For Immediate Release
Kansas Rural Center 2011 Sustainable Agriculture Conference to Highlight Opportunities and Outlook for Food and Farming in Kansas
Whiting, Kansas -- The Kansas Rural Center has announced that its 2011 Sustainable Agriculture Conference will focus on food and farm opportunities and the and the optimism for expanding local food in Kansas. The conference, titled “Options, Opportunities and Optimism: Cultivating Our Food and Farm Future,” will take place Saturday, Nov. 19, from 9 to 5 p.m. at Flint Hills Technical College, Emporia.
Speakers, workshops and panels will explore and share ideas and information for building a local and regional food and farm system. Topics that will be covered include:
Dan Nagengast, owner of Seeds from Italy, Lawrence, and former KRC executive director, will deliver the keynote address on the topic “Feeding the World: Billions of Farmers or Very Few?” Based on his 20 years with KRC, in farming and working in global hunger relief, Dan will present an intriguing, alternative vision for how the projected 9 billion people walking the planet by midcentury will be fed. His speech will be followed by a roundtable of panelists assessing the potential success of his conclusions, from their vantage points in the Kansas food and agriculture landscape.
Lunch will feature locally sourced foods, prepared by the culinary program at Flint Hills Tech. An afternoon of 16 workshops on topics relating to farming practices, food and meat processing, direct marketing, and public policy will follow.
KRC welcomes attendees including crop farmers, livestock ranchers and graziers, specialty crop producers, farmers market vendors and organizers, students and educators, representatives from nonprofits and government, food business owners and restaurateurs, local food and sustainable ag advocates, and wildlife and conservation advocates.
Registration cost is $35 and includes food; some scholarships are available. A complete list of workshops and presenters, more information and registration are available at krcsustainabilityconference.blogspot.com.
For more information and opportunities, please contact:
Speakers, workshops and panels will explore and share ideas and information for building a local and regional food and farm system. Topics that will be covered include:
- Good farming practices and production for all farmers, ranchers and market gardeners
- Food processing and marketing challenges and realities
- Successful production and marketing models
- Opportunities for beginning farmers and transitioning farmers
- Risk management information
- Growing grassroots support for public policy solutions.
Dan Nagengast, owner of Seeds from Italy, Lawrence, and former KRC executive director, will deliver the keynote address on the topic “Feeding the World: Billions of Farmers or Very Few?” Based on his 20 years with KRC, in farming and working in global hunger relief, Dan will present an intriguing, alternative vision for how the projected 9 billion people walking the planet by midcentury will be fed. His speech will be followed by a roundtable of panelists assessing the potential success of his conclusions, from their vantage points in the Kansas food and agriculture landscape.
Lunch will feature locally sourced foods, prepared by the culinary program at Flint Hills Tech. An afternoon of 16 workshops on topics relating to farming practices, food and meat processing, direct marketing, and public policy will follow.
KRC welcomes attendees including crop farmers, livestock ranchers and graziers, specialty crop producers, farmers market vendors and organizers, students and educators, representatives from nonprofits and government, food business owners and restaurateurs, local food and sustainable ag advocates, and wildlife and conservation advocates.
Registration cost is $35 and includes food; some scholarships are available. A complete list of workshops and presenters, more information and registration are available at krcsustainabilityconference.blogspot.com.
For more information and opportunities, please contact:
Julie Mettenburg, Conference Coordinator
conference.krc@gmail.com; 785-749-1031
conference.krc@gmail.com; 785-749-1031
Mary Fund, KRC Interim Executive Director
ksrc@rainbowtel.net; 785-873-3431
