“The more carbon that is stored in the soil, the less carbon dioxide there will be in the atmosphere contributing to climate change.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
One-day Intensive Workshop
Date: Monday, October 22, 2018 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: Singing Frogs Farm
1301 Ferguson Rd
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Price: $195 (includes lunch & transport)
Shuttle leaves Embassy Suites in San Rafael, CA at 8:30 a.m.
Agriculture has been exploiting and destroying the ecological assets — soil, water, biodiversity, and people — that are the very resources needed to produce food. It is imperative that farming systems are redesigned to mimic nature’s regenerative force if we are going to be able to feed the world in the face of the stresses and uncertainties of climate change.
Regenerative Agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soil, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services. It also increases soil carbon storage, which is both a buffer against climate change and can reduce the dangerous amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
Just as nature is constantly evolving, Regenerative Agriculture is a system of continued learning, improving and adapting to local dynamic conditions. It combines the best practices of organic farming, permaculture, holistic management and agroecology while honoring a commitment to develop just and equitable relations with all stakeholders including farmworkers.
We will spend the day at the highly productive and profitable Singing Frogs Farm, a no-till, organic vegetable operation. Regenerative agricultural practices have resulted in a quadrupling of soil organic matter and a tripling in total soil microbial life. Birds, bees and biodiversity in general have all increased.
There will be workshop sessions and hands-on activities with these Regenerative Agriculture experts:
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Elizabeth and Paul Kaiser jointly operate Singing Frogs Farm. They drew from their background in tropical agro-forestry, natural resource management and public health in West Africa, Central America and Northern California, to develop Singing Frogs Farm’s innovative, multi-award winning intensive, no-till, ecological management system, a highly successful model they are now teaching locally and internationally. singingfrogsfarm.com |
| Doniga Markegard, author of Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild, has extensive backgrounds in wildlife tracking, wilderness survival and Permaculture. She is a leading “regenerative rancher” who, with her husband and children, owns and manages Markegard Family Grass-Fed LLC, which leases over 10,000 acres of Bay Area lands, using practices that build soil, sequester carbon, capture and purify water, enhance wildlife habitat, and revitalize communities. markegardfamily.com |  |
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Timothy J. LaSalle, Ph.D., co-founder and Co-Director of the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative at CSU Chico and Professor Emeritus at California Polytechnic University, was formerly President/CEO of the California Agriculture Leadership Program. His past positions included: first CEO of the Rodale Institute; Executive Director of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management; and Research Coordinator for the Howard Buffett Foundation in Africa, focusing on soils and food security. csuchico.edu/ |
| Claudio Nunez is the Resident Regenerative Rancher/Farmer of Paicines Ranch near Hollister, CA., a historic farm since the 1860s that is now a diverse, large-scale model of holistic/regenerative agriculture practices and was one of the first ranches in California to participate in the Soil Carbon Challenge. Paicines Ranch also supports a wide variety of birds, plants and animals as a result of its extensive grasslands and water features. paicinesranch.com |  |