Pictured Above: Renowned Regenerative speakers and good friends, Steve Groff, Ray Archuleta, and Jimmy Emmons at Green Cover’s Regenerative Nexus event.
Why you should go to a soil health event this winter
And how to get the most out of it
While harvest is wrapping up across the country, farm and trade shows are ramping up. Exhibition halls packed with vendors and the promise of innovation. Countless breakout rooms to glean new information and perhaps walk away with a new method or practice to try. Familiar faces to catch up with and unfamiliar faces that lead to new friends. Every year hundreds of organizations spend time, money and energy planning and hosting various events in the agricultural space.
Yet, with so many options, how do you choose which events will be best for you?
The People
One of the most powerful things about attending an event is the people you meet. Along with catching up with old friends, you get to connect and network with new faces. The right connections can give you fresh ideas and open up new opportunities for your farm or ranch. These people could become mentors, business partners, or even lifelong friends. Look for a conference where other farmers and ranchers come together to share ideas and build connections.
The Schedule
Another thing to consider is the schedule of the event. What sort of speakers will the event have? What are some of the main topics that will be discussed? How much time is allotted for networking, socializing, and building relationships with the other attendees. Will you have the opportunity to ask questions or engage with speakers? Choose events that are focused on attendee education and engagement over vendor sales pitches.
Once you’ve decided on an event, here are some tips to help you get the most out of the conference.
Bring a Friend
Events are always more fun if you know at least one person in the room. Crowds can be intimidating and starting conversations is hard, but having a friend or spouse with you makes all of that much easier. It’s also helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of during the event, plus you can split up during breakout sessions and come back together to share your findings and connections made, almost like being in two places at once!
Be Engaged
Challenge yourself to ask at least one question at the educational seminars or breakout rooms. Be bold and introduce yourself to the speakers. Speakers are excited about what they are doing and love to share especially in 1 one 1 conversations. Also, speakers have lots of other connections so you never know what sort of opportunities could open up by talking with some of the leaders in the industry.
With these tips in mind, here are some upcoming Green Cover events to consider. As always, keep your eye on the learning opportunities in our newsletter to know about other upcoming events.
Regenerative Nexus
For the past few years Green Cover has hosted two Regenerative Nexus events; one in Nebraska and one in Arizona. These events draw highly engaged regenerative practitioners, scientists, business owners and more. The Nexus events are opportunities to build your knowledge and network of people in the regenerative agriculture space. To maintain the quality of these events space is limited. If you think you might be a good candidate please reach out to Shelby for more info.
Southeast Kansas Soil Health Conference
This two day event hosted in Iola, Kansas is a great opportunity to network with other farmers, learn from industry experts, and gain practical insight from 3 different farmer panels. Check out our in-house grow room and network with lots of vendors. And of course, great food will be served throughout the conference!
