On behalf of the Grassfed Exchange 2020 planning committee, happy new year! We are excited to invite you to encourage young farmers in your network to apply for The Herd Fellows Scholarship by March 1. This is a scholarship to the Grassfed Exchange Conference in Fort Worth, Texas on May 27-29, 2020.
About The Herd Fellowship
The HERD is a group of foundations and family offices whose shared mission is to accelerate the transition to a regenerative agriculture system. We are grateful to our friends at the TomKat Foundation, Paicines Ranch, Armonia, and The 11th Hour Project for supporting this mission. The HERD believes that new farmers are an essential part of the grassfed, regenerative movement. Since starting four years ago, the Herd Fellows program has expanded to a joint Fellows alumni network of over 100+ young farmers and ranchers who have either attended the Grassfed Exchange or the Regenerate Conference hosted in New Mexico.
About The Grassfed Exchange
The Grassfed Exchange attracts an intellectually curious group of farmers and livestock producers. Over the past 11 years, GFE has attracted a national following of farmers eager to practice, or already practitioners of grassland management and pasture-based livestock agriculture.
In April of 2019, we brought the largest, most diverse group of 550 producers and food system leaders ever to Grassfed Exchange conference in Santa Rosa, California. Click here for our highlights video of 2019’s Grassfed Exchange “Regeneration Rising” conference.
Why attend this year
This is the first year the Grassfed Exchange has come to Texas. We're excited to deepen connections between the GFE attendees and the vibrant, big-hearted producer community in Texas. This year's conference theme, “Shared Stewardship”, is focused specifically on a “big tent” ethos in broadening our community and welcoming farmers, producers, and food system leaders from all walks. We are centering a diverse, intergenerational set of voices, focusing on how to make the future of regenerative agriculture successful.
Speakers include:
Nicole Masters: For the Love of the Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production System
Deborah Clark and Emry Birdwell will be leading a tour of Birdwell and Clark Ranch and speaking on managing ranch transitions
Fred Provenza: Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom
Alejandro Carrillo and Bob Kinford: Ranching in the Hot and Dry
Richard Teague and Peter Byck: Latest science on adaptive multi-paddock grazing research
Young producer sessions: Diverse Pathways into Agriculture, Connecting Land and Market, intergenerational panel on succession and ranch transitions
Herd Fellows Experience
Scholarship includes a full ride to the Grassfed Exchange conference, including travel, lodging, and accessing a network of hundreds of regenerative mentors. We spotlight Herd Fellows throughout the conference, host a Fellows and Mentors welcome reception, and connect them with mentor tables at lunches.
After the conference, Herd Fellows join an active Fellow-led alumni community of 100+ new farmers, from which collaborations like a monthly newsletter, shared online resources, and the Regeneration Rising podcast have emerged. HERD fellows have also gone on to apprentice for ranches they met at GFE, build mentor relationships with speakers at our conferences, and even join the Grassfed Exchange leadership committee.
Application Process
Any new or young farmer, student, intern, or apprentice under 35 or veteran under 45 is welcome to apply. Regeneration Rising is all about building a diverse, inclusive community for the next generation of farmers and ranchers. The Grassfed Exchange is committed to increasing the number of young farmers, women, farmers of color, and returning veterans in our producer community through this scholarship. We are committed to building a welcoming space for you. If you aren't sure whether you should apply, you should! We want you here.
Apply here by March 1: Herd Fellow Scholarship Application
Herd Fellows will be selected by March 10th.
