The 2026 OGRAIN Organic Grain Conference will be held Jan. 23-24 at the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wis., with a pre-conference event focused on emerging technologies for organic row crops on Jan. 22. The event is the tenth annual winter conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s OGRAIN program, which provides resources and support for new, transitioning, and experienced organic grain farmers throughout the Upper Midwest.

Attendees can choose from over 15 sessions on a wide variety of topics, including organic weed management, soil testing, funding opportunities, livestock integration, policy, business planning and marketing. Presenters include farmers, researchers and industry professionals. The conference also provides ample time for networking and farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange, including roundtable discussions and an integrated exhibit hall.

Philip Taylor, executive director and co-founder of Mad Agriculture, is the conference’s keynote speaker. Mad Agriculture aids farmers through organic transition and business planning support, financing, marketplace solutions, and community events.

The pre-conference event will focus on the technological advances that are poised to aid organic row crop farmers in the coming years, plus explore how those technologies can be paired with ecological practices to enhance organic management. This event runs 3-8 p.m. on Jan. 22 at the Monona Terrace.

“There’s a really good mixture of elements [at this] conference, [including] the panel discussions and the keynote and the roundtable section,” shared a 2025 conference attendee. “All throughout there have been a lot of good opportunities for Q&A, and it’s just a really nice size that does allow for that one-on-one conversation.”

For more information and to register, visit https://ograin.cals.wisc.edu/ograin-events/conference/. A special early bird registration fee of $180 will be offered through Dec. 22.

Portions of the conference are supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s National Organic Program. The UW–Madison OGRAIN program is housed in the Department of Plant Pathology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

For questions, contact Kelly Debbink at kelly.debbink@wisc.edu or (608) 262-4592.