Watch our 2026 Keynotes
Nature holds immense power in the smallest seed—packed with the potential for transformation, abundance, and life. When conditions are right, both seeds and people thrive. In this keynote, Carlton Turner invites us to reflect: How are we creating the conditions for seeds—and communities—to flourish?
Five supply chain leaders and farmers featured in the new book, Reaping What She Sows: How Women Are Fixing Our Broken Food System, discuss their work creating the short, direct, and transparent “alternative food system".
A strategic dialogue on immigrant farmworker and farmer rights brings together Martita Martinez-Bravo, executive director of Friends of Fieldworkers, Inc.; Elsa Mejía, Madera City council member; and Paul Underhill of Terra Firma Farm.
An EcoFarm tradition! Learn what these farmers do, why they do it, and what they’ve learned along the way. Brisa Farms, Byron Albano, and Effie Rawlings are the 2026 EcoFarm Successful Farmers.
Seeds: The Sacred Abundance Found in Small Places
Wednesday, January 21 | 8:00 - 9:45 p.m.
Nature absolutely knows how to pack a punch. It has placed the capacity for transformation, abundance, and sustenance within the tiny clutches of a seed. When the conditions are right, seeds become new worlds. Nature designed humans with the same exponential transformational power. When conditions are right, we thrive. This keynote invites us to reflect on a central question: How are we creating the conditions for seeds to show us their full capacity? Using this metaphor, we will explore what it means to create spaces where people can grow and flourish deeply in their communities.
Carlton Turner is an artist, agriculturalist, builder, researcher, and co-founder/co-director of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture). He has more than 20 years of organizational development and management experience working in the arts and culture sector. He currently serves on the board of First People’s Fund, Grantmakers in the Arts, College Unbound, and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. Carlton is a founding partner of the Intercultural Leadership Institute and the former Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS and a lead partner in the Southern Black Farmer Community Led Fund. He lives and works in Utica, MS where his family has been rooted for eight generations. Spanish interpretation provided.
Protecting Immigrant Farmers and Farmworkers
Thursday, January 22 | 1:30-2:55 p.m.
This strategic dialogue on immigrant farmworker and farmer rights brings together Martita Martinez-Bravo, executive director of Friends of Fieldworkers, Inc.; Elsa Mejía, Madera City council member; Paul Underhill of Terra Firma Farm; Chris Lopez, Monterey County’s Third District Supervisor; Judith Redmond (Moderator) of Full Belly Farm. This panel will examine the legal, workplace, and community frameworks needed to safeguard immigrant farmers and farmworkers across California’s agricultural systems, highlighting collective efforts that help keep immigrant families and communities safe and together.
Successful Farmers
Friday, January 23 | 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
An EcoFarm tradition! Learn what these farmers do, why they do it, and what they’ve learned along the way. Brisa Farms, Byron Albano, and Effie Rawlings are the 2026 EcoFarm Successful Farmers. Spanish interpretation provided.
How Women Are Rebuilding Our Regenerative Supply Chains
Saturday, January 24 | 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Five supply chain leaders and farmers featured in the new book, Reaping What She Sows: How Women Are Fixing Our Broken Food System, will discuss their work creating the short, direct, and transparent “alternative food system". Their system stands in direct contrast to the extractive, exploitative long supply chains of Big Agriculture and Big Food. Their work includes raising capital for Black farmers to access land, creating an alternative organic produce food system in Big Ag-dominated California, re-building the Northeastern regional grain shed, one farmer, miller, and baker at a time, and reclaiming the heritage seeds of their mother cultures to build seed sovereignty.
Reaping What She Sows author Nancy Matsumoto will moderate a panel featuring Karen Washington, Olivia Watkins, Bu Nygrens, June Russell,
and Mai Nguyen. Spanish interpretation provided.