5 reasons you should go to farming events

By Heather Heinrichs

Feb. 28, 2026

You never know what can happen when a group of like-minded people gets together. I was at a farming conference in February when a seemingly random man stood up to ask a question, and what he asked shocked us all. His question floored everyone in the room and multiple people were eager to talk to him about his problem. It’s unplanned things like this that are one reason why farming conferences can be so helpful to your farm. Why should you go to all the trouble of getting someone else to take care of the chores and spending the money to drive and travel when you could just stay home and save the cash and the hassle? Let me tell you the amazing question this man asked.

Reason #1: Meeting people who can help you.

Let me set the scene. It was the 2026 annual conference for Holistic Management Canada. About 145 people came to the event, and we were on the second day of the conference. It was a Sunday afternoon and the crowd had dwindled as some people had already left to go home. It’s normal to see some people leave because they have to drive a long distance to get to events like these and they have off-farm jobs on Monday morning or school for the kids. We were listening to a panel of speakers talk about what to do with extra money on the farm (ranchers were blessed with the highest prices ever for cattle at the time). When it came time for questions, a grey-haired man stood up and took a microphone. 

He started talking about how he and his wife were well-off retired people. They drove older vehicles but not because they couldn’t afford new ones, they were just happy with what they had. Their children were grown and also doing well on their own, not in need of any money from Mom and Dad. At this point, none of us were really sure what his question was going to be or where this was headed. He continued, saying that for many years he’d been investing their money in land. Buying one quarter every year and now having in total 32 quarters of land. Our collective jaws gaped hearing his number but we were even more blown away by what he asked next.

“I don’t need money,” he said. “My kids don’t need money. I have all this land. My question is: what should I do with it?”

The answer was fairly unanimous: Find the people who are looking for land to farm holistically and rent to them. Many of them are in this room and they will be eager to make a deal!

What if the one person who could help you with a solution to a problem you have is going to a farm conference where you could meet them? Solutions could be waiting for you in the form of meeting people who are looking for you. It is not uncommon for people to ship their cattle long distances for pasture solutions. And with the price of cattle at the time of this article, it would be easy to see the possibility of a local trustworthy person being put in charge of managing a custom cattle feeding business on this wealthy man’s land. That’s only one idea and obviously there’s endless possibilities. The point is: this was not on the agenda and it was not planned. You had to be there in the room to get the benefit of being part of that opportunity.

Reason #2: Loosening the compaction between your ears.

We all know that farmers are teased for being stubborn people and that is because if you’re not stubborn, you probably won’t last in the farming business. It’s a tough life sometimes with challenges that people who live a 9-5 job just don’t face. But that stubbornness can lead to a resistance to changing how you farm. We all have our set beliefs and ideas that we’ve learned over the years. Some are good, maybe some are not. Conferences are like a melting pot of people and ideas. Like going from a mono-crop of your own thoughts and beliefs, you can put yourself in a field where all kinds of ideas are being grown. Some work better than others and heck there might even be a few weeds but you can learn much more when you’re opening up to new ideas and seeing what's working or not working for other people. 

It’s one thing to read about a farm success story online and yeah that can be inspiring. But meeting someone who tells you, yeah my cover crop last year produced 100 bu/acre of oats and I got about 2.5 ton an acre of forage baled up after I combined it. Hearing that in person impacts your mind in a way that online reading and videos just can’t. That in person communication is much more real and more likely to help you than anything else. 

Reason #3: Farm Tours!

Conferences or events sometimes include a farm tour and it’s really nice to get a first-hand look at other farms and see what they are doing. Maybe you’ve never thought of having a worm farm but you see one on the Shipwheel Feeders farm and hey, you’ve got a back corner of a heated shop that you could use to do that. It’s just a few plastic tubs where you keep the worms and throw them a few scraps to eat and then collect the dirt that’s full of their poop (castings) and then sell it.

If you don’t like sitting down in a room all day full of people, you can always just go for the farm tour and then go home. The organizers of these events don’t mind being flexible to people’s needs. Ask if you can pay for the farm tour and not the whole conference, or find farm tour events, or ask the farms you know about if you could come for a private tour. Most regenerative farmers are happy to teach other farmers what they’ve learned because they are eager for this knowledge of working with nature to spread in the agricultural community. And just like the last point, there is a much greater impact on your memory and your mind when you see the work in action. 

Reason #4: Encouragement that regenerative principles actually work.

The great thing about conferences is that they are chock full of stories of crops and pastures showing before and after proof that regenerative and holistic practices really do work. You can see what’s been working. Speakers and presenters often have data from other farms showing realistic goals and hard data to back up the pictures. That encouragement from seeing those results from other farms can help you see the possibilities for your farm. You can look at your fields and know that your goals are realistic and achievable. 

Reason #5: You. Your presence.

Farmers are humble people, but don’t underestimate the power of your presence. As much as it may not feel like it, you being present at a conference or farm tour improves the experience for the other people there. Each person brings their own unique wisdom and experience, even if you’re new or a long-time farmer. Each perspective is needed and everyone benefits from your participation. Even if you don’t interact much or keep to yourself, your presence alone will encourage the organizers and the other people that they are not alone and that regenerative farming is catching on. Support for regenerative farming events is important and keeps them going.