Collaboration Conversation Continues At CropConnect

 

The CropConnect Conference has wrapped up for another year.

 

The two-day event in Winnipeg brings together eight grower organizations for two days of meetings and informational sessions.

 

Event Co-Chair Roberta Galbraith says there was a lot of talk of how groups can work together in the future.

 

“I think that the theme that was coming up and what I saw at some of the AGM's, was the organizations trying to inform their members about the things that they're doing themselves and how they're working with other partner organizations,” she commented. “It might not necessarily be a commodity group, but maybe it's a university...or government funding, whatever the case might be. There is collaboration going on, we just don't always hear about it”.

 

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.