Saying Goodbye to Germinate

After 13 Germinate Conferences, this January we are saying goodbye. The G&G team has decided that January 9, 2027 will be our last Germinate Conference.

Change is inevitable. 

The idea of Germinate started as a tiny seed (pun intended). 

I distinctly remember sitting in my car in the Biltmore Parking lot waiting for my husband to get tickets when I finally hit “start account” on the Ag Teacher How Tos Instagram Account. (The OG’s know!) 

This was our 5th year wedding anniversary trip. This year is our 16th. 

So much life has happened since the beginning of Germinate.

G&G has moved from raising babies to now pre-teens and teenagers. Some team members weren’t even teaching when Germinate started in 2019. We have moved states, classrooms and for some of us out of agriculture education. But these changes never stopped the mission to serve educators the best way we could.

We have continued to test, implement and try, and elevate our offerings to agriculture education teachers through Germinate Conference. Over 350 pre-recorded sessions have been shared over the years from hundreds of dedicated agriculture teachers like you. None of this would have ever been possible without teachers giving their time and expertise to Germinate Conference. For that, we are eternally grateful.

We have loved learning from you and with you. We can’t forget the first time we did a Trivia with Hannah, Zumba with Jason, Keynotes from Nikki, Jennifer and more. We are so thankful for those times and know that they filled our hearts. 

We are hopeful that if you attended a Germinate Conference you will remember it fondly and you took something from it that enhanced your career. 

While we are saying goodbye to Germinate, G&G isn’t going away. Although our services will be morphing – here is why:

For the past 8 years at G&G, we have been casting a wide net to serve as many agriculture teachers as possible. But in this next chapter of G&G, we are shrinking our sphere of influence. 

When you read that you might think “wait, why shrink and not grow?”

We are aware of the many challenges you are facing in education. 

Education is moving away from virtual. Heck we are moving back to paper pencil. Teachers are being forced into professional development at county and state levels that doing allow for personal choice. Teachers' plates are continuing to fill with roles and responsibilities without tasks being taken off. 

Well, if we are being honest with ourselves, we cannot serve every single agriculture teacher in the exact way that your school, district or state wants in one event. 

But what we CAN do is link arms with a smaller group/organization and really provide custom support that will continue to make ripples of impact through their schools, organizations, and students.

Knowing this is the path forward, we are changing the way we serve you as an agriculture teacher and other educators alike. 

We are moving from trying to partner with everyone (which is a task that just isn’t possible for our small but mighty team) and instead partnering with specific districts, teacher associations, and organizations who are looking for G&G expertise for the people they serve – whether that’s agriculture teachers, math teachers, science teachers, admin, or anything in between.

We have a catalog of professional development that we can help you with and we want to continue to do that! So yes, we’re saying goodbye to Germinate, but we are NOT saying goodbye to helping you. At the core of everything we do here at G&G, our passion is helping educators of all kinds. We will continue to do that for agriculture teachers, classroom teachers, teacher leaders, non-profit leaders and more. 

So, if you or a leader of your teachers are interested in working with G&G on a more personal level, consider this your invite to reach out HERE! 

In the meantime, know that the following things will be happening in the G&G world:

• Germinate Conference will be held for the last time on January 9, 2027

• The Last Gazette will be sent on January 2027

• The G&G Website will be under construction after Germinate and will re-open in Spring of 2027. 

• The Germinate Portals will close on December 31, 2027 (make sure to download all the information you want/need before that date)

• G&G Team is booking for Summer of 2027. Contact us soon to get us on your calendar!