Regenerate Conference 2019

By: Marianna Zavala

Since 2011, TomKat Ranch has had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with a talented and passionate team of scientists at Point Blue Conservation Science. This partnership has helped us expand our land management and monitoring techniques and served as a positive example of the good that comes from ranchers and scientists working together to improve soil health, water quality, plant biodiversity, and more. 

This past November, our team was thrilled to see Mark Biaggi ( Ranch Manager), Dr. Chelsea Carey (Senior Soil Ecologist, Point Blue), and Kevin Watt (TomKat Ranch Strategic Advisor) featured on a panel at the Regenerate Conference in Alburquerque, New Mexico to discuss how citizen and professional science can collaborate with ranchers.  

The Regenerate Conference is hosted by the Quivira Coalition, American Grassfed Association, and Holistic Management International and is a gathering with a unique mix of scientists, ranchers/farmers, advocates, and entrepreneurs. In this spirit, the panel, which also featured Dr. Rodrigo Sierra Corona (Santa Lucia Conservancy) and Cooper Hibbard (Sieben Live Stock Company), talked about the importance of diverse perspectives and participants in the scientific process regarding land management. The group led a discussion on the need for citizen science to work in tandem with professional science and how collaborations and sharing knowledge and history can advance regenerative agriculture. 

Chelsea and Mark spoke about their experiences with California’s working lands and their goal of showing how, in addition to providing food to sustain human communities and economies, California rangelands contribute to ecosystem services like water quality, nutrient cycling,  soil health, and wildlife biodiversity. Other land managers shared their experiences, successes, and struggles. Together the group identified several key benefits of citizen science that when matched with the needs of working landscapes, create a phenomenal opportunity for regenerative land managers to grow their skills as stewards and uncover new and exciting synergies through working together.

To learn more about the collaborations discussed on the panel, please visit:

To learn more about the Regenerate Conference please visit: Regenerate 2019