Regenerative Agriculture 2.0: The Pie Ranch Model
Renewing Ecosystems, Rebuilding Communities, and Healing Historical Harms
In this session we will hear about the inspiring model of Pie Ranch, an exemplary socially and eco-conscious enterprise that incorporates: cutting-edge land management; working with disenfranchised urban youth; recruiting BIPOC farmers (historically most often left out of equity-building in agriculture); becoming a distribution hub for local farmers to feed farmworker and other food insecure communities during the pandemic; and building reciprocal relationships with the Amah Mutsun tribe, drawing on its long-lived land stewardship and regeneration prowess to repair some of the ranch’s ecosystems damaged by recent fires. With: Jered Lawson, co-founder, Pie Ranch; Valentin Lopez, Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band; Nancy Vail, co-founder, Pie Ranch; Leonard Diggs, Pie Ranch Director of Operations and Farming Education. Moderated by Arty Mangan, Bioneers’ Restorative Food Systems Director.
Chestnut Room
May 13th | 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm
Panelists
Nancy Vail
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Pie Ranch
Nancy Vail, co-founder (in 2003) and Executive Director of Pie Ranch, is a broadly experienced farmer, educator, and advocate for a just and regenerative food system. Previously, Nancy taught in schools K-12, worked on farms abroad and throughout the U.S., eventually landing at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) where she taught for over a decade. At Pie Ranch Nancy oversees key partnerships with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and Land Trust and Be Present Inc, assists with educational programs and farm production, works at undoing oppressive structures, and also plays fiddle at the monthly barn dance with the band, The County Line Pickers.
Valentin Lopez
Chair
Amah Mutsun Tribal Band
Valentin Lopez has served as Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band since 2003, and as President of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust since its inception. A Native American Advisor to the University of California’s Office of the President on issues related to repatriation, Valentin is also a Native American Advisor to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology. He is actively involved in efforts to restore tribal Indigenous knowledge and ensure that his people’s history is accurately told.
Leonard Diggs
Director of Operations and Farming Education
Pie Ranch
Leonard Diggs, the Director of Operations and Farming Education at the visionary regenerative farming and food system education center on California’s San Mateo coast, Pie Ranch, has managed sustainable and organic farms in northern California for over 30 years, including a 365-acre college farm with annual and perennial crops, a winery, livestock and a mixed species forest. Leonard has also instructed a wide range of agricultural classes and served on numerous agricultural boards and committees in an effort to share his experiences with current and future generations of gardeners and farmers.
Jered Lawson
Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives
Pie Ranch
Jered Lawson, who co-founded the visionary regenerative farming and food system education center on California’s San Mateo coast, Pie Ranch, in 2003, is its current Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives. He leads the organization's regional advocacy efforts and works with the ranch's board of directors to raise the necessary support to fulfill the organization's mission and keep improving its infrastructure. Previously, Jered worked with various organizations in California seeking to develop healthy, local and just food systems.
Arty Mangan
Restorative Food Systems Director
Bioneers
Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.
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