The Vermont Grass Farmers Association and UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture are proud to co-host the foremost grazing conference in New England. The 26th Annual Vermont Grazing and Livestock Conference brings together experienced and new farmers, lenders and service providers, and non-farmers seeking to learn more about ways to align with and support well managed pastured livestock production. We host national and regional experts, farmer and industry panels, live Q&A sessions and research presentations to help New England’s farmers improve their pasture management. If it eats grass and can put money in your pocket, we will be talking about it at the conference!
Keynote discussions with Elaine Froese - Friday, January 21st and Fred Provenza - Saturday, January 22nd. We will also joined by grazing experts, Abe Collins, Phyllis Van Amburgh and Sarah Flack. Your questions will help shape the conversations, so be sure to enter questions into the session Q&A section on the WHOVA app.
Thursday, January 20
Vermont Food Ways: A View of Marketing Outside of Vermont. – Vermont Way Foods
To Make Hay or Not To Make Hay, that is the Question! – Farmer Panel led by Richard Kersbergen
Healing the Land Community: Emergent Patterns and Useful Constraints - Abe Collins
Discussion and Examples of Policies that Support Regenerative Agriculture - Carbon Cycle Institute, ….
Friday, January 21
Culture Beats Strategy, Practical Tools for Having Hard Conversations with Your Farm Team - Elaine Froese
How Do We Make Money as Graziers? - Phyllis Van Amburgh
Farm Management Teams - Case Studies - Jake Jacobs
Research Updates from UVM - Joshua Faulkner
Saturday, January 22
Grazing Resilience in a Changing Climate Q&A - Sarah Flack
Speed Networking – Farmer to Farmer Table Talk Time - All Participants
Grazing Land You Don't Own, and Making It Work - Lexie Hain & Byron Palmer
From Conception to Consumption - Palates Link Animals to Foodscapes- Dr. Fred Provenza interviewed by Jenn Colby
The conference highlights plenty of new ideas to take home and ruminate on as you plan for the 2022 season.
Presentations will be recorded and available for registered participants to view up to six months after the conference.
Registration is $20 for VGFA members (up to six tickets per farm) and $40 for non-members. There is also a sliding scale ticket option, allowing folks to pay what they can. We want everyone to be able to participate.
The conference is generously supported by funding from Cedar Tree Foundation, Forrest C. and Francis H. Lattner Foundation and the National Grazing Lands Coalition.
Additional funding provided by the University of Minnesota Digital Center for Risk Management Education under USDA/NIFA Award Number 2018-70027-28584. USDA and the University of Vermont are equal opportunity providers and employers.