Early registration for the 8th National Conference on Grazing Lands, hosted by the National Grazing Lands Coalition (NatGLC), will end on Oct. 15, 2021. Attendees for the Dec. 6-9 conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, can register for $395 prior to Oct. 15 and $475 after that. To register for the conference, visit https://cvent.me/4BMkbg.
Featured speakers at the conference include:
- Rep. Glenn Thompson (invited) of Pennsylvania, ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee
- Meredith Ellis of G Bar C Ranch, Rosston, Texas
The second day will begin with a panel discussion on mental health in agriculture. Three agricultural producers will explain how to recognize the signs of distress and how to get help. Panelists are Ryan Sexton, rancher from Nenzel, Nebraska; Jessica Peters, dairy farmer from Meadville, Pennsylvania; and Terri Hawbaker, dairy farmer from Pewamo, Michigan.
Participants can also choose from more than 60 concurrent sessions that cover a wide range of grazing lands issues.
On Dec. 9, participants have training and tour options available:
- Regenerative Grazing: A Deep Dive presented by Dr. Allen Williams, farmer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and founding partner of Grass Fed Insights, LLC.
- Grazing 101, Record Keeping and Soil Testing Training will occur at the Thompson farm in Conway, South Carolina.
- Agrotourism presentation at the Thompson Farm and a beef cattle operation tour.
- Social Media Training
- Hopsewee Plantation in Georgetown, South Carolina.
NatGLC is also making two scholarships available, the Lynn Myers and Hezekiah Gibson Memorial Scholarships. Each scholarship will provide $500 to cover conference attendance costs; application deadline is Oct. 15. The scholarships are supported by proceeds from the silent auction. If interested in donating items for the auction, contact Kim Stine at [email protected].
In addition, there are two other scholarships available. One is the NCBA Rancher Resilience Grant provided by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to support cattle producer attendance at impactful educational events. The other is a $500 South Carolina Forage and Grazing Lands scholarship for South Carolina producers interested in attending the conference.
The National Grazing Lands Coalition was founded in 1991 to ensure high-quality technical assistance is available to private grazing land managers on a voluntary basis and to increase the awareness of the importance of grazing land resources. The work is carried out through coalitions of individuals and organizations functioning at the local, state, regional and national levels. Coalitions include livestock producer organizations, scientific and professional grazing resource organizations, conservation and environmental groups, state and federal natural resource agencies, and other agricultural interests.
More information can be found at www.grazingland.org/grazing-conference.