Breakout Session Slides Part One: Enabling Equitable Pathways to Market for Climate Smart Producers by Leveraging Local Conservation Districts (Forum for the Future) – Sustainability Strategist Michelle Stearn built on dialogues Forum for the Future facilitated in Summer 2023 with the NACD community to identify shared barriers – and innovative solutions – for a producer-centered approach to developing agricultural markets for regenerative or “climate smart” commodities and products, they reconvened at NACD’s Annual Meeting to build relationships and co-develop tools that enable new, equitable marketplace models to thrive. This half-day workshop charted out ways that conservation districts and other institutions in the agriculture system (from farmers, ranchers and coalitions that support producers, to companies, brands, and local anchor institutions) can play a role in achieving regenerative and just outcomes in emerging marketplaces. The session focused on foundational pre-work and relationship building, making the case for prioritizing equity in marketplace building. Part Two: Enabling Equitable Pathways to Market for Climate Smart Producers by Leveraging Local Conservation Districts (Forum for the Future) – Sustainability Strategist Michelle Stearn built on dialogues Forum for the Future facilitated in Summer 2023 with the NACD community to identify shared barriers – and innovative solutions – for a producer-centered approach to developing agricultural markets for regenerative or “climate smart” commodities and products, they reconvened at NACD’s Annual Meeting to build relationships and co-develop tools that enable new, equitable marketplace models to thrive. This half-day workshop charted out ways that conservation districts and other institutions in the agriculture system (from farmers, ranchers and coalitions that support producers, to companies, brands, and local anchor institutions) can play a role in achieving regenerative and just outcomes in emerging marketplaces. The session was a marketplace connectivity workshop and co-created guidelines for leveraging the role of conservation districts.

1. WORKSHOP SERIES
PART 1: Building the Foundation:
Equity and access in marketplace
building
PART 2: Aligning for Action: Develop
Collaborative Solutions
Workshop Location
Sheraton San Diego
Hotel & Marina
1380 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92101
Workshop Dates & Times
Part 1: Building the
Foundation
Tuesday, February 13
3:30 – 5 PM
Join us for Part 2:
Aligning for Action
Wednesday, February 14

2. 2
This workshop is made
possible by a partnership
between NACD and Forum
for the Future.
NACD’s mission is to
promote responsible
management and
conservation of natural
resources on all lands by
representing locally-led
conservation districts and
their associations through
grassroots advocacy,
education and
partnerships.
Why are we here?
How can we
collaborate across
the supply chain and
with conservation
districts to build
equitable
marketplaces for
climate smart
commodities?
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

3. 3
The Challenge
Our current agricultural
marketplace and conventional
supply channel model works
well for large farms and large
buyers focusing on low-
cost bulk trade in a few
federally subsidized
commodities.
However, it does not deliver
the environmental or social
outcomes needed, and many
producers utilizing regenerative
principles have limited market
access.
The Opportunity
NACD, state associations, and local
conservation districts play an integral role in
facilitating technical assistance and
delivering resources to agricultural producers
– in an effort to restore ecosystems and
generate new climate smart commodities.
The distributed nature of the Conservation
District network represents an opportunity for
regions to coalesce around context-specific,
locally-led capacity building and initiatives to
create "climate smart" marketplaces that are
inclusive and accessible for all producers.
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

4. Forum for the Future | 2023
Workshop at a glance
Agenda
Forum for the Future | Equitable Pathways to Market | NACD Annual Meeting | February 13, 2024
Time (PST) Activity
3:30 pm Welcome + Context setting
3:35 pm
3:40 pm
Community agreements
Ice breaker – identities in the room
3:45 pm Grounding in language and lived experience
4:05 pm ------ Stretch break --------
4:10 pm Breakout groups – Action Inquiry
What's working? What's not? What could a just future look like?
4:45 pm Facilitated Share-outs
4:55 pm Close and plant seeds for Part 2
4
Black Farmers and Ranchers
New Mexico Global
California FarmLink
Federation of Southern Cooperative
s / LAS
Freedmen Heirs Foundation
Foundation for Food
and Agriculture Research
Fresno Barrios Unidos
Fresno Traditional
Ecological Knowledge
INCA
Kansas Black Farmers Association
Latino Farmers
and Ranchers International
NACD conservation district leaders
Oklahoma Association
of Conservation Districts
OurSpace World Inc
Rural Coalition
South Dakota Conservation District
Participating
Organizations

5. 5
1. Use “I” statements – speak from your
own experience
2. Approach new perspectives with curiosity
– critique ideas, not people
3. Take space / make space – be aware of
your positionality and contributions, and
be ready to pass the mic to ensure all
voices are heard
4. No one knows everything – together we
know a lot
5. Leave stories, take lessons
6. This is a pre-competitive space
Community Agreements
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

6. "If I had an hour to solve a
problem I'd spend 55
minutes thinking about the
problem and five minutes
thinking about solutions."
- Albert Einstein
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

7. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
What identities and roles are you bringing
to this conversation, visible or invisible?
Slido
results!

8. Grounding in
language and
lived
experience
8 London | Mumbai | New York | Singapore | 2023
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

9. Forum for the Future | 2023
9 London | Mumbai | New York | Singapore | 2023

10. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
London | Mumbai | New York | Singapore |
2023
“in emergence, the whole is
a mirror of the parts. fractal
– the health of the cell is the
health of the species and
the planet.”
– adrienne maree brown
10
Guiding questions
How might I transform my
understanding of equity (and my
relationship with it)?
How might we leverage conservation
districts and the NACD network to
create:
1. a culture of equitable access to
resources, and
2. shared ownership & accountability
towards equity, access, and justice?

11. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
"Turn & Talk"
Turn to your neighbor and discuss:
How does access to marketplaces
(or lack thereof) impact your work?

12. Forum for the Future | 2023
12
Breakout Groups
At your tables, use the worksheets to generate
2-3 "Action Inquiry" Questions. Don't forget to assign a scribe!
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
What's working,
what isn't?
Discuss how the
conservation district
network
currently approaches
equitable access to
resources for
marketplace-building.
What is our "high
dream"?
In an ideal world, what
types of support
should the
conservation district
network provide to
enable equitable
marketplaces?
How do
we get
there?

13. Forum for the Future | 2023
13
An example to get you started
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
What's working,
what isn't?
Poor experiences and
exclusion at the local
level conservation
leave producers facing
barriers to access to
NACD resources
What is our "high
dream"?
NACD has a role to
play to facilitate
exposure and
representation of
socially disadvantaged
producers
How might we
begin to repair
relationships
and
build trust?
EXAMPLE:

14. Share-outs!
What is your top Action
Inquiry question?
Try to phrase it by starting
with "How Might We...."
14
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
These
questions will
inform
Part 2: Align
and Act –
TOMORROW
at 8:30am

15. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
Please take our brief survey
Get in touch:
Michelle Stearn
m.stearn@forumforthefuture.org
THANK YOU!
See you tomorrow
at 8:30am!

16. WORKSHOP SERIES
PART 1: Building the Foundation: Equity +
access in regenerative marketplace building
PART 2: Aligning for Action:
Developing Collaborative
Solutions
Workshop Location
Sheraton San Diego
Hotel & Marina
1380 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92101
Workshop Dates & Times
Part 1: Building
the Foundation
Tuesday, February 13
3:30 – 5 PM
Join us for Part 2:
Aligning for Action
Wednesday, February 14

17. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
DO NOW: What’s the most urgent need for
you or your community to build equitable and
regenerative agricultural marketplaces?
Slido
results!

18. Forum for the Future | 2023
Workshop at a glance
Agenda
Forum for the Future | Equitable Pathways to Market | NACD Annual Meeting | February 14, 2024
Time (PST) Activity
8:30 am Welcome + Context Setting
8:40 am Check-in and Community agreements
Ice breaker – identities in the room
8:50 am Panel: Recap from Summer Meeting + Yesterday's session
9:05 am Validating the needs / Our sphere of control
9:20 am
9:30 am
------ Break -------
Regional breakout groups – Action sprint centered in equity
10:00 am
10:20 am
Diving deeper: leverage points for systemic change
Facilitated Share-outs
10:50 am Closing, next steps, and survey
18
Black Farmers and Ranchers New
Mexico Global
California FarmLink
Federation
of Southern Cooperatives / LAS
Freedmen Heirs Foundation
Foundation for Food and
Agriculture Research
Fresno Barrios Unidos
Fresno Traditional Ecological
Knowledge
INCA
Kansas Black Farmers Association
Latino Farmers and
Ranchers International
NACD conservation district leaders
Oklahoma Association of
Conservation Districts
OurSpace World Inc
Rural Coalition
South Dakota Conservation District
Participating
Organizations

19. 19
1. Use “I” statements – speak from your
own experience
2. Approach new perspectives with curiosity
– critique ideas, not people
3. Take space / make space – be aware of
your positionality and contributions, and
be ready to pass the mic to ensure all
voices are heard
4. No one knows everything – together we
know a lot
5. Leave stories, take lessons
6. This is a pre-competitive space
Community Agreements
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

20. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
CHECK-IN
Turn to your neighbor and discuss:
What brings you to this session?
What’s something you hope to
offer – and something you hope to
gain?

21. “The role of organizers in an ecosystem
is to be earthworms, processing and
aerating soil, making fertile ground out of
the nutrients of sunlight, water, and
everything that dies, to nurture the next
cycle of life.”
- adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy

22. Panel: Sharing
what we learned
from the 2023
Summer Meeting
and our 2024
breakout session
22
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

23. Panel: Sharing
what we learned
from the 2023
Summer Meeting
and our 2024
breakout session
23
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

24. Panel: Sharing
what we learned
from the 2023
Summer Meeting
and our 2024
breakout session
24
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

25. Stretch break!
Return in 10 mins
While we break, take a
look around the room –
choose a "How Might We"
question that resonates
with you
25
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

26. What tools, internal and external shifts, and resources,
should NACD provide to CDs to implement solutions to
our needs?
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
Breakouts: Action Planning Sprint
In regional groups by table, choose a scribe and document your plan!
1. What is your vision for action? How does
it address the most urgent needs identified by the
group?
2. How does your solution integrate and address the
"How Might We" question you chose?
What tools, internal and external shifts,
and resources should NACD and local CDs
provide to implement solutions to our needs?

27. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
How can you
use these
leverage points
to strengthen
your action
plans?
Source: based on Meadows, 1999; credit: UNDP/Carlotta Cataldi

28. Share-outs!
Share the vital
components of your plan
and one key to success
How will our regional plans tie up to the national
level? How can we create action groups to learn
from other regions, institutions, or stakeholder
groups?
28
Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024

29. Forum for the Future | NACD | 2024
Please take our brief survey
Get in touch:
Michelle Stearn
m.stearn@forumforthefuture.org
THANK YOU!