Roundtable Information

Participants will sign-up for their preferred roundtables next to the registration/check-in table! There are multiple roundtables to choose from each day, with a cap on all roundtables. 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. 

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
  • Create momentum and inspire collective engagement

Thursday, October 29, 4 – 5:30 p.m.

When the Land Isn’t the Problem: exploring the human side of regeneration.
Facilitator: Christine Martin
Room: O’Keeffe (36 participants)

Many land stewards adopt regenerative practices expecting better outcomes, but can still feel stuck or uncertain about their decisions. This roundtable explores the role of humans in land stewardship—how mindset, internal narratives, and conditioned tendencies can become the limiting factor. Together, we’ll reflect on where we may be influencing outcomes or second-guessing ourselves, and how greater awareness can lead to more effective stewardship. This is not about adding more tools, but about seeing more clearly.

 

Moving Past Breakdowns in Clarity and Communication
Facilitator: Linda Pechin-Long
Room: Kearny (40 Participants)

Successful stewardship requires more than healthy land—it requires healthy communication. This roundtable will explore the challenges farm and ranch families face when expectations are unclear, decisions are avoided, or communication breaks down. Participants will share what they’ve tried, what has worked, and what hasn’t when it comes to improving communication within their management teams. We’ll discuss how greater clarity and stronger communication can improve management of our human, economic, and ecological resources to create sustained stewardship.

 

Exploring the Many Paths to Improving Animal Health and Performance
Facilitator: Anne Phillips
Room: Nambe (36 participants)

Livestock operators understand the basics of animal care and health, yet new and experienced livestock producers note that nuances of animal care, handling, overall health, and performance can be a continuous learning process. In this roundtable we will explore how producers establish policies and procedures to improve animal health and performance. We will learn about people’s challenges and the tools they’ve created to improve their operations. 

 

Weathering the Storm: managing farm stress amid climate disaster
Facilitator: Ashley Garfias, Justin Howard, and Caitlin Arnold Stephano
Room: Peralta (40 participants)

Farmers and ranchers across the country are experiencing the effects of extreme weather, and our region is no exception. Drought, wildfires, and extreme temperatures have an impact on our land, livestock, and our own mental health. Together, we’ll share the ways that climate-related stress shows up on our farms and ranches and explore strategies for cultivating resilience before, during, and after a disaster hits.

 

Growing Graziers: improving a labor force for grazing work
Facilitators: Cole Bush and Olivia Tincani
Room: Milagro (36 participants)

This roundtable invites both employees and employers in the grazing community to gather to share experiences, hardships, success stories, and future vision in hopes of coming away with practical ideas for how businesses, policy makers, and service organizations can assist to increase and improve the grazier labor force, in all roles. We imagine equitable sharing between employer, employee, service providers, and/or hopeful graziers to dialogue on the following topics: 

  • Examples of policy affecting labor on hyperlocal, regional, state and national lens
  • Shared expressions of hardships
  • Exchange of success stories
  • Volunteer culture: why unpaid labor doesn’t work
  • Apprentices/interns vs. employees
  • H2A storytelling: pros, cons, and everything in between
  • Brainstorming skill sets needed to cultivate solid entry-level employees in grazing businesses, with a follow-up goal to then pass ideas on to organizations and entities to influence their program and initiative development

 

The Lay of the Land in Sustainable Agriculture: practical facts for navigating state and federal policy
Facilitator: Evanne Caviness and Sarah Hackney
Room: Coronado (40 participants)

Sustainable agriculture is hard work, and navigating federal and state policy shouldn’t be an added burden. Sarah and Evanne will discuss recent changes in federal agriculture policy as well as opportunities in state and federal policy for farmers and ranchers who seek to operate as land stewards. Participants can anticipate leaving the roundtable with a deeper understanding of how state and federal policy impacts sustainable agriculture, as well as tangible resources and contacts to assist with issue-specific challenges they may face.

 

Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities in Succession Planning
Facilitator: Kelly Sidoryk
Room: Lamy (40 participants)

Whether you are a manager considering next steps for your operation or beginning your agricultural career, everyone is impacted by succession planning. How can we more effectively engage in the transfer of management and assets to provide opportunities for the next generation of agricultural producers? During this discussion we will explore challenges and opportunities people encounter while succession planning. 

 

Unconference
Facilitators: Marie von Ancken and Kyler Grandkoski
Room: Ohkay Owinghe (26 participants)

Not your average roundtable! The Unconference experience will feature an Open Space-style facilitation where participants engage in a participatory process to identify, and dive into, what topic(s) are most important in the moment. If you are not seeing the topics you want to discuss at the conference, attend this session. Come and pitch an idea, or come and hear what others are passionate about, then break out and have the conversations you’re most interested in having. This is also a great opportunity for anyone with an interest in learning new facilitation and collaboration processes. There is no cap to the number of participants.

 

Sharing the Challenges and Joys of Building Soil Fertility and Community through Crop Farming in Arid Environments
Facilitator: Sarah Robertson and Alyssa Cain
Room: Pojoaque (26 participants)

Crop farming/gardening in arid environments can be challenging and discouraging. It can also be rewarding and profitable. In this roundtable we will be discussing what people have tried, what challenges they’ve faced, and what their successes are. Through shared experience we can improve our ability to steward the land, grow food for our families and communities, and learn how to connect with consumers. We will discuss how land and community stewardship can be a key action and outcome of building soil fertility and of offering direct to consumer/community food.

 

Building Empowered Communities to Create Change
Facilitator: Sicada Sloan and Kiera McCabe
Room: DeVargas (38 participants)

We all see ways our societies could improve as stewards of this Earth, but on our own, it can feel daunting to make the change we want to see. Whether it’s at the federal, state, local or grassroots level, our voices are most powerful when they are heard together. For those of us feeling tired of moving at the pace of bureaucracy, we can start creating the futures we want now when we feel empowered as members of a strong community. How can we unite our communities together to achieve a shared vision? How can community be a source of strength and inspiration in our efforts to be the best stewards we can be?


Friday, October 30, 2 – 3:30 p.m.

How Do We Define Innovation in Regenerative Agriculture?
Facilitators: Avery Thompson
Room: O’Keeffe (36 participants)

This roundtable will bring participants together to examine how innovation is defined, measured, and valued across regenerative systems. We will discuss technological, ecological, and social forms of innovation and explore how innovation is defined on the ground, through management changes, problem solving, partnerships, and risk taking in real operations. This discussion will allow for diverse perspectives to help create a more inclusive and actionable understanding of innovation in regenerative agriculture.

 

Work, Conserve, and Play on Working Lands!
Facilitator: Dan Carter
Room: Milagro (36 participants)

The CDT landscape is more than just the 18-24″ wide trail. It is the watersheds, wildlife, people, and cultures that make this landscape so special and inspire us to travel through it on a trail. Much of the Continental Divide landscape are working lands. This landscape also has Federal public lands and State land managed for agriculture and recreation. As the human population and recreation grows along this landscape, the intersection with the working lands, practices, communities, and cultures is becoming ever more frequent. The intersection of these two uses can sometimes cause conflict. Development and privatization threatens both uses and ways of life that are deeply woven into the cultural landscape of the West. Many people that are part of recreation and working lands share a common love and connection to these lands.

These shared lands and love create great opportunities for people to work together to understand, protect, and manage these shared landscapes in a sustainable way. This roundtable is an opportunity to discuss the intersection of working lands, conservation, and recreation to lead to actions with shared benefit and understanding for all groups. Some of the specific intersectional topics encountered along the Continental Divide Trail are: livestock infrastructure: gates, fences, and water; best practices around livestock and guardian animals; differing cultures and generational change. Through our shared love for this landscape and public lands, we can find common ground and shared resources to better steward the CDT landscape.

 

Organizing to Advance Policy Solutions that Support Regenerative Livestock Production
Facilitator: Eric Boatti
Room: Nambe (36 participants)

As interest in regenerative livestock systems grows, farmers and ranchers have a unique opportunity to ensure that our public policies match the 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.

 

Technical Skill Building for Community Disaster Preparation
Facilitator: Erin Sheridan and Zara Šaponja
Room: Peralta (40 participants)

Farmers and ranchers are often the first responders to natural disasters in their communities. Join the National Young Farmers Coalition and Erin Sheridan from Redwing Ranch for an interactive roundtable discussion on moving beyond reactive crisis management toward proactive, community-led disaster preparation. Using recent chainsaw and wildland fire preparation workshops as a jumping-off point, facilitators will invite participants to share their own regional challenges, resource-sharing strategies, and technical training needs. Come ready to discuss how we can collectively build a resilient network of producer-led first responders across the West.

 

Adopting Conservation Practices and Accessing Climate Smart Supply Chains: sharing barriers and successes with fellow ranchers and graziers
Facilitator: Erin Upton and Sarah Fulton-Smith
Room: Kearny (40 participants)

Hosted by American Farmland Trust’s Women for the Land Initiative and the Texas Regional team, Sarah Fulton-Smith and Erin Upton invite ranchers to join a conversation to share your experiences implementing conservation or regenerative practices in your operations and engaging in climate-smart supply chains (production, processing, distribution). Share with and learn from your peers about success stories and challenges when implementing strategies to meet goals like improved soil health, rotational grazing, optimized water use, and overall enhancement of ecosystem health. During this session, we will also dig into market and supply chain access connected to regenerative practices.

 

Challenges and Opportunities for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
Facilitator: Holly Napier
Room: DeVargas (38 participants)

This roundtable invites beginning farmers and ranchers to discuss their experiences developing agricultural skills, training opportunities, and adapting to climate and environmental challenges. Participants will have the opportunity to share experiences, identify current challenges, and discuss practical solutions for strengthening the next generation of agricultural producers. Whether you are just getting started or several years into your agriculture journey, we welcome you to come and join this discussion.

 

Collaborative Prescribed Fire on Private Lands
Facilitator: New Mexico Prescribed Fire Council
Room: Coronado (40 Participants)

Prescribed fire can be a beneficial tool for wildfire mitigation, soil health, and vegetation management; yet, barriers exist to implementing prescribed fire on private lands. Lack of access to educational materials, training, equipment, and knowledgeable partners can lead to hesitancy in using prescribed fire to manage one’s own lands. In this session, the New Mexico Prescribed Fire Council will provide a brief overview of using prescribed fire on working lands and engage in discussion about the benefits of collaborative implementation of prescribed fire to address landowner hesitancy and improve access to resources. Small-group discussions will encourage participants to build community and a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to prescribed fire on private lands. The purpose of this roundtable is for participants to explore and build familiarity with prescribed fire as a management tool, access resources, and connect with other fire-curious land managers.

 

Linking Lead-Indicator Monitoring to Adaptive Management: what to look for and how to incorporate that information into effective plant- livestock- people outcomes
Facilitator: Wayne Knight
Room: Lamy (40 Participants)

Effective management is about matching the needs of plants, animals, and humans with the available resources to achieve the desired outcomes in an ever changing environment. Whether dealing with challenging weather, markets, and input costs or trying to maximize profit in the good years, planning is essential. Observation is also key to noticing and reacting quickly and appropriately to changing conditions and situations. In this round table we will discuss the lead indicators to watch for and how to apply them to a grazing plan/biological plan so you can make changes quickly for the best outcomes.