AgriSummit Schedule
- 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Thursday - Flower Bouquet Workshop with Growing Wild - Hutchinson Homestead & Learning Center
Learn how to design a flower arrangement with Madison from Growing Wild! In this workshop, you’ll learn basic mechanics and some of the tips and tricks behind floral designing. Included in this $75 workshop: - Ceramic Vase - The florals to go in the vase - Tips and tricks for your future designing self! No need to worry about missing the farm tours. This event leaves the perfect amount of time between Madison has been a practicing florist since 2011, first learning design through an FFA course at her high school. She then moved to San Francisco and learned through programs there, as well as working in flower shops. In 2017, she moved to Buena Vista and worked closely with Weathervane Farm to help bolster their floral program and learn the agricultural side of the floral world. She started her own floral business, Growing Wild, in 2020, first as a u-pick flower farm. Weddings and retail came into high demand, and Growing Wild became what it is today, a local flower shop that partners with local growers to bring Chaffee County the freshest, boldest designs you can get. This event will be held at the Hutchinson Homestead in Salida. If you can, please bring your favorite pair of pruning shears!
- 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Thursday - Agrisummit Farm/Ranch Tours - North Route
On the North Route, we will go to Elements Mountain Compost, Headwater Farms, and Buck & Bloom. Meet at the Hutchinson Homestead at 11:45. Vans will leave at noon.
- 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Thursday - Agrisummit Farm/Ranch Tours - South Route
On the South Route, we will go to The Hutchinson Ranch, Guidestone's Community & School Farm, Who Knows Farm, and HerksWerks. Meet at the Hutchinson Homestead at 11:45. Vans will leave at noon.
- 4:00 am - 6:00 pm
Thursday - Happy Hour - Shavano
- 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Thursday - Film Screening 'To Which We Belong'ticket - Salida Steam Plant
Join us at the Salida Steamplant to watch 'To Which We Belong' and kick off AgriSummit. Doors will open at 6:15 pm, and the film will start at 6:30 pm. 'To Which We Belong' is a documentary that highlights farmers and ranchers leaving behind conventional practices that are no longer profitable or sustainable. These unsung heroes are improving the health of our soil and sea to save their livelihoods — and our planet. Learn more about this film here: https://www.towhichwebelong.com/
Speakers
KEYNOTE: Yadi Wang
Inspired by the farming lifestyle of his extended family, Yadi Wang was determined to become a farmer after receiving his doctoral degree in environmental science, a career in chemical and process engineering, and a stint as a client financial portfolio manager. Throughout his farming journey, he rediscovered his own roots being a Chinese, which allows him to celebrate the lives of all kinds and embrace the culture and his ancestral views of focusing on the intersection between the health of people and all other lives within his touch. For more info on Yadi, go here: https://kisstheground.com/yadi-wang/
PT Wood
PT Wood is a lifelong Coloradan, entrepreneur, and public servant. After growing up in Boulder, he attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He has lived in Salida, Colorado, for the past 36 years, starting and running several businesses, including Wood’s High Mountain Distillery. PT also served two terms as Mayor of the City of Salida and is currently a Chaffee County Commissioner.
Ashleigh Cogan
Ashleigh Cogan partners with agriculture producers in Chaffee County as both the Upper Arkansas Conservation District Manager and the Working Lands Resilience Coordinator. In both of these roles, her goal is to support practical, working-lands conservation. A full-time rancher, wife, and mother, Ashleigh’s professional work is deeply informed by firsthand experience co-managing a working cattle ranch. Together, Ashleigh and her husband are raising the sixth generation with hopes they will have an opportunity to carry the family operation into the future. Ashleigh is committed to conservation approaches that respect ranching traditions, producer knowledge, and the long-term reliance of agriculture communities.
Madison Bos
Madison has been a practicing florist since 2011, first learning design through an FFA course at her high school. She then moved to San Francisco and learned through programs there, as well as working in flower shops. In 2017, she moved to Buena Vista and worked closely with Weathervane Farm to help bolster their floral program and learn the agricultural side of the floral world. She started her own floral business, Growing Wild, in 2020, first as a u-pick flower farm. Weddings and retail came into high demand, and Growing Wild became what it is today, a local flower shop that partners with local growers to bring Chaffee County the freshest, boldest designs you can get.
Mark Derespinis
Mark DeRespinis is the founder of Esoterra Culinary Garden, a Boulder-based farm dedicated to the synergy between regenerative agriculture and high-end gastronomy. With a background in arts and humanities, DeRespinis transitioned to full-time farming in 2014, launching Esoterra in 2018 to supply over 50 of the region’s most prestigious restaurants, including Michelin-recognized establishments. Esoterra now offers over 300 different varieties of plants to culinary artists throughout the region and remains committed to exploring the potential for our unique expression of regional cuisine. At the heart of DeRespinis’ philosophy is a commitment to permanent no-till, biointensive practices. By forgoing tilling, he preserves delicate soil structures and microbial life, and utilizes diverse and continuous cropping strategies to ensure maximal photosynthesis. This method, combined with mineral and biological amendments and microbial inoculation, produces nutrient-dense and flavorful produce for chefs to feature on their menus. His work aims to prove that intensive, small-scale farming can restore ecosystems and provide countless collateral benefits while delivering world-class flavor to the modern table.
Torrey Davis
Torrey Davis has worked in conservation in Colorado for many years. After graduating from CU Boulder with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, she went on to work in policy, education, and land conservation management, before finally finding her role with The Nature Conservancy as the Medano Zapata preserve and bison herd manager. She is passionate about connecting people to land, water, and wildlife, and responsibly getting more bison/buffalo in more places. In her free time, Torrey enjoys playing outside and playing inside with improv and crafts, and is a lifelong learner through travel, reading, and cooking.
Joël McClurg
Joël has spent twenty years working in food systems and social safety nets: administering SNAP in Colorado; running a statewide food sovereignty nonprofit; and learning exactly where the system doesn't meet the people it's supposed to serve. Now he designs AI tools to fix the breakdown between policy and people. He is currently a Resident at Propel.app as an AI Safety Net expert, where he brings two decades of field experience to their innovative work.
Sally Ayotte
Sally Ayotte, registered dietitian and Johnson & Wales trained chef, specializes in the culinary application of fresh, whole ingredients in institutional foodservice. With training, education, and expertise spanning 35 years, Sally has worked in the food and nutrition field to help people in all stages of life—from prenatal nutrition through eldercare. For over a decade, Chef Sally improved school food systems both nationally and across Colorado. In her current role as a dietitian at Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center, she helps patients and clients make healthy food choices for a variety of conditions and lifestyles. “As both a dietitian and a chef, my mission is to teach how easy it can be to live a healthy lifestyle,” says Sally. “My philosophy is that food should be both good and good for you.”
Kaden Robbins
Kaden Robbins is a Colorado State University Agricultural Business graduate and a seventh-generation rancher hailing from Gunnison, Colorado. With deep roots in the ranching community, Kaden is dedicated to the evolution of the industry. He recently completed two summers of research into virtual fencing, exploring the true costs of implementing this technology and how it can reshape land management. During his research, he worked with various stakeholders, including ranchers and rangeland managers, to form a more complete understanding of the technologies effceiveness at improving management practices and achieving production goals.
Hannah Upham
Hannah Upham, LPC, ATR, HTR is owner and lead designer and lead grower of Phytology Flowers, a high-end sustainable florist and flower farm, specializing in unique, stylish floral design for weddings and events in the Chaffee County region of Colorado. Hannah emphasizes sustainable practices and as many locally grown flowers as possible. Hannah is licensed professional counselor in the state of Colorado, and a nationally registered art therapist and horticultural therapist. She is a mother of two young children, who love to help out in the gardens!
Ellen Kerchner
Ellen Kerchner is a Colorado native with a background in Conservation Biology and miscellaneous ag. She now runs Ellen’s Flowers with her partner Matt Koster on five acres in Canon City, CO. They organically grow specialty cut flowers for farmers' markets, bouquet subscriptions, weddings, and florist sales. They are passionate about the intersection between conservation and agriculture and are dedicated to forwarding the regenerative agricultural movement in Southern Colorado.
Maytal Agasi
Maytal has a deep love and admiration for all things earth; whether it’s farm-fresh veggies, mountain tops, rich soil, or a delicate flower, she is all in. You’ll find her running the school gardens, coordinating the community garden spaces, teaching camps, and digging her hands in the soil at the Guidestone Community and School Farm. Growing food with children has shown Maytal that food is a human right and is often abundant. Food access and equity has become a growing passion for Maytal over the past year, which led to the development of the Salida Community Fridge. Maytal has been working and volunteering on farms around the world for the past 9 years and is excited to have found her home in Salida.
Dibby Olsen
Dibby Olson has been a science educator her whole life. The last 12 years of her career were spent teaching drug prevention and sexual health to mid and high school students in Chaffee County. Gardening has always been a passion of hers and she has seen the magic that happens when people of all ages get their hands in the dirt and grow things - great conversations happen, bonds form and everyone goes home with fresh, free food to eat! Dibby helped start the Touber garden family partnership with the city of Salida and Guidestone in 2021 (I think). With the amazing support of both organizations, the project has grown steadily each summer, with little bits of magic sprouting all along the way!
Zach Hedstrom
Zach Hedstrom is the founder and owner of Boulder Mushroom, a Boulder-based center for mycological innovation. Boulder Mushroom conducts research and contracting services utilizing fungi in various environmental service applications such as fire mitigation slash management, bulk biomass processing, agricultural soil health, and more. Boulder Mushroom operates a continuously expanding strain bank of native fungi, which is stored at its North Boulder production facility. They have conducted research and implementation projects for Boulder County OSCAR, City of Boulder OSMP, BCPOS, Jefferson County, Boulder Watershed Collective, The Watershed Center, Eco-Cycle, and other entities. Learn more at bouldermushroom.com.
Libby Christensen
Dr. Libby Christensen has nearly 20 years of experience strengthening Colorado’s food and agriculture economy by connecting rural producers, urban markets, and entrepreneurial food businesses. She is passionate about identifying, expanding, and leveraging market demand to create value for Colorado farmers, ranchers, and food manufacturers. Libby’s career spans teaching nutrition at Colorado State University, advancing market opportunities for regional meat supply chains, evaluating Colorado’s statewide farm-to-school initiatives, and supporting the growth of value-added food and beverage companies. As the Statewide Food and Agriculture Specialist with the CSU Office of Engagement and Extension, she helps businesses navigate and capitalize on emerging market trends, supply chain innovations, and collaborative opportunities across the state. Libby also serves as Chair of the Routt County Economic Development Committee and sits on the Board of Naturally Colorado, where she supports the growth of Colorado’s natural and organic products industry. She and her husband own and operate Routt Distillery in Steamboat Springs, producing spirits made from all Colorado grains.
Bradley Barrow
Bradley Barrow, MBA, MAFS (she/her) is a food systems expert based in Salida, Colorado, and serves as the Agricultural Partnerships and Data Manager at Nourish Colorado. She and her team collaborate with K–12 school districts and local producers statewide to integrate farm-to-school practices into everyday operations through hands-on technical assistance. Bradley works closely with farmers, food hubs, and institutional partners to support access to institutional markets and strengthen sustainable procurement pathways. Additionally, she leads data collection and analysis across these programs to elevate impact stories, assess outcomes, and identify opportunities for growth. With ten years of experience in food systems and a recent focus on institutional procurement, her work centers on building resilient, locally rooted food systems that prioritize Colorado producers. Bradley and her team’s ultimate goal of their work is to make farm-to-school the norm across Colorado by fostering strong relationships and equipping both farmers and school districts with the tools they need to thrive.
Annie Overlin
Prior to working with CSU Extension and working on her family farm and ranch in SE Colorado, Annie spent eighteen years running a business as a Range Specialist focused on wetland restoration and developing conservation credits (carbon and sagegrouse in Nevada and California. She also worked as a restoration ecologist at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her current research in Colorado is focused on finding biological solutions for renovating pastures.
Mark Waltermire
Mark has been running Thistle Whistle Farm for the past twenty years, combining market farming and education on a 16-acre diversified family farm. Thistle Whistle aspires to grow the best tasting food it can manage, and to provide a diversity of farm experiences to visitors and staff. The farm has vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, fruit, dairy goats, poultry and bees, and is developing a 5-acre community agivoltaic solar array.
Emma Lietz Bilecky
Emma Lietz Bilecky (she/her) is the Colorado Land Link Director with Guidestone Colorado, a vegetable farmer, writer, and teacher of environmental ethics. She is passionate about local food systems and works to expand market and land access opportunities for food producers across the state.
Juliette Jack Banerjee
Juliette Jack Banerjee (she/her) is the Co-op Development Specialist at the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, and works to spread the good news about cooperative possibilities in the food system and the solidarity economy as a whole.
Stay tuned for more speaker updates - Coming Soon!
Description
AgriSummit is a rural agricultural conference in Salida, Colorado, that will be both inspiring and grounding. Join us for our 11th year of agricultural learning and connection. This year's theme is 'Restoring Relations: Rooting Down and Reaching Out.' We'll highlight the many deep-rooted and widespread relationships at the heart of local food systems. The event will offer educational sessions, networking opportunities, and discussions focused on local food production, food access, food Rx, land management, and agritourism in our region. All Friday sessions will include simultaneous interpretation in Spanish.
Do you need a scholarship to go to the event? Please fill out our Scholarship application below: https://forms.gle/mcK4tQVtHyaQEyYJ7 -
Scholarship applications have officially closed.
¿Necesitas registrarte en español? Ve a nuestra página de registro en español:
https://events.humanitix.com/11a-conferencia-anual-de-agrisummit
Event Highlights include:
Keynote address
Workshops
Breakout sessions
Panel discussions
Social networking events
Resources for producers, beginning farmers, and ranchers
Avenues for community members to engage in supporting regional food systems
Open house, seed swap, and early farmers market
Film screening
Farm and ranch tours
In the spirit of building relationships, Guidestone is also partnering with The Colorado Grain Chain for the second annual Colorado Grain Summit. If you are excited about AgriSummit, stay for another day for an agriculturally packed week to learn about local grain production and procurement.
We can't wait to see you there!
FAQs
- Are there any hotel blocks?
Accommodations & Room Blocks: We have set up room blocks at a variety of hotels in Salida. Please book your accommodations in advance to secure your spot. Use the group code AGRI at all locations. Silver Ridge Lodge (15 rooms) – must book via phone call by February 20th Call 719-539-2553 between 7:30am - 9:30pm to book, use group code: AGRI Loyal Duke Lodge (46 rooms) – must book online/call by February 12th Salida Inn & Monarch Suites (6 rooms) – must book online/call by February 12th Amigo Motor Lodge (5 rooms + 4 airstreams)
All rooms at Amigo Motor Lodge are full.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
