Home
Basics
Special guests
Schedule
Sponsors
News release
Registration

 

Sign up for
email updates

The Future of Our Food and Farms

Schedule

 

 


Featured events:

Daily Schedule

Four State Secretaries of Agriculture to Kick-Off 
Third Annual  Summit
:

  • Art Brown, New Jersey 
  • Samuel E. Hayes Jr., Pennsylvania
  • Michael T. Scuse, Delaware
  • Hagner R. Mister,  Maryland 

Rick Foster, Vice President of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation will lead this opening session, "Charting the Course for Mid-Atlantic Agriculture in the 21st Century." 

Special guest bios

New this year:  Hunger Congress 

9:00 AM - 10:30AM 
Thursday, November 29, 2001 
Breakfast at the Renaissance Philadelphia Hotel Airport 

The Hunger Congress breakfast is an opportunity for Mid-Atlantic leaders in food, farming and hunger issues -- and the media -- to become informed on pending legislation affecting hunger in our region and at the national level. It is also a fantastic opportunity for legislators to voice their position and talk about their legislative successes to participants. 

Please join us for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. at the Renaissance Philadelphia Hotel Airport. 

More details on the Hunger Congress will be available soon! 

New this year:  Homecoming, a documentary film chronicling the loss of African-American farmers 

This year's program will feature two showings of the inspirational film, Homecoming ... Sometimes I am haunted by memories of red dirt and clay. Homecoming ...  is the story of African-American land loss and a chronicle of black farmers from the Civil War to the present, written and produced by Charlene Gilbert and Quinn Eli. More information.

Autumn Harvest Dinner features locally grown food

A special Autumn Harvest Dinner at the Renaissance Hotel Philadelphia International Airport will highlight locally grown foods from the Mid-Atlantic region prepared by some of the area's greatest chefs, including: 

  • Lynn Buono of Feast Your Eyes 
  • Jill Horn of Jill's Vorspeise 
  • Jack McDavid of Jack's Firehouse 
  • Kevin Von Klause of White Dog Cafe 
  • Delilah Winder of Bluezette, and more! 

Beginning with a cocktail reception at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29 and culminating in a bountiful and delicious feast prepared by featured chefs at "grazing stations" where you can savor the goodness of each chef's unique recipes highlighting the abundant farm products from our region. 

Local chefs, local food and special emphasis on local and organic produce, cooked right before you, and beautifully presented. 

So come join us for this fun and fantastic meal and help preserve farming in the Mid-Atlantic region! 

Daily Schedule:

Thursday, November 29th:

9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
New this year! Hunger Congress

A new pre-conference event to find out how pending legislation will affect the region. This is an opportunity to voice your concerns and issues to state and federal legislators most involved with hunger issues.

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Opening Plenary Session: 

"Charting the Course for Mid-Atlantic Agriculture in the 21st Century" - Featuring four of the nation's most influential agricultural leaders: 

  • Arthur Brown, Secretary of Agriculture, New Jersey
  • Samuel Hayes, Secretary of Agriculture, Pennsylvania 
  • Hagner Mister, Secretary of Agriculture, Maryland
  • Michael Scuse, Secretary of Agriculture, Delaware

Join us for this unparalleled opportunity to hear four Secretaries of Agriculture talk about their visions for the future of the food and farming system in the Mid-Atlantic region. This interactive session will be led by Rick Foster, Vice President of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and include time for questions from the audience.

1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions

  • Advancing Our Food Supply with Advanced Farming - Wondering about "advanced" agriculture? This session will explain "advanced" agriculture, how it affects our food supply, its environmental implications, and where it fits into the agricultural production model. 

  • Building a Self Reliant, Sustainable Food System in a Tobacco Dependent Region - This hands-on session takes a hard look at the key lessons from Appalachian Sustainable Development's work to build a model of sustainable agriculture. We'll look at education, training, incentives to transition to alternative crops and sustainable practices, cooperative marketing, and branding! 

  • Community Food Security and the Farm Bill - Learn about Community Food Security, find out what's going on with the next Farm Bill from a variety of perspectives - and discover how you can impact the final legislation.

  • Food Industry Trends for the 21st Century - An engaging and dynamic presentation on how to think, plan and act strategically to ensure success amidst dramatic food industry trends.

3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions

  • Career Education Strategies Utilizing Our Agriculture Industry - "Teens for the Future" has introduced experiential learning activities for career and workforce preparation in the agriculture industry for youth. Participate in the activities yourself and learn how to develop your own learning laboratories. 

  • Feeding Children Better in Kids Cafes™ - Discover techniques the popular Kids Cafes™ program uses to meet the challenge of malnutrition and nutrition education for children from low-income families. Food banks from throughout the region share their experiences for you to learn and adapt in your own community.

  • Increasing County Food Security - An Action Research Model - Learn actual food security strategy development and decision-making that you can apply in your community. Panelists will outline the collaborative process they used including mapping, grassroots participation and empowerment -- and give you the decision making tools to apply what you learn in your own community. 

  • Innovative Ways to Market Your Agricultural Products - Attend this session and learn about the successful and unique marketing techniques that have been used to promote Jersey Fresh products to consumers. 

6:00 to 9:00 p.m. - Autumn Harvest Dinner featuring locally grown food 

Friday, November 30th:

8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. - Concurrent Sessions

  • 4-H Life & Agriculture Systems Training Series (4-H LASTS) - Learn about an innovative program that trains teens to teach elementary school students about agriculture. This hands-on workshop will give you the resources to present an abbreviated lesson to other workshop participants. 

  • Community Food Assessment - What Do We Know about Food Security in our Region? - We'll discuss ways to monitor community food assessment in this region. Participants will learn the essential components for conducting a Community Food Assessment.

  • Homecoming...Sometimes I Am Haunted by Memories of Red Dirt and Clay - A Presentation of the award-winning documentary written and Produced by Charlene Gilbert and Quinn Eli; Homecoming is the story of African American land loss and a chronicle of black farmers from the Civil War to the present. (Also offered 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon.)

  • Promoting Private Lands Stewardship in the Next Farm Bill - Learn how to reform agriculture policies to help the environment, public health, and agricultural communities through the Working Lands Stewardship Act -- which would ensure that federal money help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners protect water quality, wildlife, open space, food safety, and rural communities and promote efforts like farmers markets that help keep smaller farmers on the land.

  • Winning Ways with Ethnic Foods - Come discover and enjoy the diversity of ethnic foods! This session will expose you to a variety of cultural and ethnic foods including locally grown produce and explore how it fits into our rapidly changing demographics and the food system. 

10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon  - Concurrent Sessions

  • From Farm to Table: Making the Connection in the Mid-Atlantic Food System - Authors will highlight key findings from their ground-breaking report, From Farm to Table: Making the Connection in the Mid-Atlantic Food System, discuss the "how to's" of conducting food systems research and outline ideas for future regional research.

  • Homecoming...Sometimes I Am Haunted by Memories of Red Dirt and Clay - A Presentation of the award-winning documentary written and Produced by Charlene Gilbert and Quinn Eli; Homecoming is the story of African American land loss and a chronicle of black farmers from the Civil War to the present. (Also offered 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.)

  • Learning about Agricultural Issues Through Structured Research and Internship Experiences - High school and undergraduate agricultural research and internship participants will share ways in which they were able to apply scientific principles to solve agricultural issues. 

  • Small Versus Large Farms: Can Both Survive? - Bring your expertise, opinions and an open mind to this stimulating and timely panel discussion about small and large farms competing for survival in the Mid-Atlantic region. Who wins and who loses when farms grow ever larger? 

  • Wholesale Produce Auctions: Keys to Success - Learn why wholesale produce auctions might be the best alternative marketing outlet for small family farms and rural communities - and find out the 5 key factors for a successful wholesale produce auction! 

12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Closing Plenary Session 

Spreading the Bounty, Safeguarding the Future - Where do we go from here? What are the next steps to achieving a better food system in the Mid-Atlantic Region? Led by Kate Clancy, and a panel of food system experts, this final session of the Summit will help us create a blueprint for "Spreading the Bounty, Safeguarding the Future".


Future of Our Food and Farms Summit

For more information, contact:

Meredith Stone
215-568-0830 • Ext.10
fmtrust@libertynet.org

www.foodfarm.org