Cultivating a Home on the Range

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Connect with farmers, ranchers, and experts in soil health, crops, livestock, and water management.

keynote speakers Joe and Jenn Wheeling and Lesli Allison

Thank you to all those who attended, shared, learned and connected at the 2024 Western CO Soil Health Food and Farm Forum! The response from our guests has been terrific, and we are thrilled to be able to continue offering access to our content digitally (click here to purchase). Special thanks to all of our sponsors and our planning committee, whose support and volunteer hours make this event possible. Click here to listen to KVNF’s roundup of the sounds and stories from the event (starting at 3:21).

Keynote speakers Joe and Jenn Wheeling, owners of James Ranch Beef, and Lesli Allison, CEO of Western Landowners Alliance.

Photo by Luanne Tyrrell

The Forum is for anyone with an interest in the future of agriculture. Whether you’re looking to improve on or innovate existing practices, the Forum has resources and networking opportunities for you.

Our 2024 Keynote Speakers

Lesli Allison
  • Lesli is a founding member and chief executive of the Western Landowners Alliance. She was also a founding member of the Chama Peak Land Alliance. For the past three decades, Lesli has worked extensively with private landowners and multiple stakeholders to advance conservation, sustain working lands and support rural communities. Prior to Western Landowners Alliance, Lesli managed a large ranch the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado. During her 16-year tenure, she implemented progressive conservation management through award-winning programs in restoration forestry, prescribed fire, grazing, stream restoration, hunting and wildlife management, and scientific research and monitoring. Lesli holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.

CEO, Western Landowners Alliance

Leading Forward: Working Lands and the Future of the West

Working lands are the cornerstones of both human communities and the ecosystems on which we all depend. At this critical moment in history, constructive and visionary leadership is needed from within the working lands community to shape a positive future. What does this look like and can we find a shared vision? Inspiring examples from around the West are pointing the way.

  • Dwayne L. Beck was the former Research Manager at Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, South Dakota. He filled that role since its inception in 1990. He was a professor in the Plant Science Department at South Dakota State University. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Northern State University in 1975 and Ph.D. in Agronomy from South Dakota State University in 1983. Before beginning his current position in 1990, he was the Research Manager at James Valley Research Center at Redfield, SD. He continues to advise the current DLRF manager.

    Dr. Beck's emphasis has been on developing no-till systems for irrigated and dryland areas in central South Dakota. His primary achievements deal with development of programs that have allowed producers to profitably adopt no-till techniques in a large portion of central South Dakota. Identification of the extremely important role played by crop rotation in minimizing weed, disease, and insect problems while increasing potential profitability was the key contribution of this project.

    The Dakota Lakes Research Farm consists of 800 acres of land of which about 250 acres is irrigated. Additional land is rented for research purposes. The entire operation is managed using no-till techniques. Dr. Beck was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2007.

Research Manager, Dakota Lakes Research Farm

You Can Live Without Oil, But You Can’t Live Without Water

Managing agricultural ecosystems to optimize water efficiency and minimize fossil fuel input.

Joe and Jen Wheeling
  • Owners of James Ranch Beef and Gardens

    Joe grew up on a cattle ranch west of Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and went to Colorado State University where he got his degree in Animal Science. Jenn grew up on the James Ranch in Durango, CO and went to Colorado State where she got her degree in Construction Management. They met there, married and after a few years, Joe got his MBA in Finance from the Wharton School. They lived in six cities before returning to Durango to raise their two children and participate in the regenerative activities going on at James Ranch. As the CEO of Red Roof Inns, Joe was exposed to corporate systems of team building and innovative management which, when he retired, he brought to the James Ranch. These ideas have been adapted to the families' holistic goal and regenerative agriculture as well as the family culture. Jenn homeschooled their daughters, started the chemical-free Gardens at James Ranch and is now partners with Joe in James Ranch Beef. In her "spare" time, she writes Western historical fiction stories.

Owners of James Ranch Beef and Gardens

Regenerative Innovations Aren't Just for the Land... Families and Communities Need Them to Thrive, Too!

We will talk about the systems and innovations the families at James Ranch have developed to make working together in a multi-faceted regenerative agricultural enterprise possible. We will discuss the re-creation of our holistic goal after 30 years, our meeting process and its benefits for participants' growth and development, and the entity we developed for ranch governance.

  • Tessa Peters currently lives in Laramie, Wyoming with her family. She has lived in many different places in the world, including onboard various seafaring vessels. However, she has always considered herself a Westerner, and Wyoming is where she grew up and feels most at home. Tessa studied Physics at Colorado State University, Agroecology at University of Wyoming, and a Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is interested in how perennial agroecosystems may influence human relationships to land, ownership, food, and economic systems. She has worked as a geophysicist, plant breeder, and now leads a team of researchers at The Land Institute who pay attention to the ways in which humans value perennial grain food crops and tries to find methods to bring those crops to the consciousness (and plates!) of people who eat them. She likes horny toads, hiking, and reading.

Director of Crop Stewardship, the Land Institute

Perennial Grains to Change Agriculture

The Land Institute was founded in Central Kansas in 1976 with the vision of developing grain-producing agricultural systems that provide the ecological benefits and resiliency of natural systems. Join us to learn about why we are focused on diverse mixtures of perennials that can produce grain for human food in the face of climate change. This introduction to our work will focus on understanding the current state of agriculture and our vision for thriving agroecosystems.

As a young and aspiring farmer, the conference exposed me to just what I needed: experienced mentors and progressive ideas. With how much there was to offer, I would only encourage people to attend this conference every year.

— Eric R.

Become a Sponsor • Support Us •

Become a Sponsor • Support Us •

OUR 2024 SPONSORS

It begins with Soil Health!

Soil health is critical to the future of agricultural production on the Western Slope of Colorado. With a contingent of farmers as well as community groups and government officials, the Western Slope has been able to take soil health education and implementation techniques and specifically adjust them for the local area. As pressure on agricultural production increases, soil health practices can ensure that agricultural needs are met with sustainable production, quality and economic viability.

But that’s not all…

The Forum has a wide array of regionally-specific agricultural info in areas including maximizing livestock and crop production, innovative marketing and labor strategies, water management, and cultivating specialty crops.

OUR HOSTS

We seek to promote the stewardship and development of our most precious resources - people, soil, and water - with the aim of advancing viable farms and ranches.

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