FISHTAIL — Over 1,200 agriculture professionals from across the country are converging in Billings this week for a national conference focused on food systems, sustainability, and what it really takes to bring food from pasture to plate.
The National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) held its 2025 Annual Professional Improvement Conference downtown from June 29 to July 2. Representatives from all 50 states and multiple U.S. territories took part in tours and workshops spanning topics from livestock and land management to farm-to-table innovation.
See what ag professionals are learning in Montana—and why the path from pasture to plate isn’t always so simple:
“We haven't been back to Montana for this conference since the ’80s, so this is huge for us,” said Kim Woodring, an associate professor with Montana State University (MSU). “We’re really excited to be here.”
Hosted by MSU Extension, organizers said the goal is to connect university-based research with hands-on agricultural experience—a relationship many extension agents navigate daily.
On one of the tours, attendees were hoping for a chance to pet sheep or sample grilled lamb at Tippet Rise Art Center.
“Sometimes you go and listen to professors talk, and they talk all ‘up here’ about the science and don’t get it related down to how it happens and corresponds to what happens on the ground,” said Andy Burlingham, an extension agent from NC State in Greenville, N.C.
Burlingham, who raises livestock himself, sees the role of extension agents as bridging that gap.
“These are the people that bring the research from the university to the county level,” said Woodring. “They know a lot about agriculture, family and consumer science, plant ID, insect ID—you name it.”
In a state where agriculture contributed roughly $4.6 billion in cash receipts in 2022 and supported nearly 29,000 jobs, the conference doubles as a showcase of Montana’s agricultural economy.
