2024 MFGA
Regenerative Ag Conference

MFGA’s 7th Annual Regenerative Ag Conference

Our 7th Annual MFGA Conference - a 1.5 day event is being held November 12-13, 2024, Victoria Inn, Brandon, Mb. Our conference will feature national and international keynote speakers, an outstanding trade show with many opportunities to engage with vendors and a silent auction. As well, thanks to an exciting agreement with Holistic Management Canada, a free kids program will be offered to families attending the MFGA conference.

Agenda

MFGA 2024 REGENERATIVE AG CONFERENCE AGENDA
 November 12-13, 2024
Victoria Inn, Brandon Mb

POSTED WEBSITE: PUBLIC AGENDA: August 28, 2024

*note: this agenda may be subject to change on short notice for unforeseen events and reasons

UPDATED AGENDA: SEPT 28, 2024

“OPEN MINDS - OPEN OPPORTUNITIES”

TUESDAY, November 12, 2024

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM: TRADESHOW SETUP & REGISTRATION

1:00 PM: CONFERENCE LAUNCH: Duncan Morrison, MFGA Executive Director: Welcome & Land Acknowledgement

1:05-1:10 PM: Introductions/Today’s Agenda: MFGA Chair Mike Duguid

1:10 – 1:55 PM: John & Deanne Chuiko, CJ Ranching, NW Saskatchewan: Ranch Management: Open Minds and Open Fences

John & Deanne Chuiko ranch in Northwest Saskatchewan, along with their two children Matt & Rylee. They run a cow-calf and long yearling operation along a Provincial Forest, working as close to Mother Nature as they can. They manage their business using the Holistic Management framework to make financially, environmentally & socially sound decisions with a strong emphasis on forage management and Planned Grazing. The Chuikos are currently hosting a virtual fencing project for Saskatchewan Stock Growers and other partners that will finish the first year of two over the summer of 2024.They are always open to learning and finding new ways to make their lives and business better.

1:55 – 2:10 PM: Q&A KEYNOTES 1: John & Deanne Chuiko

2:10– 2:30 PM: BIODIVERSITY & REGEN AG: 2024 MFGA Bird Surveys on Nine MFGA Regen Ag Farms: Tim Poole, Habitat and Endangered Species, Wildlife Branch, Natural Resources and Northern Development, Manitoba Wildlife

2:30 – 3:00 PM: TRADE SHOW & COFFEE BREAK

3:00 – 3:45 PM: KEYNOTE 2: Holistic Management Canada Session: David Irvine

Presentation: THE NATURAL EVOLUTION OF FAMILIES LIVING ON THE LAND
How To Ensure Successful Farm and Ranch Transfers 

David Irvine’s presentation promises to be an inspiring and practical session that will focus on how to build trust within families; three critical tasks for successful succession; how to create open communication to ensure successful succession on the farm or ranch; the missing link to negotiating with your family; and how to talk about finances in the family. You will leave with a renewed perspective on life and what it means to truly come together as a family.

3:45 – 4:00 PM: Q&A Keynote 2: David Irvine

4:00 – 4:30 PM: Holistic Management Canada PRODUCER PANEL: How To Work Together and Make Effective Financial Decisions

Moderator: Bluesette Campbell, Holistic Management Canada Educator
Panelists:

Terry Keen farms with her family at Keen Seeds and Livestock near Kaleida, Manitoba. Their mission is to work in harmony with Mother Nature in a regenerative and symbiotic relationship, cultivating healthier soils and livestock for generations to come.

Kristelle Harper brings her passion for pasture improvement through grazing management to her family’s farm Circle H Farms near Brandon, MB. The farm is a regenerative, family run, beef seed stock operation focused on soil, plant and animal health.

Kris Egilson manages a 1600-acre ranch east of Langruth, Manitoba on the edge of beautiful Lake Manitoba. They run a regenerative cattle ranch with an intentional focus on soil health.

4:30 – 5:00 PM: Free Time: Refresh & Recharge

5:00 – 6:00 PM: ICE-BREAKER & NETWORKING EVENT –Mingle, mix & join other delegates for refreshments (cash bar)  and a casual buffet-style dinner provided by MFGA (5:30 pm).

6:00 – 6:45 PM: KEYNOTE 3: Will Harris, White Oak Pastures, Bluffton, Georgia,

Virtual Presentation: “A Bold Return to Giving a Damn?” November 12, 2024.

Will Harris is a fourth-generation cattleman, who tends the same land that his great-grandfather settled in 1866. Born and raised at White Oak Pastures, Will left home to attend the University of Georgia’s School of Agriculture and graduated in 1976 and returned to Bluffton where he and his father continued to raise cattle using pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics. They also fed their herd a high-carbohydrate diet of corn and soy. These tools did a fantastic job of taking the cost out of the system, but in the mid-1990s Will became disenchanted with the excesses of these industrialized methods. They had created a monoculture for their cattle, and, as Will says, “nature abhors a monoculture.” In 1995, Will

made the audacious decision to return to the farming methods his great-grandfather had used 130 years before. Will has appeared on many widely viewed media channels, including the Joe Rogan podcast.

6:45: Microphone questions for Will Harris (to be determined re: Zoom)

7:00 PM – 7:30 PM: MFGA NIGHT CONFERENCE KICK OFF:

·     MFGA WELCOME: Duncan Morrison, MFGA Executive Director

·     MFGA Board/committee Introduction/Wall of Fame Announcement

·     Manitoba Association of Watersheds (MAW) In Manitoba: Learn more about MAW, PWCP: AAFC OFCAF: Lynda Nicol, Manitoba Association of Watersheds (MAW) Executive Director

·     University of Manitoba: LEAP Project overview: Michelle Carkner, UofM

·     Sponsor/Partner Video Profiles

7:30PM – 8:30 PM: - KEYNOTE 4: MFGA Fireside Chat: Jaime Elizondo, Real Wealth Ranching, Katy, Texas & Ryan Boyd, South Glanton Farms, Forrest, Manitoba.

For our 2024 MFGA Fireside Chat, we are super pleased to announce an in-person one on one conversation between Jaime Elizondo, and Ryan Boyd. The duo first connected while Boyd was on a Nuffield Scholarship journey in 2019, and the pair have stayed in touch as friends and colleagues ever since. The two colleagues will discuss Elizondo’s Total Grazing Program, highlighting key points around Adapted Genetics and Selection, Nutrition (when grazing), Optimal birthing season as well as a multitude of other topics that they drum up or freelance in the process of conversation between longtime friends with the full opportunity for audience interactions and questions as well.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

DAY TWO: 2024 MFGA REGENERATIVE AG CONFERENCE

“OPEN MINDS-OPEN OPPORTUNITIES”

7:00 – 9:00 AM: Breakfast on your own

8:00 – 9:00 AM: TRADESHOW & REGISTRATION

9:00 AM: WELCOME: Duncan Morrison, MFGA Executive Director: Land Acknowledgement.

9:05 am Mike Duguid, Morrison: Introductions/Today’s Agenda/Welcome Dignitaries.

9:10 – 9:20 AM: Dignatary welcome

9:20 – 10:05 AM: KEYNOTE 5: Paul Overby, Wolford, North Dakota

Regenerative Crop Rotations: Passion or Profit?

Paul Overby is a leading-edge regenerative farmer, along with his wife Diane, from Wolford, ND.  Field peas and sunflowers were the first crops added to a wheat/barley, flax rotation and now they plant eight crops per year and are experimenting with polycropping.  Rotations are built mostly for ecological contributions along with economics.  Overby began field zone management and no-till in 2005. They partnered with General Mills and ADM on regenerative ag pilot programs, helping farmers and businesses learn about regenerative ag.  Stewardship and sharing with others are hallmarks of their farm.  Overby is a supervisor for the Rolette County Soil Conservation District and serves on the ND SBARE New & Emerging Crops Committee, the NDSU Precision Ag and NDSU Ag Biosystems and Engineering Advisory Councils. He is a past board member of the Manitoba/North Dakota Zero-Till Farmers Association.   Paul and Diane were recently selected as 2023 Rolette County Conservation Achievement Award recipients.

10:05 – 10:15 AM: Q&A Keynote 5: Paul Overby

10:15 – 10:45 AM: TRADE SHOW & COFFEE BREAK

10:45 – 11:30 AM: KEYNOTE 6: Stuart Chutter, Melville, Saskatchewan

Presentation: Building Resilience in Agriculture: Manitoba Focus

Stuart Chutter works as the Senior Policy Analyst at Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corporation’s Innovation Department.  In this role, Stuart collaborates across various stakeholders involved in Alberta agriculture and business risk management (BRM) policy issues.  This position is to act as a change agent to help deliver on AFSCs vision to build a strong, growing and diversified agriculture and agri-food sector in Alberta. Stuart will share what has been learned in Alberta with a focus on Manitoba’s potential in the same areas.

Outside of work Stuart manages 2560 acres of mostly perennial forages and has just added a 30-acre U-pick berry enterprise to his farm.  Using the five principles of soil health – keeping the soil covered, minimizing disturbance, planting diversity, keeping a living root long in the season and integrating livestock – soil organic matter on his farm has increased from 2.8 per cent to 5.2 per cent over the past five years and the productivity and resilience of his farm during drought years has been apparent.  For Stuart, diversity is the key to building soil health on his farm and building community in his network.

11:30 – 11:45: Q&A Keynote: Stuart Chutter

11:45 – 1:00 PM: LUNCH, TRADE SHOW, NETWORKING

1:00 – 2: 30 PM: GRAND FINALE: OPEN MINDS - OPEN OPPORTUNITIES KEYNOTE BREAKOUTS:

·      John and Deanne Chuiko: topic

o   MFGA Moderator: TBD

·     Stuart Chutter

o   MFGA Moderator: TBD

·     Paul Overby

o   MFGA Moderator: TBD

·     Jaime Elizondo

o   MFGA Moderator: TBD

2:30 PM – 3:00 PM: Mike Duguid: conference ending session & discussion: What we heard:

3:00 PM: Conference WRAP-UP, SILENT AUCTION & 50/50 WINNER

CEU Credits: Since 2018, we have applied for and received CEU credits at each conference. To learn about CEU credits, visit the Certified Crop Advisors website.

 Holistic Management Canada "Kids Program"

Ages: 4 - 12

Make sure you register for the Holistic Management Canada "Kids Program" offered as part of the 2024 MFGA conference this year. Capped at 20 spots maximum, you’ll want to register your children sooner rather than later! The Kids Program will feature some activities that are land- and nature-based, a perfect fit with the MFGA Regen Ag Conference.

· November 12 - 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

· November 13 - 8:30 am - 4:00 pm

Featured Keynote Speakers

The 2024 MFGA Regen Ag Conference committee is pleased to announce our keynote speakers:

Will Harris, White Oak Pastures ; John and Deanne Chuiko, CJ Ranching ; Paul Overby, Wolford, ND, USA ; Stuart Chutter, Melville, SK; Jaime Elizondo, Real Wealth Ranching, Katy, TX, USA ; Ryan Boyd, South Glanton Farms, Forrest, MB ; Dave Irvine, Cochrane, AB

Producer Panels

Join our 2024/2025 Regen Ag Conference Sponsors

Conference Platinum Sponsors

Conference Gold Sponsors

Conference Silver Sponsors

Conference Bronze Sponsors

Conference Tradeshow Sponsors

Coming Soon.