Think Regeneration Leadership

Paul Dorrance is the author of Farming Without Losing Your Hat - A Practical Guide to the Brutal Realities of the Best Job in the World. He is also a speaker, consultant and regenerative agriculture advocate. He was raised close to the land, growing up on a small self-sufficient homestead in upstate New York. His journey back to farming started in 2013 when he started Pastured Providence Farmstead - a successful pasture-based livestock operation, marketing 100% grass-fed beef and lamb, as well as pastured non-GMO pork, poultry, and eggs directly to consumers in southern and central Ohio. Paul writes for Acres U.S.A. and speaks at agricultural conferences and gatherings across the country. Previously an active duty Air Force officer, Paul still serves our nation as a pilot in the Air Force Reserves. He was a previous Chairman of the American Farm Bureau’s Issue Advisory Committee on Organic and Direct Marketing, served on the board of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, sat on the Steering Committee of the "Ohio Smart Agriculture: Solutions from the Land" initiative, and is a graduate of Ohio Farm Bureau's “AgriPOWER” leadership development program. Paul holds a BA in Aviation Computer Science, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2001) and a MA in Military History - Civil War, American Military University (2009).

  Jenni Harris is the fifth generation of Harrises working and farming the land her family has owned in Bluffton, Georgia, since 1866. Like her father, Will Harris III, Jenni was born and raised in Bluffton. She spent her early years as her father’s shadow, attending 4-H conferences to sell cattle, riding horses, and being strapped to the front of her dad’s four-wheeler. When she was nine years old, her father dramatically changed the family’s agriculture practices, moving from the standard practices of “big ag” to more responsible and sustainable methods of raising cattle.

Jenni left home to attend Valdosta State University, where she studied marketing. After graduating, she moved to Atlanta and worked for Buckhead Beef. While she always wanted to live in Atlanta, she longed to be back home to be a part of the farm. She returned to Bluffton in 2010 and began working as the marketing manager for White Oak Pastures. She shares an office with her father, where their desks sit side by side. The farm employs eighty-five people and has its own cafeteria to feed visitors and employees. Along with cattle, there are chickens, turkeys, ducks, sheep, goats, lamb, pigs, rabbits, and an organic vegetable garden. Jenni lives in the house where her father was raised.

Kay Meyer’s deep respect for farmers is stemmed from being a 4th generation farmer’s daughter watching her grandparents, parents, and brothers be stewards of the land and growing up with her father’s principle of “leaving this place, better than we found it.” Regenerative agriculture farming creates healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy people, and healthy communities. From the outside looking in, it seems to be a no-brainier, but for farmers to adopt these practices it’s takes a significant mindset shift, a pivot from tried and true “successful” farming practices, costly new equipment, and overcoming many adoption barriers that are inherent in our current agriculture systems and policies.  

Kay’s purpose is to provide the knowledge and tools to help regenerative farmers successfully advocate and adopt these new practices, overcome barriers, and connect farmers to resources they need to achieve these goals. Kay has experience in Pacific Northwest dry-land regenerative agriculture environment and challenges, models to make it easier for farmers to adopt change and influence others to change, leadership training and coaching skills, and the ability to leverage diverse perspectives to find common ground to inspire change. She calls Colton, Washington, home with her husband Ty, a conservationist, leading bio-farming cohorts, and a proud mom to her children, Jackson and Maggie, who are studying to be the next generation of regenerative ag practitioners and advocates.

  Kimberly Ratcliff manages Caney Creek Ranch, a diversified ranch in East Central Texas started by her parents. She joined the ranch in 2007 after leaving her job with Bloomberg as a branding specialist. To hone her skills as a rancher, she completed the TCU Ranch Management Program, which provided valuable insight into modern ranching by providing both classroom and hands on instruction in areas such as animal health, record keeping, grazing systems, and cattle management. She has successfully combined financial and ranch training to increase productivity not only at her family operation, but also with other producers in the area. Kimberly manages and helps operate the family business of more than 2,500 acres producing registered Charbray Cattle, from which bulls, replacement heifers, semen and embryos are sold national and international. The ranch also produces commercial cattle, pleasure horses and livestock feed resource. Kimberly owns Farm to Freezer Beef a locally owned, family-run business that offers fresh, wholesome beef direct from east Texas ranches. They provide the highest quality ranch-direct beef possible, in a simple, convenient, and responsible manner. In 2008, Kimberly  helped create The 100 Ranchers an organization comprised of minority members across counties in Texas. They that promotes agriculture at the local level and holds educational meetings for their members. The 100 Ranchers primary mission is to unite production agriculture producers by strengthening and promotion of agriculture. The members are an integral part of sharing information, resources and best practices, and connecting people and projects through a strong network.

Ryan Slabaugh is the founder and director of Think Regeneration and former executive director of Acres U.S.A., a 51-year-old education and media company known for being the Voice of Eco-Agriculture. Ryan has more than 20 years of experience leading media and agriculture businesses and individuals through change. His passion for regenerative agriculture and societies stem from his family disrupted by industrial agriculture and war, and his work as a journalist covering environmental issues. His work as a news reporter and editor won  awards for explaining how forests devastated by insects were related to our protections of monoculture forest systems.

Ryan is also the chair of the board of directors for Resource Central, a diversified nonprofit in Boulder, Colorado, that supports  water management, landfill diversion and energy use reduction for thousands in Colorado and students in schools around the country. His interests include being outdoors, exploring, playing music and learning new things. You can reach him at ryan@think-regen.com.

  Abbey Smith serves as the Savory Global Network Coordinator for the Savory Institute. She is also the owner and operator of UVE. UVE is a Savory Network Hub serving the West Coast and the Intermountain West, and is headquartered in Fort Bidwell, California.
Abbey spent time in South Africa living with families on holistically managed cattle farms after graduating magna cum laude from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a degree in animal science and a focus in communications and ethnic studies. She learned how powerful and transformational Holistic Management is in Africa and wrote my first holistic context. She attended graduate school at the University of Nevada, Reno, where I received a master’s degree in interactive journalism.
Abbey grew up on a commercial cattle ranch in Indian Valley in Plumas County, California. Her loving, large, loud family has lived in the valley for seven generations. Family is a source of joy for her. Her mission in life is to build a beautiful world for my daughter, Maezy, and son Sam, which is why she practices Holistic Management.
Living in the rural community of Surprise Valley, California, and being involved in a global organization is a dream come true for Abbey. She also serves on the Surprise Valley Education Foundation board, and is involved in local food groups. She enjoys doing yoga, gardening, and hiking with my children. She loves running and often runs alone on the mountain trails of Modoc County. When working in Africa, she does not run alone because of the abundant wildlife there.

 Ben Trollinger is an editor at Chelsea Green Publishing, an independent and 100% employee-owned publishing house based in Vermont. Before that, Ben was the editorial director for Acres U.S.A., a venerable organic farming institution where he produced a monthly magazine, edited multiple agricultural book titles and served as the host of the Tractor Time podcast. He’s also a recovering (but awarding-winning!) newspaper editor and a father of two children. In his free time, he likes hiking up steep trails, playing guitar (but never at parties), gardening, fermenting things, and trying to identify as many plants and mushrooms as he can in the forest that surrounds his home in the Colorado Rockies. He reads widely and voraciously on everything from gardening, farming, health, and ecology to obscure religious texts, bleak Russian novels, and nonfiction works on governmental malfeasance.