Speaker: Gary Price, Owner

Session Details: At 77 Ranch we will hear from owner, Gary Price alongside several of organizations Gary has partnered with to better understand and demonstrate the benefits his cattle bring to the land. We will hear about his work with partners to understand the soil carbon sequestration potential on his land, see and learn about flux towers used to collect critical carbon data and understand how Gary protects local water resources. 

Speaker: Jon Taggart, Owner

Session Details: At Burgundy Beef we will here from owner Jon Taggart about how he has successfully built a grass-finished, direct to consumers business local to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Speaker: Mike Williams, Diamond W Ranch and Chair, USRSB

 Moderator: Nancy Labbe, Chair-Elect, USRSB

Speakers: Mike Williams (2024-2025); Chad Ellis (2023-2024); Debbie Lyons-Blythe (2022-2023); Steve Wooten (2021-2022); Wayne Morgan (2020-2021); Kim Stackhouse-Lawson (2018-2019)

Session Details: This session will provide perspectives from past Chairs of the USRSB with membership spanning the last decade. Where have we been, what impacts have we made, and where are we headed? What have been, or continue to be our largest challenges, and what should we be most proud of? – all will be covered in this lively discussion.

Speaker: Mary-Thomas Hart, National Cattlemen's Beef Association 

Speakers: Chad Ellis, Texas Ag Land Trust; David Haight, American Farmland Trust

Session Details: As the world and U.S. populations grow, there is more competition for limited resources, including land. Increasingly, there is recognition that action must be taken to preserve the land that produces our food, provides wildlife habitat, sequesters carbon and can help protect water quality. There are many challenges to preserving agricultural land, from competition for housing and commercial development to threats from climate change and energy production. Additionally, economic drivers (including increasing land prices and the likelihood of generational turnover of lands from the aging population of agricultural landowners) exacerbate the problem. Join this session to learn more about land use change and actions we might consider as we look toward the future.

Moderator: Ethan Smith, Pinion

Speakers: Jeff Kanger, First State Bank Nebraska; Myriah Johnson, Farm Credit Services of America; Shane Bownds, Rabobank; Eric Buckman, USBank

Session Details: At the 2022 General Assembly, we heard from Bank of America about resiliency, risk management and ESG. Since that time there has been increased activity in this space. This panel will explore topics in sustainable finance across the supply chain and how financial institutions are working with their customers as we work together to address current and potential future needs. 

Moderator: Jeff Goodwin, Texas A&M Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management

Speakers: Jason Rowntree, Michigan State University; Troy Rowan, University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture; Hugh Aljoe, Noble Research Insitute, Tom McDonald, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding; Jasmine Bruno, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research 

Session Details: In 2024, USRSB partnered with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) to convene academic and industry experts from across the beef value chain to develop a sustainable beef research roadmap. With a goal of ensuring purposeful and streamlined advancement in sustainable U.S. beef production, the roadmap provides insights into targeted research needs across USRSB Goal areas for air, land and water resources. Every stakeholder across the beef value chain has a role to play in supporting these critical research areas and in providing producers with the tools, knowledge and support they need. Join this session to hear more about the research roadmap and the opportunities to help the U.S. cattle industry make significant strides toward a continued, sustainable future. 

Speakers: Ron Gill, Texas AgriLife Extension; Mike Williams, Diamond W Ranch

Speaker: Jason Weller, JBS

Session Details: Gain insights from Jason Weller on global sustainability and the role that JBS has in the global conversation. 

Speakers: Mike Williams, Chair USRSB; Nancy Labbe, Chair-Elect, USRSB

Moderator: Kim Brackett, Brackett Ranches Limited Partnership, Vice President, NCBA

Speakers: Sarah Klopatek, JBS; Logan Thompson, Kansas State University; Belinda Richardson, McDonalds; Carlos Saviani, Cargill

Session Details: Biggest challenges are around corporate accounting and gaining recognition of grasslands as a carbon store or carbon sink. GWP* doesn’t work in corporate accounting so how can we address this. 

Moderators: Mary-Thomas Hart, NCBA; Jacob Gilley, American Farmland Trust

Session Details: Working from information shared at the Land Use Change session on Wednesday, join this workshop to share your perspectives on land use change, from drivers to definitions. With a common and shared definition, we can then begin working collaboratively across the beef supply chain to address this issue.

Moderator: J.J. Jones, Cultivated Conversations

Session Details: Members are at the core of everything the USRSB does—they drive the work of the USRSB, set its priorities, and engage in the work itself. Join this member listening session to provide your perspective on the impact of the work that has been done to date and the work that is most important for us to address in the future. Feedback obtained in this session will drive the USRSB Strategic Plan for 2026-2028.

Moderators: Mary-Thomas Hart, NCBA; Jacob Gilley, American Farmland Trust

Session Details: Working from information shared at the Land Use Change session on Wednesday, join this workshop to share your perspectives on land use change, from drivers to definitions. With a common and shared definition, we can then begin working collaboratively across the beef supply chain to address this issue.

Moderator: J.J. Jones, Cultivated Conversations

Session Details: Members are at the core of everything the USRSB does—they drive the work of the USRSB, set its priorities, and engage in the work itself. Join this member listening session to provide your perspective on the impact of the work that has been done to date and the work that is most important for us to address in the future. Feedback obtained in this session will drive the USRSB Strategic Plan for 2026-2028.

Speaker: Tom Field, Director, Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Session Details: A fifth-generation cattlemen, free enterprise champion, and cowboy philosopher Tom will share perspectives and insights gained from learning to see the world through the lens of a systems thinker, a quest to connect the dots, and being shaped by place, relationships, and the challenges of playing an infinite game.  He will yield the floor relative to the ‘how’ of sustainability in exchange for the privilege of reminding us about the ‘why’.

Speaker: Nancy Labbe, The Nature Conservancy and Chair, USRSB