Welcome Address:
We are honored to have George Whitten, provide our Welcome Address on Friday morning, March 7th!
George Whitten was born into ranching in Saguache, Colorado. Knowledgeable in all phases of sheep and cattle production, he specializes in grass finishing techniques, genetics, soil health, organic production and certification, restorative ranching practices and marketing including Sweet Grass Cooperative.
He has been applying Holistic Management principles to his ranch for 40 years. George has served on the Colorado Department of Agriculture as a board member for four years and was appointed as a Regional Ag Commissioner in 2023.
George believes more and more, as he gets older, in finding whole solutions to whole problems.
Keynote Address:
We are thrilled to have Fred Provenza joining us for our Keynote Address on Friday, March 7th!
Fred Provenza grew up in Salida, Colorado, working on a ranch while attending school in Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. He is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University where he worked for 35 years, directing an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans.
He is one of the founders of BEHAVE, an international network of scientists, ranchers, farmers, and land managers committed to integrating behavioral principles with local knowledge to enhance environmental, economic, and cultural values of rural and urban communities.
He is the author of three books, including Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom; Foraging Behavior: Managing to Survive in a World of Change; and The Art & Science of Shepherding: Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders (co-author with Michel Meuret). He has published over 300 research papers in a wide variety of scientific journals. He has been an invited speaker at over 500 conferences.