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Colin Seis, an Australian farmer/rancher/author, will speak at the second annual Crossroads Conference at Autry Technology Center.
Colin Seis, from Australia, will be featured speaker at the second annual Crossroads Conference set for July 30, 2024, at Autry Technology Center.
Colin Seis, an Australian farmer/rancher/author, will speak at the second annual Crossroads Conference at Autry Technology Center.
Colin Seis, from Australia, will be featured speaker at the second annual Crossroads Conference set for July 30, 2024, at Autry Technology Center.
ENID, Okla. — Colin Seis, an Australian farmer/rancher/author who invented pasture cropping in 1995, will speak at the second annual Crossroads Conference on July 30, 2024, at Autry Technology Center.
Seis will share information about his philosophy of sustainable agriculture.
“We were really surprised at how well received the conference was last year,” said Meg Greski, program coordinator for Oklahoma Conservation Commission. “This year we streamlined it to one day so participants would not have to stay all night.”
She said they wanted to make it easier for everyone interested to attend.
James Blom, who is on a soil health team with Oklahoma Conservation Commission, said he looks forward to producers sharing their stories and learning from each other.
“We all have the same goal of conservation of the soil,” Blom said. He graduated from Oklahoma Bible Academy and Oklahoma State University and lives in Waukomis.
The conference will focus on urban agriculture, such as backyard gardens, native range pastures and livestock, as well as production agriculture consisting of raising wheat, corn, soybeans and other commodities.
“We will have producer panels giving everyone an opportunity to ask questions,” Blom said.
There also will be an opportunity for continuing education credits for those who spray herbicides.
“We are really excited to have Colin Seis speaking,” Greski said, “He is well known around the world for his conservation efforts.”
Seis speaks about how pasture cropping is restoring perennial grasslands and increasing his profits. He will tell the story of how mid-20th Century agriculture failed him with the adoption of industrial agricultural practices and how high rates of fertilizer and pesticide use cause severe ecological damage on their land in Australia his family calls Winona.
The decline threatened to spiral his farm and the family into financial ruin. In 1979, as the Seis family steadied the ship, a massive bushfire decimated the property, destroying the homestead, farm infrastructure and killing 3,000 of Winona’s merino sheep.
This set Seis on the path of developing new agricultural methods to restore the family farm. Over a period of 20 years, he developed his pasture cropping technique. He has spent much of his time perfecting the technique and can grow many different types of winter and summer growing crops, without destroying the perennial pasture base.
His farming techniques align with many of the goals of Oklahoma Conservation Commission with respect to building soil resiliency.
“We have at least one regenerative agriculture farm in every county in Oklahoma,” Greski said.
Oklahoma Conservation Commission serves the state’s 84 conservation districts in the ever-increasing demand for responsible care of Oklahoma’s natural resources. The researchers, practitioners, implementers and advocates provide technical and financial assistance, data and educational experiences with the goal of conserving the renewable natural resources of the state and help fill the conservation advocacy pipeline. The conference hopes to help with those goals.
The conference is looking for sponsors at $500, $,1500, $3,000 levels as well as door prize donors. Contact Greski for more information at (580) 827-5070, or meg.greski@conservation.ok.gov
Registration for the Crossroads Conference is $80 per person, lunch included. Attendance is limited to 125.
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