Are starting up a farm? Is your farm business struggling to make a profit? Do you struggle with the farm-work-life balance?Are your land, water and ecosystems in need of rejuvenation? Are you wondering about how you can pass on your farm and legacy? Join us at the Western Canadian Holistic Management Conference.
Discover tools to help you make better, more informed decisions to reach your family and farm goals. Meet fellow farmers who are creating regenerative, resilient farms right here on the prairies. Hear inspiring stories and learn practical techniques for improving your farm. Learn more about the speakers and sessions at www.holisticmanagement.ca
Session highlights for new farmers:
“Fibershed: building regional and regenerative fiber systems that protects the health of our biosphere.”
Stephany Wilkes is the author of Raw Material: Working Wool in the West. She is a member of the Fibershed, that supports farmers in carbon farming and connects end-users to farms and ranches. By expanding opportunities to implement carbon farming and forming catalytic foundations to rebuild regional supply chains, Fibershed envisions the emergence of an international system of regional textile communities that enliven connection and ownership of ‘soil-to-soil’ textile processes.
“A first generation’s grazier path to the pasture: making one’s way in the west“
Ariel Greenwood grew up in the rural wilds of North Carolina and began farming at 16. In college, she studied agroecology and psychology while working with community gardens and private farms. Ariel managed livestock in Northern California for 4 1/2 years, primarily at Pepperwood Preserve and Freestone Ranch in the North Bay region while also working at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and is now working in the Southwest with Triangle P Cattle Company. She is also co-owner of Grass Nomads LLC, a holistic grazing company based in New Mexico and Montana she formed with her partner. Holistic management first inspired Ariel to shift from vegetable farming to livestock production, and has become essential to her work in the West.
“Pursuing Regenerative Agriculture – The Evolution of our Farm”
Ryan Boyd operates a mixed farm just north of Forrest, Manitoba with his wife Sarah, daughter Piper, son Bingham, and parents Jim and Joanne Boyd. The farm focuses on integrating cattle and grain crops to capitalize on the many synergies that exist between the two. The farm consists of a commercial herd of black Angus beef cows, calving in June and a diverse crop rotation. Ryan was recently awarded a 2019 Nuffield Farming Scholarship