Perhaps it was better when the power went out. The lack of microphones forced Ronnie Cummins with Regeneration International to start Wednesday’s Tropical Agricultural Conference shouting over the passing trucks.

The extra volume didn’t hurt the critical nature of his message.

“Thank you for what you do every day, and I’m going to thank you in advance for what you’re going to do in advance every day,” Cummins said. “The next 10 years, what you do, what I do, what we all do around the world, we either move in a regenerative direction, or it’s going to get very, very difficult for our children.”

When Cummins finished, the power had returned, and the sessions started around the national agriculture facility, with more than 300 attendees from mostly around the region — Belize, Guatemala, Columbia, Mexico — rotating between five active stages. A local market fed attendees with fried donuts, jerk chicken and local juices.