The Future of Our Food 
and Farms Summit

Program 
schedule

Our Future 
Grows Here

A regional summit to promote agriculture, learn about trends in food distribution & and find ways to reduce hunger.
Main menu

Thursday Preconference Events:

New! Direct Marketing Training for Farm Profitability 

For Cooperative Extension & Other Ag Professionals.  Sponsored by Northeast SARE, with Fred Magdoff, Northeast SARE; Barry Benape,Founder, Greenmarkets, New York City (invited), Nina Planck, Founder, London Farmers' Markets; and other direct marketing experts! 

Learn from farmers' market managers, farmers, and experts how your farmers can take advantage of the huge growth in direct marketing, make the most of the new opportunities and increase their profits easily.

2nd Annual Hunger Congress

Hosted by the Food Resources Alliance, with Julie Paradis, Washington Council & America's Second Harvest; Federal and State Legislators from MD, DE, PA, and NJ; JoAnn Connelly, Greater Philadelphia Food Bank.  

Discuss the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill and how it will impact children throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Agriculture Development Forum: Reconnecting Agriculture, Food and Community

With Community, Food and Agriculture Program staff, Cornell University.

How-to's of using food and agriculture as a tool for community development.


Community Food Security Training: Putting Community Food Security to Work for You

With Ruth Katz, Just Food (NY) and Suse Greenstone, Just Community Food Systems of S. Central PA.

Practical models and applications of CFS - a hands-on
training.

Keynotes:

Thursday:  Desmond Jolly

 "Healthy Families, Farms and Communities: An Agenda For A New Century of American Democracy" Agricultural economist, and director of the U.C. Davis Small Farm Program, Mr. Jolly will address access and equity for both food producers and consumers.

Friday: Marion Nestle:  

Author of the new, nationally acclaimed book, Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, Marion Nestle goes behind the scenes of the food industry to tell us how it really works and how it affects our individual health and the country's food system.

Friday Special Session

New!  FSNEP Nutrition Education Symposium

With Eric Bost Under Secretary for USDA FNS (invited); Chris Martin, Regional Administrator for the USDA (invited); Alice Lockett, USDA FNS; and FSNEP project leaders from DE, MD, NJ and PA.

Learn how FSNEP projects in the region are meeting 2010 goals, and hear exciting highlights from projects that have changed behavior and diets.

Schedule for Thursday, Dec. 5:

8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Hunger Congress
Direct Marketing I - Training for Farm Profitability
Agriculture Development Forum
Putting Community Food Security to Work for You

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Opening & Lunch - Desmond Jolly, U.C. Davis

1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Direct Marketing II - Making The Most Of Market Opportunities - Pam Ciervo, Farmers Market Manager, Collingswood NJ; Robert Halman, Pam King, MD Dept of Agriculture; Jim Zink, Haven Hill Farm

Direct Marketing III - Producer Only vs. Private Entrepreneurs - Tony Evans, MD Dept of Agriculture; Duane Perry, The Food Trust; Nina Planck, Founder, London Farmers' Markets

Reaching Hungry People through Miraculous Collaborations - Discover new ways to provide nutrition education, enroll people in Food Stamps, and bring fresh produce, cooking and gardening together. Sue Snider, Univ of DE Cooperative Extension; Pat Beebe, Food Bank of DE; John Byrnes, PSU Cooperative Extension 

Youth Innovators - Hear about activity-based learning initiatives that engage youth as never before. Stacy Mates, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank; JoAnn Connelly, Greater Philadelphia Food Bank; Rita Natale Saathoff, 4H, Rutgers

After the Farm Bill, What's Next? - Learn how to make the new anti-hunger and conservation provisions work, and how to keep promoting change. Kathy Lawrence, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture; Suzy Friedman, Environmental Defense; Berry Friesen, PA Hunger Action

How to Stand Out from the Crowd - Experts tell how to get publicity and separate your organization from the pack, as they dissect two success stories. Carole Rutland, Lisa Ann Battito, Aldwyn "Wendy" Hamilton, Julianne Rana, Elise Hubert, Pia Wilson, WHY and Reinventing in America Program

Starting Food and Farm Businesses in NJ and Beyond - Find out from NJ Agricultural officials how farmers and food entrepreneurs are tapping the expertise of the innovative FIRE to market and grow their business. Margaret Brennan, H. Louis Cooperhouse, Maureen Scaramella, FIRE; Mayor Michael Pirolli, Bridgeton, NJ; Peter Furey, NJ Farm Bureau; Al Murray, NJ Dept of Agriculture

3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Direct Marketing IV - Fundamentals of Merchandising - Michael Rozyne, Red Tomato 

Direct Marketing V - Successfully Marketing Farmers' Markets - Sandy Sherman, The Food Trust; Nina Planck, Founder, London Farmers' Markets 

Eating in Class - Discuss with four top educators and their students how innovative food system curricula influence students and communities. Heidi Mouillesseaux-Kunzman, Cornell Univ; Paul Morgan, West Chester Univ; Catherine Lyons, PSU; Jacqueline Ricotta, Del Val College

New Farmers - Explore these new initiatives: The New American Farmer Initiative for immigrant farmers and Growing New Farmers project. Hugh Joseph, New American Farmer Initiative; Gus Schumacher, consultant, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Kathy Ruhf, Growing New Farmers Project Food 

Safety from Field to Fork - Links food safety to food security, nutrition and diet, worker health and safety, and on-farm practices. Elizabeth Henderson, Peacework Organic Farm & NOFA; others TBA.

Building Strong Bodies - Find out how three cutting edge school programs can bring nutrition, health and agriculture to your school district. Karima Rose & Margie Scharf, The Food Trust; Danny Gerber, Jennifer Tulf, Martin Galvin, & Frank Johnston, Urban Nutrition Initiative

The New 5 A Day - Talk with directors from NCI and the USDA about how the updated 5 A Day program can help farmers and close health gaps in underserved populations. Tom Bewick, USDA/CSREES; Others TBA

6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Autumn Harvest Banquet & NESAWG Anniversary
Celebration

Schedule for Friday, Dec. 6

9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Nutrition Education Symposium I - How FSNEP is
working to meet the 2010 goals
- Ruby Cox, VA; Audrey Maretzki, PA; Jeff Olson, WV; Debra Palmer Keenan, NJ; Meredith Pearson, MD; Sue Snider, DE; Gloria Clark, DC (invited); Ann McPherson, Puerto Rico (invited) 

Food for Every Child - Find out how this groundbreaking analysis, that links diet-related disease to lack of access to supermarkets, can work for you. David McCorkle, PA Food Merchants Assn; Duane Perry, The Food Trust; Mark Winne, The Hartford Food System (invited); Baltimore Health Department 

Sprawl: A Threat or an Opportunity for Agriculture and Food Security? - An out-of-the-box look at approaches to
address sprawl in our region. Randall Arendt, Natural Lands Trust; Jac Smit, Urban Agriculture Network 

Harvesting Support for Locally Grown Food - Learn how to plan, implement and evaluate the "Be a Local Hero: Buy Locally Grown" campaign in your community. Annie Cheatham, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)

"Coop"erating Successfully - Growers, coop leaders, and the new Northeast Federation of Family Farm Cooperatives talk about opportunities and challenges that small-scale farmer cooperatives face. Thomas Handwerker & Daniel Kuennen, Univ of MD Eastern Shore, Greenhouse Growers Cooperative; Chris Fullerton, Tuscarora Cooperative; Duncan Hilchey, Cornell Univ.

New Ventures for African American Farmers - What are the new opportunities for African American farmers and what resources does the Farm Bill provide? Erroll Mattox, Three Maples Farm; Dean Purnell, DE State Univ; Desmond Jolly, U.C. Davis; Congressman Wynne, MD (invited); Edward Lee, Natural Bird, Inc.

11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Creating Change - Merging Agriculture, Nutrition and Public Health Policy - Explore with a national policy expert new ways to get better services to kids who need it most. Keecha Harris, Thomas Jefferson Agriculture Institute & the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy 

Is Bigger Better? - Participate in a dynamic discussion about large and small farms with national advocates for each. Is there room for both? What's driving farm size? Bob Ruth, Country View Family Farms; Errol Mattox, Three Maples Farm; Dean Purnell, DE State Univ; Kathy Ruhf, New England Small Farm Institute

Three Keys to Farmland Protection - Innovative programs and technologies are saving farmland and helping farm transfer planning. Marion Bowlan, PA Farm Link; Mary Heinricht & Alison Deets, American Farmland Trust; Andrea Woloschuk, Intervale Foundation; Michael McGrath, DE Dept of Agriculture; Thomas Feurer, USDA National Ag Statistics Service; Mary Bender, PA Dept of Agriculture

Are You What You Eat? The Values and Ethics of Food Choices - This dialogue will engage faith-based and "food citizen" perspectives to raise questions about food choice consciousness. Definitely food for thought. Bill Jordan, National Catholic Rural Life Conference & Cynthia Barstow, author, The Eco-Foods Guide 

Nutrition Education Symposium II & III - Six states present their best programs for youth. 

12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Mid-Atlantic Leadership Award Presentation
Closing & Lunch
- Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, MD
(invited); Marion Nestle


Future of Our Food and Farms Summit

For more information, contact:

Meredith Stone
215-568-0830 • Ext.10
contact@thefoodtrust.org

www.foodfarm.org