style facilitation wherein participants work together to build their own roundtable(s) – you can come and pitch a topic idea or come and experience some great pitches and then vote amongst yourselves to have the conversations you’re most interested in having. This is a great opportunity for anyone with an interest in learning new facilitation, collaboration and participatory processes.  There is no cap to the number of participants.

14. Smarter Together: Peer-to-Peer Land Management Troubleshooting
November 7
Facilitator: Hayden Vandeberg, NAP Northern Plains Manager, Taylor Mugila, NAP Colorado Manager
Resources: past and present NAP mentors, and others

Whether you are an early-career or long-term rancher or land steward, situations and problems arise that, while new to us, are familiar to others. This session is a “bring your current questions” for peer-to-peer discussion and brainstorming. Your question may be what watering system works well in your terrain, what fencing pattern can maximize recovery time, which solar charger will meet the needs, how to best graze for specific plant recovery targets, or something else. Join NAP staff, alumni and experienced ranchers to troubleshoot practical solutions to your production questions and offer your input to others. 

15. New Agrarian – ‘How are you, really?”: Supporting rancher wellbeing for one another
November 8
Facilitator: Julie Sullivan and Clinton Wilson

 As producers, we pay close attention to our land and animals, regularly maintain equipment and monitor finances. But do we pay close attention to the well-being of our family, friends and community? And what about ourselves? After all, you are the most important tool on your ranch. This roundtable will explore stress factors producers experience, consider what is meaningfully supportive for each of us as individuals, and for others, and envision with one another ways to support our communities, friends, family, and ourselves.

16. American Grassfed Association Standards Updates
November 7 & 8
Facilitator: Kathy Webster, Don Davis

With customer demand for verified grassfed beef from the USA and interest in regeneratively raised food continuing to grow, the American Grassfed Association leads the certification standards in the USA. Come to this roundtable to learn about changes to the certification process for AGA as well as the addition of new certification standards for their Land Health module that is an optional certification for regenerative practices. 

If you have questions about the value of AGA certification for you as a producer and the certification process, come and learn about the options regardless of what scale you produce at or what type of pastured protein (including ruminant, pig, dairy, and poultry) you raise.

17. Boards, Commissions, Working Groups, and more!
November 8
Facilitator: National Young Farmers Coalition

This roundtable with the National Young Farmers Coalition will explore and discuss opportunities for community-level storytelling and advocacy and why they matter. It will also explore how community advocacy can be engaged in a decolonization perspective.

 

18. Challenges and Solutions to Navigating Animal Health
November 7
Facilitator: Carrie Balkcom
Speakers/Special Guests: Jody Kull and Meg Cattell

What are the animal health challenges you have navigated and what are the routines and policies you have developed on your farm to keep your animals healthy? Come to this roundtable to learn and discuss such topics as: routines for animal behavior &  handling, restraining systems, and your “toolbox” for routine health and emergencies. We’ll also be talking about when to engage a veterinarian and what your options are for how  to engage them. How do you develop a relationship with  your vet before there’s an  What kind of diagnostics can you do on the farm/ranch and when do you need to take an animal in?

Whether you raise poultry or ruminants, large or small stock, this conversation is for all types of producers and those caring for livestock.