Call #1: Sept. 24th noon, Sept. 26th 7 am - You and Your Operation as Mentor
Mentoring differs from being an employer in key ways: how do you know if it’s right for you? What are you excited to teach? The answers to these and other questions will help you write an apprenticeship description that is both appealing and realistic about the ups and downs of regenerative agriculture on your site. We’ll discuss ways to describe work schedules, location, isolation, and other factors, to be sure your description will appeal to the applicants you most want to attract.

Join us for a day of learning about how organic amendments (compost, biochar, bale grazing) can impact rangelands in Texas.

Come learn what to say and how to help someone who seems to be struggling. COMET™️ (Changing Our Mental and Emotional Trajectory) is a community-based approach to activate rural community members to support one another in times of stress.

This is part one of a five-part series on various agencies and tools within the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. This webinar on October 22 from 12 - 1 p.m. MT will cover getting started with the USDA with Faith Hill who is the USDA Beginning Farmer Rancher Coordinator in Montana.

NAP 101 is an interactive opportunity to learn more about the New Agrarian Program, hear descriptions of our 2025 mentor sites, and get a few tips on applying to the program. Although this call will be recorded and posted to our website, attending the live call gives applicants the opportunity to ask questions and meet the NAP staff who will help review applications.

Join us for a fascinating webinar featuring New Mexico rancher, Jorge Ramirez, who will share his extensive experience in implementing rotational grazing and virtual fencing as a tool to promote ecological restoration.

This is part two of a five-part series on various agencies and tools within the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. In this second webinar of the series we will focus on the Farm Service Agency to learn about the direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operation loans they offer, and what can be purchased using the loans. We will be joined by Lauren Zimmermann, who serves as a program analyst for the Farm Service Agency and a USDA Beginning Farmer Rancher Coordinator in Montana.

Save the date for REGENERATE 2024! We hope to see you in Denver at the National Western Center from November 6-8. This year’s conference, Innovating for a Resilient Future, will interrogate and explore data, technology, information collection and sharing, ways of learning and knowing, and the myriad approaches to fulfilling our ecological roles.

This is part three of a five-part series on various agencies and tools within the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. Lauren Zimmermann, who serves as a program analyst for the Farm Service Agency and a USDA Beginning Farmer Rancher Coordinator in Montana, joins us a second time to discuss the programs and services that the Farm Service Agency provides for beginning farmers and ranchers.

Join the Point Blue Soils Team in partnership with Quivira Coalition for a webinar on the Rangeland Carbon Monitoring Program (Range-C), where we’ll dive into the logistics of designing and implementing a monitoring project to track the impacts of prescribed grazing on ecosystem carbon and soil health.

NAP 101 is an interactive opportunity to learn more about the New Agrarian Program, hear descriptions of our 2025 mentor sites, and get a few tips on applying to the program. Although this call will be recorded and posted to our website, attending the live call gives applicants the opportunity to ask questions and meet the NAP staff who will help review applications.

Call #2: November 11, 12:00 p.m. |  Nov 14, 7:00 a.m. - Evaluating Written Applications
A strong evaluation process begins before you read a single application. Creating your review process in advance assures you’ll read for relevant experience as well as for potential in less experienced applicants.  We will share strategies for tackling the pile of applications, evaluation templates, and sample email responses to applicants who you would like to interview and those you will decline. 

This is part four of a five-part series on various agencies and tools within the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. In this offering of the series, we are joined by Montana Beginning Farmer Rancher Coordinators, Marlee Johnston, an ag producer state specialist for Rural Development, and John Lockie, risk management specialist with Risk Management Agency, to discuss how Rural Development and Risk Management Agency work with beginning farmers and ranchers.

This is part five of a five-part series on various agencies and tools within the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. Our final call of the Getting Started with the USDA webinar Series will discuss programs and technical support the Natural Resources Conservation Service provides. NRCS provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain and improve our natural resources and environment.

In this two part webinar series, founders of Grazing School of the West, Brittany "Cole" Bush and Olivia Tincani will dig into the roots of what makes a grazier’s business different. In part one we will discuss business planning and decision-making and the distinct things to consider while planning your contract or prescribed grazing business. In part two we will review various business tools, templates, and instruments that power operations of grazing businesses and empower their entrepreneurs and employees.

In this two part webinar series, founders of Grazing School of the West, Brittany "Cole" Bush and Olivia Tincani will dig into the roots of what makes a grazier’s business different. In part one we will discuss business planning and decision-making and the distinct things to consider while planning your contract or prescribed grazing business. In part two we will review various business tools, templates, and instruments that power operations of grazing businesses and empower their entrepreneurs and employees.

Call #3: Interviewing For Your Best Candidate
Design an interview process that will reveal the skill level, motivation and aptitude of  applicants and determine if they are right for your operation. We’ll share great questions that lead to thorough responses regarding experience and motivation. What questions can’t be asked, for legal reasons? How do you find out what you most need to know? And how do you select your finalists?

Call #4:  January 16, 7 a.m. |  Jan 21, 12 p.m.
Expectations Explained: Yours and Theirs
You’ve chosen your apprentice and are preparing for their arrival. How do you set clear expectations of job responsibilities, days off, work schedules, team meetings, and your workplace culture? Writing an apprenticeship agreement, creating a skills list, and setting clear boundaries at the beginning can support a successful apprenticeship.

Call #5: February 11, 12 p.m. | Feb 13, 7 a.m.
Connecting Work and Education
How do you structure the workday, week, and month so that priorities are established, and both work and education happen? Strategies shared include weekly planning meetings, how to find those ‘teachable moments’ during a workday, and ways to do up-front training to get your apprentice going and maintain focus, communication and motivation in the busy season.