GOAT 2026 Program

GOAT is an UnConference 

The program is mostly an unstructured schedule with activities determined by YOU, ultimately reflecting the 2026 cohort’s unique mix of interests.

It is also informed by the thoughtful information you shared in the application forms, and contextualized by discussions from the GOAT forums, community calls, and activities to date. We hope to shepherd the thread of cumulative community discussions through structured sessions that emphasize the concepts, concerns, and opportunities that affect the broader open ag tech community today. As in recent years, we also invited applicants to propose sessions ahead of time, so we will have a healthy mix of structured and participant-created programming.

Our program will continue to evolve as folks register. For a sneak-peak for how things are shaping up, take a look at our preliminary schedule. There will be a physical version of this at the GOAT conference itself. We’ll try to keep one source of truth – but once GOAT begins, the in-person schedule is typically the “correct” one.

Program Details

2026 Theme: Where the Data Roams

This year we are shepherding data from the field to the future.

Information is what connects us. On its own, a single piece of data is just a number. The moment we share it, it becomes knowledge, and knowledge ties us together. A soil reading in one field can help a farmer a thousand miles away. A record of a worker’s hours can protect the next worker. A tool one of us builds can lift all of us. All week we follow that thread, and each day picks up one stretch of the journey:

• Monday · Gathering the Herd (how and why we GOAT): we meet, map who is in the room, and co-create the week ahead.
• Tuesday · The Stewards (the people behind the data): the farmers, farmworkers, researchers, academics, and other stakeholders across food systems and supply chains.
• Wednesday · In the Field (the first mile): where data is created, how we collect it, where it comes from, and who owns it at the source.
• Thursday · Opening the Gates (where data goes to work): shared standards, open tools, and technology that turn information into something useful for all of us.
• Friday · Greener Pastures (from field to future): new opportunities, stewardship, and what we build next.

Each day’s structured sessions orient around that day’s theme.

Program FAQ

Arrivals and the Welcome Reception

Folks arrive over Sunday and early Monday morning. If you are traveling from far away and need a Sunday arrival, let us know and we will help you plan it.

On Monday evening we will hold space for a welcome reception. Come with a beverage of your choosing, meet old friends and new ones, and join us for a fun and thought-provoking activity to kick off the week.

Daily Opening & Closing Circles

Each day begins and ends with the whole group together in a circle.

Opening Circles set the day in motion. We name the day’s theme and set our intention for what is ahead, so the day starts with a shared sense of where we are headed.

Closing Circles bring the day home. We gather what we learned, capture the nuggets of truth, and hand off threads to the next day. As the week goes on, the closings build toward commitments: what we will carry forward, who we will keep working with, and what we build next. The circles are also where we adjust on the fly, so the program keeps serving the people in the room.

What is an Unconference?

GOAT is a vibrant community of co-creators. This means that unlike many conferences you may have attended in the past, the GOAT conference is built from the bottom up – each of us brings the topics we would like to work on, we find folks to discuss and challenge us, and we leave inspired and with a plan for action.  Check out this explanatory video on what a GOAT Unconference looks like!

How does this work?

1. 1. Propose some topics in advance.  Click here to submit ideas for UnConference sessions – suggest topics that you’d like to present or participate in and the program organizers will prepare some initial sessions for the first day.
   2. Bring some questions and ideas with you to the conference.  You will find some sticky cards in your welcome packet that you can fill out and submit at the registration table, which may be combined with others to fill out additional sessions.

• Add your ideas throughout the week.  As conversations mature, some sessions will continue into subsequent days, and others will newly emerge.

What happens next?

If you’ve proposed a session or idea that you’d like to discuss, that means you may be asked to serve as a session steward. Check out this GOAT Design Methods Zine for ideas on how to facilitate, or bring your own skills. Definitely reach out to participants to share your enthusiasm for your session. If you don’t find many participants – that’s OK – focused conversations can be very fruitful, and you can also join forces with other sessions as well!

Workshops

Workshops run during Unconference Session time but require preparation by the session creator. That might mean getting feedback before the conference, confirming sign-ups ahead of time (for example if you are bringing hardware to share), and so on. Workshops can range from user testing and education to any sort of co-working, co-hacking, or co-creation session. It is your conference, your workshop.

How can I propose a Workshop? → Tell us about it on the Workshop sign-up form. Remember that you are responsible for your workshop logistics, and this is the place to get buy-in and prepare, for example if you need to bring a certain number of items for a certain number of participants.

Stay up to date on the GOAT 2026 Workshop Session community forum.

Demo Bazaar

The Demo Bazaar is a time to show us what you do and teach people how to use your stuff. We will set up tables for anyone who wants to demo tools, methods, or other hands-on activities. This year the Demo Bazaar is a single evening block on Wednesday night.

I want a table at the Demo Bazaar! → Sign up on the Demo Bazaar sign-up form.

One thing to know: this year’s venue is a campground rather than a farm, so the space may not accommodate every kind of demo. We will aim to include as many people as possible and do our best to make your demo work, but we cannot guarantee every setup. The details you give us on the form are exactly how we plan the space and give your demo its best chance. If you have specific needs (access to power, more than one table, a table with chairs), tell us and we will see what we can do. We cannot provide monitors or other peripherals, so please come prepared. If you are coming from far away and need help situating generic equipment, say so on the form and we will try to connect you with another participant who can help.

Stay up to date on the GOAT 2026 Demo Bazaar community forum.

Salon Sessions

In the Salon Sessions we gather as a full group around GOAT community themes that, we hope, represent shared work, interests, and priorities. Salon sessions are curated, facilitated conversations among a set of “first” speakers, with interaction and open discussion to follow. The topics are seeded by attendee proposals collected during the application process, with additions to the speaker set based on general application information and topics drawn from community discussions more broadly. This year each salon is anchored to its day’s theme.

Learn more: Historically, salons were private, intimate, intellectual and social gatherings where ideas were exchanged in an open yet curated manner, popular during the period of “Enlightenment” in France. We acknowledge that they were also problematic, in that they evoked a sense of elitism, privilege, and formality centered on social dynamics. Analogous gatherings exist across cultures. We use the term “salon” out of our own familiarity with the concept, and share this background to explain where the idea for this session style came from. Though our intention with the GOAT salons includes the concept of a community call, town hall, or public forum, we chose this term to acknowledge that we did curate the conversations and select the “first” speakers. We hope this background lets each of us reflect on the privileges we hold that allowed us to attend, and consider how we might extend them to the many people with voices that matter who were unable to join us.

If you would like to contribute as a “first” speaker or panelist, tell us on the Presenter & Panelist sign-up form or email [email protected], and we will pass your name along.

Who have we learned from?

This program structure and design approach is influenced by the GOSH community events framework, DWeb Camp, unconferences at large, and other events the current organizers have taken part in. We aspire to remix the GOSH events framework into an analogous guide for the GOAT community.