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4th Annual Wisconsin Local Food Summit, January 2010
Three exciting keynote addresses~
"Growing Food and Community in the City"
Will Allen, Co-founder and Director of Growing Power
"Never Stand Behind a Sneezing Cow"
Michael Perry, humorist, speaker and author of Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting
"Feast or Famine, A Fork in the Road"
Melinda Hemmelgarn, nutritionist, "Food Sleuth" columnist, and local food advocate
“Road to Opportunities”
January 21-22, 2010
Ramada Convention Center, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
And introducing…
January 20, 2010
The all new Value Added Agriculture ‘College’
Half and Full Day Workshops
The Conference/Summit includes 36 breakout sessions in 6 themed tracks, 3 keynote addresses, a tradeshow, Driftless Region "Open space" discussion, a World Café round table forum, and plenty of time for networking! All food for the meals and snack times will be sourced locally. Don't miss the hospitality room on Thursday evening that will offer cold, local beer in front of a fireplace in the Chestnut Room!
Who Should Attend?
Agricultural producers, suppliers and distributors
Agricultural educators, service providers and agencies
Farmers market managers and vendors
Local Food buyers and advocates
Sustainable agriculture enthusiasts
Care to get more involved?
Sponsor a speaker, participant or break out session
Donate a Door Prize, Silent Auction Item or locally produced food item
Promote the event to your clients
Hosts:
River Country RC&D
PO Box 207
Altoona, WI 54720-0207
715-834-9672
Wisconsin Local Food Network
104 S. Eyder Avenue
Phillips, WI 54555
715-339-2555
Hiawatha Valley RC&D
1485 Industrial Dr. NW, Rm. 104
Rochester, MN 55901
507-281-1959 ext. 4
Find the latest information on the College, Conference and Summit at: http://www.rivercountryrcd.org/valad.html
WISCONSIN LOCAL FOOD SUMMIT SCHEDULE Session Track: Building a Regional Food Community
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Session 5 – 11am Food Safety Issues for Small Scale Food Processing, Sam Beattie, Food Safety Specialist, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University
Good agricultural practices ensure that we get the safest crop to the packing shed BUT then we may proceed to contaminate our product through mishandling at this critical node between field and consumer. This presentation will focus on Good Manufacturing Practices for packing sheds and small scale processing. The consumer expects safe produce – don’t do things that will contaminate it after growing it.
Session 11 – 1:45pm Local Food Buyers Panel, Guy Logan, Co-owner and Chef, Houligans Steak and Seafood Pub; Scott Zellmer, Store Manager, Hahn’s Market; Susan Birkey, Chef and Senior Meals/Cafeteria Coordinator, Flambeau Hospital; Jesse Gillett, Vice President, Indianhead Foodservice Distributor
The local food buyers on this panel represent a hospital, restaurant, grocery store and food service distributor. This session is intended to help producers who currently or are considering marketing to commercial businesses to understand what is important to buyers with regards to schedule, volume, pricing, presentation, etc.
Session 17 – 3:15pm Can Meat be Sustainable? Bartlett Durand, Black Earth Meats/Local Choice Marketing; Diane Mayerfeld, Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) Statewide Coordinator, UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS)
The food choices we make have a big environmental impact. One factor that is often singled out is the consumption of animal products. The UN report "Livestock's Long Shadow" concluded that worldwide animal agriculture is a major contributor to global climate change (and also has other negative environmental impacts). On the other hand, most sustainable farming systems incorporate animal agriculture; as Albert Howard (a founding parent of ecological agriculture) remarked, "Mother earth never attempts to farm without live stock." This workshop will examine livestock's impact on the environment and how people can green their food choices.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Session 23 – 7am Reconnecting the Middle: Building the Organizational and Physical Infrastructure for a Local and Regional Food System, Anne Pfeiffer, Agricultural Innovation Specialist, Agricultural Innovation Center
In this time of economic turbulence and increasing environmental stress, local food and farming systems play an increasingly critical role in the vitality of both rural and urban communities. Building a viable local/regional food distribution system provides small and midsize farms with an opportunity for a sustainable livelihood and has the potential to reinvigorate rural communities, preserve working farmland and supply consumers with healthy food. The success of a thriving food system is thwarted, however, by lack of infrastructure, both physical as well as relationship-based. In this session we’ll discuss challenges to building a successful local food system, share the lessons learned from a 2 year local food distribution project conducted at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems in partnership with UW-Extension, and discuss promising innovations.
Session 29 – 11am Farm-to-School: Selling Local Food to Local Schools, Sara Tedeschi, Great Lakes Farm to School Network Coordinator, UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems; Jill Pointek, Food Service Director, School District of Hartford; Bertrand Weber, Director, Taher Food Service Company; Chris Duke, Farmer, Great Oak Farm; Molly Siegler, Farm-to-School Procurement Specialist, Americorps
Join us for a panel presentation outlining the opportunities, challenges and available resources for farmers interested in diversifying their local markets by selling to schools. Hear directly from a farmer and food service director about what it takes to make a farm to school connection work, including the most current information on how small to medium sized farms can meet emerging food safety guidelines required by most institutional buyers. Learn about the broad set of resources available for farm to school, and how to help facilitate this important segment of the local foods movement.
Session 35 – 1:30pm Software for Local Food Producers, Co-ops and Distribution Systems, Heather Hilleren, Founder, Local Dirt; Bob Haugen, Open-Source Computer Programmer, Group Accounting
Sourcing local food, managing inventory, marketing, sharing product information, tracking co-op sales and coordinating distribution can be challenging for even dedicated local food enthusiasts. Software can help to make these tasks easier. Bob Haugen, Group Accounting and Heather Hilleren, Local Dirt will use the work of their organizations as examples to illustrate the broad range of options that computer and internet software can provide to farmers and cooperatives today.
Session Track: Local Food Project Updates
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Session 6 – 11am Good to Grow in the Four-State Driftless Region, Michelle Miller, Associate Director, UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS)
More than 20 million people live between Chicago and the Twin Cities. At the heart of this local foods market lies the 4-state Driftless region, an environmentally sensitive region dependent on agriculture for its economy and carved up by state lines. Our work in the bio-region is to bring together resources and help the region speak as one on issues of food sovereignty, culinary identity, and regional marketing of high-value foods that boost the regional economy without sacrificing environmental quality.
Session 12 – 1:45pm Hearing from Student Initiatives, Laura Streyle and Oren Jakobsen, Lawrence University; Sara Polodna, UW Stevens Point; Utchima Sriprachya-anunt, UW Madison
Many colleges and universities in Wisconsin have groups of students actively working to promote local food and sustainable agriculture. They are changing policy and raising awareness. During this session we will learn about some of the exciting projects currently underway.
Session 18 – 3:15pm Innovative Farmers’ Market Models: Time Saving Farmers Market Approaches for Market Growers, Amy Bruner, President, Green Link Consulting; John Hall, Farming Systems Outreach & Education Director, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute; Erika Janik, Freelance Writer
Fueled by a growing desire for locally grown foods, farmers markets have seen a remarkable 84% growth over the last decade. While often an excellent opportunity for small-scale growers, farmers markets also require significant time, marketing, and planning efforts that often place a strain on farmers and farmers’ market managers. The Innovative Farmers’ Market Report highlights innovative market models that hold many of the benefits of traditional farmers markets while gaining some of the efficiencies of time and marketing offered by other sales methods. A brief overview of these models will be presented.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Session 24 – 7am Value Chain Partnerships and Working Groups, Rich Pirog, Associate Director, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Teresa Wiemerslage, Regional Program & Communications Coordinator, Iowa State University Extension
The Northeast Iowa Food & Farm Coalition (NIFF) was the first pilot community selected by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture’s Regional Food System Working Group (2006). NIFF has 30 very active members and over 60 producer members. Their goals are to promote opportunities for existing and new producers to engage in the local food system and regionally advance planning and policy change to support processing, distribution and storage opportunities in the local food system.
Session 30 – 11am Introduction to Community Food Assessments, Lindsey Day Farnsworth, Local Food System Outreach Specialist, UW Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS); Laura Salyer, Thrive Project Consultant / Co-Organizer: Indy Food, Farm and Family Coalition
This session is an introduction to Community Food Assessments (CFAs), a method used to map assets and identify gaps in the food environment. CFAs can be conducted by community members, nonprofits, public sector professionals and others. They have been administered at the neighborhood scale to evaluate food security by examining food resource accessibility, availability, quality and affordability as and at the regional level to examine local food system infrastructure more broadly. This session will provide an overview of the form, function, and application of Community Food Assessments. It will then draw on several different case studies to highlight the variety of ways they can be implemented.
Session 36 – 1:30pm Policy 101: Help, Hints and How-to of Local Foods Policy, Bridget Holcomb, Associate Policy Director, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute Policy demystified: from calling your legislators to creating local foods policies in your community, this session will cover what good policies can and are doing for local foods as well as effective ways to be involved in the political process. Local examples, statewide initiatives, and federal programs will be covered.
JaneHansen |
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