USARAAI SUMMIT 2022
I so look forward to these awesome gatherings of folks who care about how they affect the soil and environment, and I was not disappointed.
Once again, the USARAAI Sumit was held at the beautiful Clyde Austin 4-H Camp. I want to pause here to say how amazed I was at the care given to every detail by the staff of the facility. From the daylight coffee brewing and fresh pastries set out, to the snacks and drinks provided at breaks, to the flawless set-up and service at mealtimes. The grounds are earthy and beautiful, the food prep and clean-up impeccable, and it’s because of these dedicated folks who wear many different hats every day to make it happen. Thank you, Clyde Austin staff!
Our sound system and photography/video person were once again, Robbie Britton, and staff, of The Warehouse. He was there before anyone else showed up, making sure there was pleasant music playing when our guests arrived, and checking to see that all the equipment was where it should be and doing what it should do. If you enjoy your viewing/listening experience on the online videos, you can thank Robbie!
The USARAAI team was set up and ready to check in on our first eager attendees, with name badges, notebooks and pens, and whatever else they needed. And boy did they come! It’s always a little chaotic on the first day but we made it! Some of them were familiar faces, and some were new, but we were thrilled to see each one.
Inside the meeting room folks milled around, finding seats, getting coffee and a snack, and getting to know others of like mind. Some were old friends from the last Summits. The room was filled with excited expectancy for what they were about to learn.
Our speakers were, as always, knowledgeable in many facets of regeneration concerning the soil. There’s no way I can cover it all in these articles, but you can watch it on YouTube. Look up “USARAAI 2022 Summit” and you can watch the entire conference.
On the first day Dr. Allen Williams’s first presentation was on Soil – Plant – Animal – Human Health Connection. The purpose of this was to educate folks on how important the value of products grown/raised in a regenerative fashion, so they can share that with potential customers. Before he got into it though, he explained what he does and where. He’s a founder of Understanding Ag and The Soil Health Academy, which you can learn much about online. Their mission is to train, teach, promote, and advocate for soil health worldwide.
He got right into the meat of his topic – the decline of nutrition in foods, and the subsequent decline of human health because of it. He said, “there’s a lot of lies in the food industry and misleading labelling, that confuses the consumer.” He spoke of the ongoing drought in the western US, and the time he spent there doing research. He said he recorded soil temps above 150-degrees…which kills life, both plant and subterranean. Soil degradation was shown in some of his charts and some of the worst is in the “corn belt”, and slides showing the modern dust bowl. He asked, “what have we learned in 80 years?”
Dr. Willams defines regenerative agriculture as “farming and ranching in synchrony with nature and the 4 ecosystem processes to Repair, Rebuilt, Revitalize, and Restore ecosystem function starting with the life beneath the soil and expanding to life above the soil.” This is accomplished using the 6-3-4 method. 6 = the soil health principles: know your context; do not disturb the soil; cover and build surface armor; diversity in plants; living roots in the soil; incorporate healthy animals. The 3 = rules of adaptive stewardship: compounding, diversity and disruption (he says all these are explained in depth on the Understanding Ag website). The 4 = four ecosystem processes: energy flow; water cycle; mineral cycle; diversity. Dr. Williams talked about the top 3 barriers to adoption of regenerative principles, which are lack of awareness and education; peer pressure; debt load. Many essential points were covered and can be listened to on the videos.
Other topics Dr. Williams covered were the role of adaptive stewardship (or land management); weed and brush management; the nuances of farm marketing and finance.
I saw many folks taking notes as he explained the complex simplicity of soil/life care. Everyone in the room was alert and paying attention to every word. And there was so much to take in!
Jim Garrish, of American Grazing lands Services, was another of the great speakers we had. Jim has been practicing regenerative grazing for over 40 years and teaches it to whomever will listen. One of his topics was managing targeted animal performance. He began by talking about how he was taught to graze his cattle, and it was conventional. Sadly, it’s still being taught by so many of the ag schools today. He talked about how he has learned from his mistakes. Jim says there’s two periods on a pasture; the grazing period and the recovery period, and there are negative things that take place during the grazing period. Limiting the number of hours/days livestock has on a pasture, shortens the recovery period and lessens the negative effects. Both reasons for overgrazing are time functions; leaving animals on too long or returning them too soon causes overgrazing. He reinforced what Dr. Williams said about healthy soil being the essential foundation of everything. Jim is an amazing, effective, successful land manager!
Another topic Jim covered is what is pasture inventory and how do you use it.
Russ Wilson, of Wilson Land and Cattle, was with us again, sharing his insights on managing for 30-plus days of grazing. He talked about his transition from large-framed cattle to smaller frames, and how well that has worked on his farm. Again, the videos help add context to what he’s saying…very helpful! Russ has several kinds of livestock on his very well managed piece of ground and the aerial shots show how healthy the land is. His farm is in Pennsylvania, and he has almost achieved an entire year on forage-fed grazing cattle. Amazing! It’s all about land management.
Other topics Russ covered in the three days were parasite and fly control, and how does a small regenerative farm survive?
Ryan Kolodziej was a new speaker at the USARAAI Summit. He had a great presentation with pictures and videos of before and after on his farm. Ryan and Deanne, his wife, raise heritage hogs in Wisconsin on their farm, called Epic Nature, on silvopasture. His main topic was low-input land management, with biodiversity as the main objective. The reason he came to regenerative agriculture was like a lot of folks; he couldn’t afford to be conventional. Oh! One of Ryan’s hogs was the slow-cooked whole-hog on a large grill and became the savory barbeque folks were able to enjoy for lunch.
Greg Brann, of Synergistic Grazing Management, is another well-known grazer and speaker at regenerative conferences. He spoke on weeds, the value of them, and using them to “read” the land. His presentation covered plant and animal interaction, the value of weeds, indicator plants (what are the weeds telling us?), what is a weed, weed ID, weed management and prevention. His laid-back style and ease of delivery made for an interesting learning session.
Joel Hausser – I call him the “bee-king” – is a locally well-known advocate for, and keeper of, honeybees. Joel, former President of the local Beekeepers Club, treats the bees like they’re his pets! He gave an interesting presentation on planting wildflowers for pollinators, and why it matters. His method is simple and very do-able. He stressed the need for unmoved meadows and swaths of land where Nature is in charge.
We were educated on what a mobile abattoir, or slaughterhouse, can do, by Hugh Trussel. We’ve learned a lot in the last few years about how dependent we’ve become on lots of things. During and after the pandemic it was difficult to get an appointment with an abattoir to have an animal butchered. The gap-filler has become the mobile abattoir, which will come to your farm and do the work with you. Hugh did a great job of expounding on the benefits of using this service. He had experienced the shortage himself and decided to try for a grant, which he received, to start his own on-farm processing venture.
A very interesting speaker, whom we’ve had join the Summit before, was with us once again. Dr. Forbes Walker from the University of Tennessee agricultural school. Dr. Walker, a soil scientist at UT, spoke on how he came into regenerative agriculture, and he tries to clear up the fog surrounding the actual methods. He says there are plenty of look-alikes out there. He did a wonderful job of clarifying a lot of “buzz-words”, and presents a picture of hope for regenerative agriculture in Tennessee.
Lisa Gonzalez, a promotional speaker with the “Kiss the Ground” movie, came to tell us the exciting news about the release of this regenerative new movie. She’s also the campaign coordinator for Regenerate America. By the time she finished talking about the mission of the movie I couldn’t wait to see it! I hope you saw it too.
I haven’t listed these wonderful, informative speakers in any particular order or day, only the topics they covered, and highlights of each. If you’d like to hear any of these in their entirety, you’ll find them on You Tube. Look for USARAAI Summit 2022.
The entire Summit was a delicious amalgam of the processes and methods that really work in regenerative agriculture and correct pasture management with soil health as premier. Grazing was a focal point, but the principles may be applied to any farm with any livestock, or a piece of land with no animals. It’s all about observation of natural processes and following the lead with good land management.
Of course, the 5-star meals folks had come to expect, didn’t disappoint. Pasture-raised pulled pork and chicken, brats, and grass-fed burgers, with all the fixin’s and delicious sides awaited everyone at lunchtime. Homemade desserts were available for anyone with room left! No one went away hungry.
Mornings and breaks saw all the refreshments one could ask for.
As it was last year, the pasture walks and Q & A with the speakers as they took a hands-on look at the soil and biodiversity were very popular. The attendees got on buses and were taken to the Timeless Fence pastures where they could observe and compare. Spades dug up ground so it could be assessed and discussed. Folks wanted to keep walking, listening and learning!
Throughout the Summit a very special event, set to take place at the end of the last day of the Summit, was promoted at each break. Pictures and stats of each animal were hanging all around the room. Clif and Kay of Holiday Ranch, from Florida, had brought some of their finest South Poll cattle for auction, and boy was it a lively auction! They were all auctioned with some of them bringing well above the asking price.
At the end as folks were shaking hands and waving goodbye to their farming friends, I’m sure they were so pumped to get home and try the things they learned. I’m also sure they were already thinking about next year’s Summit.
