8:30am – 5:30pm CST

Help Desk Open

Help desk open: We have staff on call during the entire conference to help with any questions or issues you may have. 

For questions please email us at [email protected]

8:30am – 9am CST

Yoga with Nelle Rutecki

Join a restorative yoga practice focused on longevity for the perennial work we do. A slow flow practice for all experience levels. Yoga mat or rug optional.

Nelle is a mom, farmer, and student of yoga for nearly two decades. Alongside her husband and three children, she grows a wide variety of annuals, helps attend to a herd of cattle and sheep and a flock of hens. They live on a piece of heaven on planet earth in north central Wisconsin (Wausau).

8:30am – 9:30am CST

How can agroforestry contribute to the climate solution?

Jenna DeRario, Cornell Cooperative Extension
Nate Lawrence, Savanna Institute
Moderated by Jacob Grace, Host of the Perennial AF podcast

Jenna DeRario and Nate Lawrence will discuss the why/what/how of climate mitigation. Why does climate mitigation in agriculture matter? What does it entail? How is mitigation actually assessed and verified? What’s the deal with carbon sequestering? This info session will begin to address some of these questions, and mostly lead to more as we navigate our climate impact for the future.

Jenna DeRario is the Payment for Ecosystem Services Educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County in New York. As a  Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, she worked to develop a community tree nursery, organic home gardens, and water resource protection projects. She has also coordinated food insecurity programs in both Washington, DC and Ithaca, NY.

Nate Lawrence investigates agroforestry’s impact on ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and reducing water pollution. His research at Iowa State University focused on soil greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient leaching. Originally from Central Illinois, Nate is an eager hunter and angler who enjoys free lessons in patience and humility from Wisconsin’s wildlife.

9am – 9:30am CST

Coffee with Red Fern Farm

With Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl, Red Fern Farm in Wapello, IA

Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl have been crafting their farm in Iowa for nearly 40 years. This is a chance to sit down with these agroforestry experts as they pull from a deep well of wisdom through successes and failures over the years. Join us to sip your morning coffee and learn more about these trailblazers.

Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl are Midwesterners with experience in wildlife research, wildlife management, forestry, environmental education and park management. Married in 1984, they bought 56 acres of steep, rugged timberland in Louisa County in 1986.  In 2001 they added 31 acres of rolling farmland. Over time they established Red Fern Farm: a farm of fruit and nut producing trees, shrubs and vines.  They grow high value tree crops including chestnuts, pawpaws, heartnuts, persimmons, Asian pears and others. They also operate a small tree nursery.

9:30am – 10:30am CST

Coppicing Agroforestry with Mark Krawczyk

Mark Krawczyk, Author of Coppice Agroforestry
Moderated by Sven Pihl, Savanna Institute

Join us for a presentation on this work and a round of Q & A from the author of Coppice Agroforestry: Tending Trees for Product, Profit, and Woodland Ecology. This discussion will focus on the practical side of coppicing, its utility to growers, and some relevant case study examples.

Mark Krawczyk is an applied ecologist, educator, and grower with a background in permaculture design, agroforestry, natural building, traditional woodworking, and small-scale forestry. He co-owns and operates Keyline Vermont LLC, teaching, designing, and consulting for farmers, homeowners, and homesteaders.

10:45am – 12:45pm CST

New Technologies in Silvopasture

Allysse Sorensen – NoFence, The Munch Bunch
Tyler Carlson – Sustainable Farming Association, Early Boots Farm
Doug Voss – Sustainable Farming Association, Voss Farms
Meghan Filbert – NoFence, Grassbelly Farmstead
Adam Abel – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) WI
Moderated by Omar de Kok-Mercado, Savanna Institute

We’ll explore current fencing options in silvopastoral grazing systems and discuss new revolutionary virtual fencing technologies for sheep, goats, and cows. Bring along your silvopasture questions as we ruminate on silvopasture by addition and subtraction, methods for protecting trees, and potential cost-share pathways for silvopasture establishment.

12pm – 1pm CST

Lunch Room: Open Discussion

Not enough networking time or space in a virtual conference? This is an open space to chat either on video or through the chat with other attendees. Feel free to join, or not, or eat your lunch, or not. This session will be unmoderated.

1pm – 2pm CST

Building an Agroforestry Services Business: How to find your niche and serve your region

Austin Unruh, Trees For Graziers
Moderated by Kate Wersan, Savanna Institute

We’ll walk down the path to building a successful agroforestry services business that is adapted to the needs and contexts of you and your region. He will share from his own experience starting and running a business that does consulting, plan writing, funding acquisition, nursery production, planting and aftercare for both riparian buffers and silvopasture. He will share how he has determined what to do, and just as importantly, what not to do, as well as business lessons learned the hard way. 

Austin Unruh is owner and founder of Trees for Graziers, a Pennsylvania company working with farmers around Lancaster County to help them establish silvopasture systems that integrate the right trees for better pastured profits.

2:15pm – 3:45pm CST

New Developments in Financing Agroforestry

David LeZaks and Lauren Manning, Croatan Institute
Patrick Michaels, Canopy Farm Management
Anthony Corsaro, Regenerative Food Systems Investment
Moderated by Bill Davison, Savanna Institute

Thought leaders in finance are adopting a regenerative finance approach to supporting agroforestry. Their goal is to tailor financial support to meet the needs of farmers growing perennial crops. A wide variety of synergistic tools are being developed to fund the start-up period, establishment, production, and long-term development of agroforestry operations. Details of how this works will be discussed along with a look at the progress being made on a new Agroforestry Finance Guidebook and the plans Canopy Farm Management has to scale up agroforestry in IL and WI. 

David LeZaks is an environmental scientist and financial activist whose work is centered around developing innovative mechanisms for financing the transition to agroecological farming and food systems. He has led the Regenerative Food Systems initiative at Delta Institute, managing a portfolio of projects that focused on the design and deployment of disruptive mechanisms to unlock substantial capital flows into regenerative agriculture.

Lauren Manning is an attorney at the Croatan Institute and a law professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Formerly a venture capital investor with food and ag-focused firm AgFunder, she owns a small farm in Northwest Arkansas where she raises cattle, sheep, and goats and enjoys horse riding. Lauren is also a partner with Ozark Pasture Beef, a direct-to-consumer grass-finished and pasture-based livestock partnership.