Join us for practical learning & discussion focused on drought resilience, wildfire preparedness, and climate-adaptive livestock production
Join us at Fresh Valley Farms on April 24 and 25 for two days of practical learning and discussion focused on drought resilience, wildfire preparedness, and climate-adaptive livestock production.
Dates and Times:
Friday, April 24th from 12pm-5pm
Saturday, April 25th from 9am-4pm
Friday afternoon features an interactive workshop with industry experts Greg Tegart, Jim Forbes, and Mike Witt on livestock management in drought years and beyond. Attendees will rotate through three stations covering forage and livestock nutrition, cropping strategies, and farm business decision-making. Bring your feed tests, soil analyses, and farm-specific questions for hands-on discussion about pasture health, forage rejuvenation, and animal nutrition.
On Saturday, we will look at wildfire preparedness for livestock producers and explore how Beneficial Management Practices, including cover cropping and rotational grazing, can strengthen farm resilience in the face of extreme weather and a changing climate.
Lunch on the 24th and lunch on the 25th will be provided.
About Our Presenters:
Greg Tegart, retired Range and Field Crop Agrologist, lives in the North Okanagan. His knowledge of how grazing impacts soil and plants will lead this workshop. His knowledge is based on two BSc degrees, UBC in Biology and UofA in Agriculture and Range Management, and more than three decades with BC's Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Over his career, he enjoyed numerous roles including field crop and range specialist and district agrologist. He has also had the opportunity to lead or participate in numerous projects and initiatives that allowed him to work throughout BC.
Jim Forbes, PAg, has over 35 years of experience in agricultural production and management. Since retiring from the Ministry of Agriculture in January of 2020 he has been working as a private agricultural consultant and Planning Advisor for the BC Environmental Farm Plan. He is also a trainer for Farm Management Canada’s “Roots to Success” Farm Risk Management workshops.
Over the years working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Jim was called upon to assist with numerous emergency events affecting agriculture: from forest fires to pipeline oil spills, mass livestock mortalities, dangerous goods spills, debris flows, and multiple floods. Having seen the effects of these emergency events on producers, Jim developed the first iteration of Taking Stock Wildfire Recovery Workbook to highlight the use of good farm business management practices to help with recovery.
Mike Witt is a professional agrologist and a farmer in the North Okanagan His extensive education and hands-on experience establish him as a seasoned authority in cover cropping. His primary focus is on cover cropping and nitrogen management within the livestock sector, with a specialization in both beef and dairy farming. He is currently serving as an agrologist for BC Living Labs. Mike actively contributes to the Forage/Beef and Dairy sectors.
Amy Norgaard is a Mitigation and Preparedness Specialist on the Emergency Management Team with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. She is a professional agrologist with a master’s in soil science from UBC. In grad school she worked alongside farmers across the Fraser Valley, Pemberton, and Vancouver Island on nutrient management field trials. Her background also includes several seasons as a farmhand in Pemberton.
Amy also worked for three summers with the BC Wildfire Service as a wildfire crew member based out of Merritt. In her current role, she brings together her experience in agriculture and wildfire response to support farms in strengthening wildfire resilience through practical, proactive actions and planning.
Julia Smith owns and manages Blue Sky Ranch in Nlaka'pamux Territory near Merritt, BC where she has experienced first hand the impacts of climate change. She has been raising a wide range of livestock including cattle, sheep, poultry and pigs over the past 14 years.
Julia is a founding member and past President of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association where she now serves as Executive Director. She is a grazing mentor with the Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association and the Farmers for Climate Solutions Farm Resilience Mentorship (FaRM) Program. Julia serves on the board of directors for Farmers for Climate Change Solutions and is past Vice-President of the National Farmers Union where she now chairs the livestock committee.
This event is offered in partnership with BC Cattlemen’s with funding from the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and the Farmers for Climate Solutions Farm Resilience Mentorship Program (FaRM).
REGISTER HERE: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/preparing-for-climate-change-challenges-leveraging-with-livestock-tickets-1985859356794?aff=oddtdtcreator