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Preliminary Conference Agenda

Grassroots to Grid: Bridging Innovation & Community Values

ANCA’s 2026 Climate & Energy Conference will feature a dynamic mix of interactive panels, field trips, and collaborative workshops designed to help participants explore how renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, and emerging technologies can work together to advance regional priorities, promote social equity, and strengthen community resilience.

Session themes will include:

  • • Generation and Transmission
  • • Innovation
  • • Community Needs and Involvement

 

Day 1: Thursday, May 7, 2026

  • • Guided afternoon field trips
  • • Evening welcome reception with refreshments

Field trip: Atlas Hoofed It Farm, Vermontville

Step outside your normal expectations of a conference and join us at Atlas Hoofed It Farm for a guided experience. Located in Vermontville, New York, owners Sara and Dan Burke operate a diversified livestock farm featuring heritage breed pigs, Scottish Highland and Devon Cattle, and laying hens.

Like many small farms in the Adirondack North Country, the Burkes face costly utility bills. Attendees will learn how ANCA helped the Burkes secure federal funding to acquire solar panels, which are now reducing their electric bills and increasing the farm’s financial and environmental sustainability. 

The farm’s name is a nod to an old Atlas missile silo at the center of the property around which livestock graze. Participants will explore the farm and gain an understanding of the innovative projects the owners are planning, such as using groundwater within the decommissioned silo for a geothermal loop to heat and cool existing and future buildings. Another potential project is a pump storage system utilizing the groundwater in the old silo. 

This is sustainability lived, not just talked about. Protecting farmlands and wild places starts with experiencing them. Step outside, and experience a farm that exemplifies the best of bridging innovation and community values. Register now to be part of the conference showcasing these regional values.

 

Day 2: Friday, May 8, 2026, 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

  • • Hot breakfast
  • • Welcome
  • • Morning sessions & experiences
  • • Lunch
  • • Afternoon sessions & experiences
  • • Closing remarks

 

Stay tuned for a more detailed preliminary conference agenda, coming soon.

 

Photo: 2025 Conference attendees participate in a Green City planning activity.