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OAK 2026 Conference Agenda
Welcome to the agenda for the 15th Annual OAK Conference, Cultivating Connections: Growing Organic Together for 15 Years. The 2026 Conference offers two full days of sessions on Friday, January 30, and Saturday, January 31.
Opening Session & Organic Farmer Award (9:00 - 10:15 am ET)
In Development; Details Coming Soon
Growing Your Own Fertility with Cover Crops (10:30-11:45 am ET)
Emily Oakley - Three Springs Farm
For the past 10 years, Emily and Mike of Three Springs Farm in northeastern Oklahoma have worked on reducing off-farm inputs by growing their own fertility with cover crops. In this session, Emily will discuss the overall objectives of their cover crop program, what brought them to start making changes to their production system and how farmers can think about growing fertility with cover crops in Kentucky. This session will dive into the soil test results over time of Three Springs Farm (Zone 7a) and how those results inform their decisions about cover crop varieties, timing and rotations. The content of this session is tailored to intermediate and advanced growers.
100% Grass-Fed Cattle: Farmer Panel (10:30-11:45 am ET)
John Bell - Elmwood Stock Farm; Debbie Brann - River Cottage Farm; Derek Lawson - Foxhollow Farm; Chris Teutsch (Moderator) - University of Kentucky
Join a panel of experienced Kentucky graziers as they share the management practices that shape their 100% grass-fed cattle operations. Debbie Brann, John Bell and Derek Lawson will have a conversation moderated by Dr. Chris Teutsch about their livestock, forage and pasture management strategies. This session will delve into each grazier's similar yet unique adaptive grazing systems, including interspecies grazing, crop integration, breed selection and rotation strategies. While each farm uses different techniques, they all share a commitment to sustainable, pasture-based systems and are continually learning. Attendees will gain practical insights from experienced graziers while understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-all.”
What Grows Next: A Collaborative Dialogue on Strengthening the Organic Workforce (10:30-11:45 am ET)
Jim Coleman - Coleman Crest Farm; Ryann Monteiro - Organic Farmers Association
How can Kentucky's organic workforce be strengthened to reflect the values and needs of our communities? This interactive session invites farmers, educators, service providers and young professionals to share perspectives on what is most important for sustaining organic agriculture in the state—what is working well and what is missing. Part listening session, part collective visioning, this session will center farmer voices while making space for others across Kentucky’s organic ecosystem. Participants will engage in small-group dialogue, contribute to a real-time visual map of workforce needs and reflect on the skills, relationships and supports that sustain the movement. The session also introduces the Organic Career Network (OCN) and invites Kentucky stakeholders to help shape its future.
Keeping Honey Bees on an Organic Farm (1:15-2:15 pm ET)
Dr. Tamara Horn Potter - Kentucky State University / Hacker's Honey; Mac Stone - Elmwood Stock Farm
Honey bees don’t just produce jars of honey, they play a critical role as workers at Elmwood Stock Farm, where certified organic and conservation-minded practices support pollinators of all kinds. Before Hacker’s Honey started their beekeeping operation at Elmwood, crops like zucchini struggled to fruit. Nearly eight years later, the beekeeper-farmer partnership is buzzing, from increased crop yields to additional value-added revenue. With success comes challenges: managing hives on an organic farm requires communication because of swarms, varroa mites, “mean” bees and other considerations. Hear Mac Stone’s stories from the field, Dr. Tamara Horn Potter’s hive management insights and beekeeping resources and their shared efforts to keep the ongoing partnership successful.
Silvopasture on the Cheap (1:15-2:15 pm ET)
Joseph Monroe - Valley Spirit Farm
Hear Joseph Monroe's story of how he has established thousands of thriving trees in all of Valley Spirit Farm's pastures for cattle and sheep with no money spent. Joseph will share the benefits of the trees for animal health, which tree species can work best and the details of his non-traditional silvopasture management system. He will draw on his experience in permaculture design and agroforestry coursework at the University of Missouri and the inspiration he took from the silvopasture ideas of J. Russell Smith's book, Tree Crops.
Unconventional Economics for a Farm Startup (or, Queering the Family Farm) (1:15-2:15 pm ET)
Hannah Breckbill - Humble Hands Harvest
Humble Hands Harvest is a worker-owned cooperative market vegetable farm in Iowa run by two first-generation farmers who aren't married to each other. The business acquired ownership of its farmland through a community effort to protect the land from industrial agriculture, running several fundraising campaigns to generate the needed capital to build the farm’s infrastructure. Now, the worker-owned cooperative allows multiple farmers to own the land together and tend it on behalf of a local community. Together, they treat the community-gifted capital as part of a commons that decommodifies the land. Now, Humble Hands Harvest is working with a land-investment cooperative to replicate their land access story on a larger scale. Hannah will share lessons learned from this unconventional way of structuring a farm business.
Integrating Biodynamic Principles in a Small Market Garden (2:45-4:00 pm ET)
Jeff Poppen - Barefoot Farmer / Long Hungry Creek Farm
A well-designed garden can be inviting, interesting and enchanting, while efficiently producing crops. Jeff Poppen will discuss cover crops, composting, companion planting, crop rotation, tillage options, mulching and using biodynamic preparations. Alongside practical information about drainage, remineralization and weed control, Jeff will delve into natural cycles, cosmic rhythms, biochemistry and homeopathy to help farmers understand how to grow food of the highest quality.
Herbal Leys and Pasture Cropping: Incorporating Deep-Rooted Forbs and Annual Forages Into Cattle Pastures (2:45-4:00 pm ET)
Greg Halich - University of Kentucky / Grass-Finished Cattle Farmer
The upper layers of most agricultural soils are depleted in minerals and organic matter. Deep-rooted forbs such as chicory and plantain can reach into the lower soil profile to extract minerals unavailable to typical pasture plants. They also build organic matter at deeper levels and improve water-holding capacity and drainage. These deep-rooted forbs are relished by livestock and provide important health benefits. This session will show how to establish and use these forbs in an overall forage system. The session will also cover pasture-cropping: planting warm and cool-season annuals directly into existing pastures. Pasture-cropping is particularly helpful in mitigating the summer slump in fescue-based pastures and improving forage quality during the summer.
Farming for Living Soil: Carbon, Biology and Crop Health (2:45-4:00 pm ET)
Ben Abell - Rootbound Farm; Dennis Chessman - Integrated Soil Management, LLC
Properly managed soils can provide important crop-growing benefits like enhanced nutrient availability, improved water storage capacity, greater pest suppression and environmental stress tolerance. In well-functioning soils, carbon plays an essential role in the soil biological processes and the physical conditions that allow farmers to realize these benefits. In this session, agronomist Dennis Chessman will highlight the management principles for improving soil function and the importance of plants in supplying organic carbon to the soil ecosystem. Ben Abell will share Rootbound Farm's practices that support soil biological communities and crop health, including cover crop rotations and livestock integration. The content of this session is tailored to intermediate and advanced growers.
What to Do When Disasters Strike (4:15-5:15 pm ET)
Chad Conway - University of Kentucky Extension; Angela Magney - Magney Legacy Ridge Farm
From chemical drift to personal loss, from tornadoes to team walkouts, organic farmers face a unique set of challenges when crisis hits. In this session, longtime Kentucky farmer Angela Magney and farmer and UK Extension agent Chad Conway offer a practical, experience-based framework for disaster response that keeps people, production and principles in balance. This session offers tools for new growers and seasoned farmers to prepare for the unpredictable—because when disaster strikes, knowing what to do next can make all the difference. Participants develop a simple, written real-world disaster plan they can take home and adapt to their own operations.
Dung Beetles: The Unsung Heroes of Regenerative Grazing Systems (4:15-5:15 pm ET)
Nate Haan - University of Kentucky; Joseph Monroe - Valley Spirit Farm
Dung beetles are hard at work improving pastures by burying manure, building soils and killing parasites. This session will cover what is known—and what researchers are still trying to learn—about how to manage for these beneficial insects. Nate Haan will share dung beetles' basic biology and ecology, emphasize their beneficial activities and discuss what is known about how to manage for them. Joseph Monroe will share his rotational grazing management strategies for 100 acres of grass-fed cattle that minimize the use of de-wormers that kill dung beetles. This session will include farming practices, scientific information, results from Nate's lab group at UK and the chance to examine some dung beetle specimens.
Organic Transplant Production (4:15-5:15 pm ET)
Steve Diver - University of Kentucky Horticulture Research Farm
Transplant production is the first stage of a successful organic market farm raising vegetable, herb and flower crops. This session will present the key tips for producing good to excellent quality transplants: seeding equipment, plug trays, organic potting mixes and bulk and liquid organic fertilizers, including trending methods like vermicomposts and biofertilizers that result in dramatic growth improvements. Steve Diver will share lessons learned from raising thousands of organic flats over the past 12 years -- plus results from trialing novel soil amendments -- at University of Kentucky's Horticulture Research Farm. Participants will receive a handout with tips on amendments, potting mix recipes, calculations and references.
Women Farmer Panel (9:00 - 10:15 am ET)
Hannah Breckbill - Humble Hands Harvest; Fatima Jackson - Action Jackson Farms; Emily Oakley - Three Springs Farm; Robin Verson - Hill and Hollow Farm
The number of women farmers is rising in the United States–over a third of farmers are women–yet this falls significantly below the global average. The U.S. Census of Agriculture finds that women-operated farms tend to be smaller and that women farmers make up a greater portion of sustainable and organic farm operators than industrial farm operators. Hear four women farmers share unique stories of how they chose to get into farming, what sustains them in the work and how farming as a woman (and other identities) shapes the way they farm and the communities they cultivate. The farmer-panelists will discuss both the challenges and the superpowers of life as a woman farmer and engage audience questions during this opening session in honor of the International Year of the Woman Farmer: 2026.
Landrace Seed Selection & Saving for Small Farm Resilience (10:30-11:45 am ET)
Susana Lein - Salamander Springs Farm
Locally-adapted landrace seeds are an important component of regenerative farming practices. Maintaining seeds with enough genetic diversity for continual adaptation is crucial for producing nutrient-dense crops that are resilient to changing climate conditions. Susana Lein will share about the pollination and seed production of different crop families and how to harvest, dry, process and store seeds at a low-tech, small-farm or garden scale. Susana will include information on developing and maintaining seed for staple crops of traditional American milpa agriculture, which she learned from Mayan farmers in Latin America.
Farming with Families Panel (10:30-11:45 am ET)
Madeline Bela - Hill and Hollow Farm; Davida Flowers - Davida's Flowers / Majestic Greens Farm; Jessica Lopez - Lopez Land Farm; Hannah Crabtree - Rough Draft Farmstead (Moderator)
Join this panel of farmers who will share their unique experiences of the “family” in “family farming.” This conversation among farmers at different stages of raising children while farming or being raised on the farm will explore the joys, complexities and challenges of farming with families. Topics will include farming while pregnant, childcare and schooling decisions, working alongside children or parents, work-life balance when home is the workplace and different life stages and their effects on roles and engagement. Moderator Hannah Crabtree will engage audience questions to help shape the discussion.
Value-Added Processing of Chestnuts and Acorns (10:30-11:45 am ET)
Michelle Ajamian - Rural Action; Amy Miller - Route 9 Cooperative
Discover how chestnuts and acorns are being transformed into delicious, value-added products made viable for local and regional markets with cooperatives and processing hubs. Michelle Ajamian and Amy Miller will explore post-harvest processing techniques and culinary uses for dried chestnut and acorn products. They will share about working with bakers, brewers, chefs and more. This session will include samples of chestnut and acorn products for participants to taste and evaluate, the results of the first acorn roasting and milling and how adding these products to Route 9’s product line helps the co-op sell ingredients to their local food and beverage industry in eastern Ohio.
The Berea Urban Farm: Addressing Collapse by Fostering Relationships (1:15-2:15 pm ET)
Richard Olson - Berea Urban Farm
The industrial food system is under the stress of climate change, resource depletion, economic fragility and social and political disruptions. The Berea Urban Farm (BUF) works within this context to increase local food security and community health. The BUF’s strategy involves developing and supporting relationships that increase community food production and resilience. Urban agriculture can provide a food buffer for cities and towns; connections across economic, political and religious divides; a link between urban and rural; and connections to nature. The BUF’s programs include the Farmacy Project (Food is Medicine), Berea Medicinal Herb Club, Berea Seed Growers, Victory Garden Blitz and the ARK (Acts of Restorative Kindness). This session will include a small group discussion applying BUF's framework to participants' own farms and communities.
Building a Farm-to-Shelf Product Brand (1:15-2:15 pm ET)
Sarah Barney - Among the Oaks Herb Farm
Dive deep into an exciting farm business model: developing a specialty farm-to-shelf, value-added product brand. Sarah Barney will use her own farm and experience developing a farm-to-cup tea company as a case study. Participants will learn how to create their own food/drink brand and build their farm business around it. This session will explore the pros and cons of this business model, how to identify viable products, branding and marketing and how to cultivate sales channels.
Tap into Kentucky’s Forest Farming Network (1:15-2:15 pm ET)
Anna Lucio - Kentucky Department of Agriculture; Storey Slone - Grow Appalachia
Interested in farming your woodlands or growing forest plants, often foraged, for commercial sale? Kentucky Forest Farming offers landowners an alternative to managing forested property beyond timber and ruminant grazing by cultivating crops beneath a forest canopy. This session offers inspiration and practical guidance and explores opportunities in forest farming. Speakers will share a snapshot of popular crops, along with a realistic look at markets and challenges, and provide details about the Kentucky Ginseng Grower Pilot Program.
Considerations for Value-Added Herbal Products: Balancing Tradition and Quality with Regulations (2:30-3:45 pm ET)
Lauren Kallmeyer - Resilient Roots
How does the rich tradition of herbal medicine interact with modern regulations? Lauren Kallmeyer will discuss regulatory, public health and scientific considerations of herbal products while offering practical considerations for approachable ways to add value-added herbal products to your farm. Products discussed may include salves, teas, tinctures, syrups and vinegar extracts. This session will include an overview of state and federal regulations that pertain to the marketing and selling of herbal products.
Building Resilient Food Systems Through Community-Led Education (2:30-3:45 pm ET)
Kinshasta Reed - Change Today, Change Tomorrow; T'Von Terry - Change Today, Change Tomorrow / 5th Element Farms; Makeda Freeman Woods - Change Today, Change Tomorrow
This session will explore how farmers, educators and organizers are building resilient food systems in Kentucky by centering equity, education and collective action. Panelists will share strategies for engaging communities in food justice work, replicable practices for starting working groups and lessons learned from grassroots collaboration. Participants will engage in a facilitated, small group discussion and will leave the session with practical tools, inspiration and a deeper understanding of how community-based organizing can shift the future of food access in Kentucky and beyond.
A Look Into Indoor Culinary Mushroom Production (2:30-3:45 pm ET)
Michael Beck - Sylvatica Forest Farm; Emma Goetzinger - Ashbourne Farms
Mushrooms remain in the limelight of the produce market, and rightly so! The world of fungi is incredibly vast, and mushroom products can be an intriguing and valuable addition to any farm enterprise or organic system. Go on a walkthrough of small-scale, indoor mushroom cultivation with Michael Beck and Emma Goetzinger. They will describe their mushroom journeys, including daily tasks, getting products to market and the role of mushrooms within the farm ecosystem. This session is suitable for beginning mushroom growers of all scales.
Urban Food Forests and the Permaculture Revolution (4:00-5:00 pm ET)
Leandro "Nachie" Braga - Geomancer Permaculture
Interested in natural landscapes, ecological restoration and community engagement? This session will explore Geomancer Permaculture's projects, in particular the Kilrush Food Forest, a collective public endeavor to remove invasive species and plant and preserve native or naturalized fruit, nut and berry trees; edible and medicinal native plants and pollinator-supporting wildflowers. Nachie Braga will share the permaculture practices he uses to manage this three-acre parcel of public land. He will speak to the local advocacy that made this project possible, including how young farmers and those without access to land can organize themselves effectively to grow food and ecological green spaces in and for local communities.
Worth It/Not Worth It: Vegetable Farmer Panel (4:00-5:00 pm ET)
Pavel Ovechkin - Pavel's Garden; Zach Selby - DreamTime Market Gardens; Annie Woods - Dark Wood Farm
Join this panel of vegetable farmers in a conversation about "worth it" and "not worth it" crops, mistakes and lessons learned and their decision-making about markets (CSAs, farmers market, restaurants). Pavel Ovechkin, Zach Selby and Annie Woods are three farmers using organic practices (one certified organic) who have a wealth of experience to share and insights about the choices (and mistakes!) they have made on their farms. Fellow farmer and associate professor Krista Jacobsen will facilitate a deep-dive into these topics and guide the conversation with crowdsourced audience questions via Slido.
Making Mother's Day Bloom: High-Quality Cut Flowers (4:00-5:00 pm ET)
Alexis Sheffield - University of Kentucky Center for Crop Diversification
Kentucky’s flower market is a growing industry, providing great opportunities for market farming and farm diversification. Learn the keys to producing high-quality cut flowers in time for the Mother’s Day rush—the biggest flower holiday of the year. This session will cover strategies for season extension, smart variety selection and balancing annual and perennial crops to ensure abundant, market-ready blooms when demand is highest.
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