HIGHLIGHTS

A Note for The Director

Join us in a world-class food and farm destination to grow the local, organic movement. 

Don’t miss the 26th Annual CFSA Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Durham, NC!

When we come together, we can do almost anything.  Working together, we have set off a food and farming revolution: launching new organic and promoting existing sustainable farms; opening successful farmers’ markets; creating strong farmer-restaurant partnerships; building infrastructure to help sustainable farming and food businesses thrive; and advocating for a fair deal for small farms and local food. 

But we face growing challenges:  GMOs, market competition, pest and disease pressure, labor shortages, labeling and more on the food safety front.

That’s why it is more important than ever to come together at the 26th Annual Sustainable Ag Conference!

Sharing knowledge:  We’ve assembled cutting-edge, skill-building sessions on horticulture, livestock, soils, mushrooms, permaculture, bees, food, and more.  Classes will be taught by our best local experts, including: Will Hooker, Chuck Marsh, Andrea Reusing, Ken Dawson, Rob Bowers, Daniel Parsons, Tony Kleese, and Debbie Roos.  And we are bringing in amazing talent from around the country:  Ross Conrad (VT), Greg Judy (MO), Ellen Polishuk (VA), Paul Wiediger (KY), Guy Jodarski (MN), Kristina Hubbard (CA) and Brian Snyder (PA).  Come prepared to learn (a lot!) and share what you know.

Sharing inspiration:  Our keynote this year is Joan Dye Gussow, author of the bestselling “This Organic Life.”  She’s a legend in the local, organic movement.  Friday night Joan will get us thinking together about what it means to defend real food.  She inspired Michael Pollan and we’re sure she will inspire you and our Carolina movement. 

Sharing food:  This year’s conference takes place in Durham, North Carolina.  Durham was recently heralded by the New York Times as one of best 37 places in the world to visit in 2011 because of its food scene.  What better way to re-establish connections with your farm and food friends, and make new ones, than over a plate of delicious food at a Durham eatery, or check one of amazing farm to fork restaurants in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and the rest of the Triangle.  And as always, we put our ideals on your plate with fantastic local, organic food at the conference meals and not-to-be-missed local foods reception. 

We want you to come away from this weekend with inspiring ideas, new skills and new friends, mentors and business colleagues.  Let’s all build our connections across the spectrum of farmers, businesspeople, community activists and educators.  Together, we are creating a positive, sustainable, healthy farm and food future.

Roland McReynolds
CFSA Executive Director

Last Year's Conference Was Incredible...and This Year's will be
Even Better!
For those of you who attended the conference last year, you'll remember great conversations and networking with people committed to making local, sustainable farms and food thrive. The workshops taught by the experts and the riveting keynote speech from Michael Shuman were inspiring. The farm tours and exhibit halls were our best yet! Add in the amazing local, organic meals and the fantastic food scene in downtown Winston-Salem and it was one memorable conference!

> Check out the 2010 Conference page to view last year's conference program, workshops, pod casts, and blog posts

For those of you who missed it, check out this amazing video by our friends at GeoCore Films!

Video: 2010 Sustainable Ag Conference -
Winston-Salem, NC

2010 Sustainable Agriculture Conference - CFSA from GeoCore Films on Vimeo.

TESTAMONIALS
We could tell you just how amazing last year's conference was and how incredible this year's is going to be, but we'll leave that to a few folks who attended the 2010 conference.

Willie Wright	—“This is a great resource for anyone who already owns land or will in the future.”
Ginny Moench	—“I need ideas on how to flesh out my beginning farm plan, so the conference has been really helpful for me.”
Edna Carol Jackson	—“There’s a wealth of information at all the workshops.  There’s always something you can learn and share with someone else.”
Mark Danieley, Alamance County Extension	—“The conference has certainly been educational.  I’ve met lots of nice people and made good connections.  It’s also helped me to further my knowledge of local food and vegetable production, which is not my background.”
Patrick Linder	—“What I like most is the synergistic aspect, where you have all of the various pieces of the sustainable food movement coming into conversation together.”

Photos
Check out these photos of the 2010 Conference!
Sustainable Ag Conference 2010


Check out these photos from our pre-conference workshops!