Roundtable Information

Thursday, November 6, 3:45 – 4:45 p.m.

Friday, November 7, 11:00 – 12:00 p.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. 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
Create momentum and inspire collective engagement

Thursday (November 6th) Roundtables (3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.)

A Balanced Approach to Regenerative Ag
Facilitator: Kelly Sidoryk
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – DeVargas Room

How can we make regenerative agriculture sustainable for the land, animals, and agriculture producers? How can we support agriculture that offers a living wage and an inviting quality of life, and incentivizes the next generation to continue the work? How do you support yourself and find balance in your personal life while working long hours and living where you work?

Join this roundtable to discuss strategies for balancing your life on your farm/ranch, and how you prioritize self-care. What are your challenges? What are your hacks? This is an opportunity to share your experiences and learn!

How Have You Improved Financial Management. Facilitator: Angela Boudro
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Kearny Room

Beyond regenerating the land, how do you regenerate your farm (i.e. assets, labor, finances) with a focus on profit when everyone around says farming/ranching doesn’t pay? There are farmers and ranches who have figured out how to make a profit, invest in their agricultural operations, and pay themselves and their staff livable wages. Join this roundtable to share your questions and experiences about moving past surviving to thriving in challenging times.

How to Communicate the Value of Regenerative Food to Consumers
Facilitator: Christine Martin
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Nambe Room

While there are numerous scientific studies that show the benefits of regeneratively grown food, many consumers are not aware of the benefits and are confused by all the different certifications. As a producer, how can you effectively communicate the benefits and value of the food you are raising? What are the key data points you find helpful to share? What are the stories embedded in your products that can help consumers make meaningful connections between what they eat, how it was grown, and who grew it? This roundtable will help you tighten up your “farmer’s market pitch” and learn what others are experiencing in talking to their customers.

Community Building Toward Climate Resilience, Co-creating Climate Disaster Plans
Facilitator: Zara Šaponja and Hannah Luz Rice
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Lamy Room

We know that agricultural enterprises need business strategies and preparedness plans that move beyond day to day survival. At the same time, true resilience comes not just from strong business models but also from the strength of our relationships and collective preparedness. In this conversation, we’ll explore what it takes to strike a balance between the two. How do we show up for ourselves and one another in times of natural disaster and need? Join us as we discuss community resilience, evacuation planning, and real-time disaster relief applications such as tips for making a claim on crop insurance before you need it! Together, we’ll share strategies and support in a world where climate disaster is now an increasingly common player.

Continuing Climate-Smart Agriculture in funding uncertainty
Facilitator: Mercedes Talvite and Jon White
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Coronado Room

When the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program was initially threatened, a coalition of grantees self-organized to navigate uncertainty, build collaboration, and advance advocacy. Leaders from this ongoing network will share lessons learned from the network’s development and structure, with a focus on deep engagement, peer connection, and mobilization. Many non-profit, university, and company leaders in our network took bold actions for the first time in their professional lives through our organizing. Together, we’ll examine how these elements can be adapted and applied to other spaces—whether rural or urban, new or well-established. This is a participatory session designed for mutual learning to understand how to sustain momentum across multiple organizations with varying audiences. Come ready to share your own experiences with movement building and walk away with stories and tangible strategies for cultivating strong, responsive networks rooted in shared purpose and community power

Improving Wildlife Habitat with Conservation Grazing
Facilitator: Wayne Knight
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Milagro Room

Conservation grazing can be good for the land by improving ecosystem processes that in turn lead to improved habitat for wildlife of all kinds – herbivores, pollinators, birds, and soil organisms. How do you manage your grazing to maximize these benefits while dealing with issues like animal performance, quality of life, and financial profitability? Recognizing that there is no single solution that will work for every situation, this roundtable is an opportunity to share your experiences and define key principles and practices that can support others who want to pursue conservation grazing.

More Curiosity, Less Judgment: Exploring Civil Discourse
Facilitator: Joel Benson
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – O’Keeffe Room

Civil discourse is essential for involved citizens to have respectful dialogue that can guide our elected officials and support the government’s work (at the local, state, and federal levels). In this roundtable, we will explore the tools that support and enrich civil discourse: how to listen more deeply, ask questions that help define people’s needs, and create common ground through shared values.

Embracing a Paradigm Shift: Improving Wellness and Behavioral Health Outcomes for Farmers and Ranchers
Facilitator: Carlyle Stewart
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Peralta Room

Many of us are aware of the statistics. Farmers and Ranchers are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. Businesses are often at the mercy of markets, weather, climate, economic and political changes, and various circumstances that are outside of their control. Producers and farm workers are uniquely aware of the challenges and stressors of production agriculture, but many find themselves in situations where they struggle to cope. We will discuss the agrarian imperative, the holistic person concept, and the importance of understanding our paradigm, its limitations, and how it may prevent us from taking a more holistic approach to our health and well being. Finally, we will share stress management techniques and provide strategies to help participants apply this knowledge to build greater resiliency within themselves and on their operations. This roundtable is for farmers, ranchers, or any one interested in wellness in agriculture.

How to Protect and Support “Real Regenerative Ag” with Policy
Facilitator: Alan Lewis
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Pojoaque Room

The phrase “regenerative agriculture” has many meanings. With the increased interest in regeneratively raised food, there has been a rise of attempts at “greenwashing” corporate, conventional, or laboratory food. Policy can have a big impact on how to protect and support regenerative food systems. Engaging in policy can seem daunting, but there are many avenues for participation and advancing the public interest. Join this roundtable to share your experiences and questions about engaging with policy to support a regenerative food system.

Friday (November 7) Roundtables (11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)

Rooted in Land, Regenerating Futures: The Agrarian Commons Model in Southern New Mexico
Facilitator: Shahid Mustafa and Melissa Lopez-Sullivan
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Coronado Room

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.

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.

Apart From to A Part Of: Creating a Sense of Belonging During Transient Times in Early Agrarian Career
Facilitator: Julie Sullivan
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Lamy Room

Rural communities often benefit from enthusiastic newcomers arriving to help out on farms and ranches, thus revitalizing land and society. Yet newcomers often feel unwelcome or unsure of how to become part of their new place. Beginning agrarians relocate frequently for years; what helps build community in spite of transiency? Locals usually want to see a person stick around a few years before investing in them, while newcomers want to share their ideas and skills right away. Join us as we explore what NAP alumni and apprentices have tried in their various communities, share your own ideas, and consider what locals could do to better support new agrarians eager to become part of, and contribute to, their new home town.

Creating Robust Regenerative Food Supply Chains
Facilitator: Linda Long
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Milagro Room

As market demands increase, we need to create robust regenerative food supply chains that can support regenerative agriculture. That work requires a commitment to the mission and collaborating. What are the ways that you are building regenerative food systems? What successes have you been a part of or know about? How have you overcome the challenges of competition, scarcity, and clearly articulating your vision and value throughout the supply chain?

Shifting Ground: Advancing Ag Policy Impact in a Changing Political Landscape
Facilitator: Jen Ghigiarelli
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Peralta Room

As we close out a year of new federal administration, dramatic shifts in funding access, and staffing reductions across offices critical to agricultural producers, let us come together to discuss strategies and forecasts for navigating the changing political landscape within which we are working. Learn how to have your voice effectively heard through advocacy efforts, and share your own stories of impact related to policy.

Lessons Learned about Developing and Growing Agritourism and Value-Added Products
Facilitator: Brittany Duffy
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – O’Keeffe Room

Many producers are looking to increase the value of their products through marketing directly to consumers, pursuing certifications, or processing their raw product. Others are marketing the asset of country living and regenerative agriculture through agritourism.

Join this roundtable to share your experiences, challenges, and questions about the value and implementation of agritourism and learn about the creative ways people are increasing income and profit on their farms and ranches.

A Balanced Approach to Regenerative Ag
Facilitator: Kelly Sidoryk
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – DeVargas Room

How can we make regenerative agriculture sustainable for the land, animals, and agriculture producers? How can we support agriculture that offers a living wage, an inviting quality of life, and incentivizes the next generation to continue the work? How do you support yourself and find balance in your personal life while working long hours and living where you work?

How Have You Improved Financial Management & Profit?
Facilitator: Angela Boudro
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Kearny Room

How to Communicate the Value of Regenerative Food to Consumers
Facilitator: Christine Martin
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Nambe Room

Unconference
Facilitator: Marie Von Anken and Kyler Grandkowski
Room: Santa Fe Convention Center – Pojoaque Room

Not your average roundtable! The Unconferenced experience will feature an Open Space-style facilitation wherein participants engage in a participatory process to identify, and dive into, what’s 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.