National Farm Viability Conference: Full Schedule

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9:00am MDT

Surviving or Thriving? Helping Beginning Farmers Start, Scale and Withstand Risk

Wednesday September 23, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am MDT

This session is focused on ways that USDA is supporting beginning farmers and ranchers to aid in the viability and profitability of their operations. Findings from a recent USDA Economic Research Service study focusing on the characteristics associated with business survival of BFR operations will be shared. Among other things, the study found that BFRs who participated in USDA programs had a higher survival rate. Programs that contribute to this success will be explained throughout the presentation. Additionally, we’ll talk about the USDA staff who stand ready to support the needs of producers as they are beginning or scaling their operations. Moderated by Janet Wright, FSA Outreach Specialist, in partnership with other agencies, with ERS presenting highlights from the report on Beginning Farmer and Rancher Operations: Characteristics Associated With Business Survival.

Speakers

Sean Patrick

Tribal Liaison and Deputy Director of Risk Management Education, FPAC - RMA

Carrie Litkowski

Farm Income Team Lead, USDA-ERS

Carrie is a senior economist at USDA’s Economic Research Service. As the Farm Income team leader, she is responsible for planning, leading, and implementing an estimation, research, and analysis program focused on the development and dissemination of sector-wide measures of farm... Read More →

Janet Wright

National Outreach Specialist, FPAC-FSA

Janet Wright is a national Outreach Specialist with the USDA Farm Service Agency. In this role, she coordinates outreach and training events for beginning farmers and ranchers to assist them in starting and expanding their ag businesses through participation in USDA programs. She... Read More →

Wednesday September 23, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am MDT
Fireplace

Business Planning and Development, Agricultural Policy and Advocacy

11:00am MDT

Ethical Quandary: Holding Both Farm Profitability and Food System Change, When They Don't Always Pull the Same Direction

Wednesday September 23, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm MDT

Fireplace

As service providers we are all passionate about seeing a future where our agricultural producers are thriving personally and professionally. We also play a unique role in the food system: working with individual farmers while uplifting food systems change. Yet, we are confronted with the harsh realities of farmers who struggle to make ends meet for a myriad of reasons including individual mindset and access, to our economic system and other factors like inflation and regulations; to more global factors, such as climate change and global market competition; and lastly, simply due to luck and chance. Moreover, we recognize the additional barriers faced by those without inherited wealth, individuals experiencing systemic racism and oppression, and those from diverse cultural backgrounds. In this roundtable discussion, we will grapple with our focus on both farmers and food systems: our commitment to farm profitability, to sustainable livelihoods for farmworkers, to healthy food access for low and no income communities, and to investment in long term ecological stewardship. We'll share regional challenges, stories of hope, personal anecdotes, and strategies for navigating individual and systemic change. Join us as we reflect on our ethical duty and how we each tend our own moral compass in this vital work.

Speakers

Paige Phinney

Regional Program Director, Kitchen Table Advisors

Paige Phinney is a Regional Program Director at Kitchen Table Advisors. Paige has advocated on behalf of small organic farmers professionally for 20+ years; as a foundational team member of three different farm advocacy entities, a farmworker, a lifelong learner, and a numbers geek... Read More →

James Smith

James Smith is a farmer, food systems activist, and technical service provider with Croatan Institute. James grew up in North Carolina eating wild-foraged edibles and exploring the oak-hickory forests of the Piedmont region. At Croatan Institute, James works through the Soil Wealth... Read More →

Wednesday September 23, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm MDT
Fireplace

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