CONFERENCE AT-A-GLANCE Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Opening Plenary Session – 8:00 pm: Hope Beneath our Feet: the Solution to Climate Change is Soil – Bill McKibben, Gary Nabhan, Brock Dolman Opening Reception & Art/History Exhibit – 10:00pm
Thursday, January 22, 2015 •• National Organic Update •• Climate Change & Agriculture: Good News •• Scaling Up Sustainable Food Sourcing to Schools, Hospitals, and Colleges •• Compost: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly •• Soil Fertility for Orchards & Vineyards •• Drought Proofing Your Landscape & Garden •• Urban Integrated Pest Management •• Exploring the Value of Organic Certification •• Fostering Innovation in the SF Food System •• Art and Science of Restoring Rangeland •• Monarchs and Milkweed: Why Farms Matter Artisanal Beer and Cheese Tasting – 12pm Film Screening: Bringing It Home – 12:15pm •• Restaurants Commit to Sustainable Foods •• Teaching Organic Farming: Resources for Plenary Session 2pm: We’re All Eaters Here: Farmer Educators Still Connecting to the Foods We Eat – •• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Deborah Madison •• Crop Insurance for Diversified Organic Session B – 10:30am Farms–1:30pm •• Improving Your Farm’s Carbon Footprint
•• Managing Fire Blight without Antibiotics •• No-Till Vegetable Production for the Future •• Pastured Pork •• Produce Marketing Is Like Compost for Sales •• Viva EcoFarm! •• Bagrada Bug Research •• Agricultural Justice Certification Presentation
•• Bring Back the Pollinators •• Close the Circle of Waste •• How to Embody Triple Bottom Line Values •• Growing Heirloom Produce - Ark of Taste •• Learning As If Whole Systems Mattered: Permaculture in Schools and Universities
Film Screening: Unacceptable Levels – 7:00pm
Session A – 8:30am
Session C – 3:30pm
•• Abuzz about Bees •• Chinese Medicinal Herbs Organic Market •• Creating Tools for the Small Organic Farm •• Get to Know Your Farm: Planning Tools to Achieve Financial and Personal Goals
Wine and Cider Tasting – 5:00pm EcoFarm New and Beginning Farmer/ Rancher Mixer, Part I – 5:30pm EcoFarm New and Beginning Farmer/ Rancher Mixer, Part II – 6:30pm
18th Annual Seed Swap & Scion Exchange – 8:00pm EcoFarm Contra Dance – 9:00pm
Friday, January 23, 2015 Successful Organic Farmers Plenary – 8:15 am: Don Tipping, Guido Frosini, The Perry Family Session D – 10:30am •• Anticipating Final FDA Food Safety Rules •• Connecting with Customers Online •• Encouraging Urban Agriculture through Innovative Public Policy •• Excellent Seedbed Preparation Film Screening - Ground Operations: Battlefields to Farmfields •• Invasion Biology: Perspectives on Invasives •• Make Your Farm Energy Self-Sufficient •• On-Farm Soil Health Strategies •• Psychoactive Substances and Their Impact on the Organic Farming and Ecology Movements •• What Is a B Corp? The Why and How of It •• Pastured Poultry on Diversified Farms •• Demeter Biodynamic Presentation
Session E – 1:30pm •• Crowdfunding to Raise Capital
Session G – 8:30am •• The Basics of Seed Saving •• Building Bridges: Climate, Agriculture and Justice •• Farmland Conservation/ CA Land Access
•• Cultivating a Relationship with Weeds •• Dinosaurs Rise Again •• Do Farmers and Water Districts Really Have Water Rights? •• Farming with Nature: Farmer Insights •• Find Land You Can Afford •• Growing Food and Touching Lives •• Next Steps in the Fight against GMOs •• Science Supporting Organic •• Vegetable Gardener’s Permaculture Guide •• EcoFarm Farmers’ Association •• Biodynamic Peer Learning
•• Forgotten Farm Practices that Save Water •• Conversation with Congressman Sam Farr •• Large-Scale Organics with Integrity: Costco and Nutiva •• Pest Resistance Management: Alternating Materials for Better Organic Pest Control •• Productive Perennial Polycultures: Designing an Ecosystem of Abundance •• Women in Eco-Ag in California and Beyond •• Discussion: Farming with Wild Nature •• Discussion: GMO Strategy
Session F – 3:30pm
EcoFarm Awards Banquet & Ceremony – 6:00pm
•• Biodynamic Beekeeping •• The Carbon Ranch •• El Salvador’s Small-scale Farmers Agricultores de El Salvador •• Food Sovereignty in Tribal Communities
Film Screening: Permaculture: The Growing Edge – 5:30pm
Film Screening: Food Chains – 7:30pm EcoFarm Dance – 9:30pm
Saturday, January 24, 2015 •• Growing, Cooking and Crafting a Diverse Community •• On-Farm Mobile Poultry Processing •• Practical Earth Magic •• Wise Words from Well-Seasoned Farmers
•• The World of Creepy Crawlies: Ants and Spiders •• “Slow Tools” Roundtable Discussion – 8:30 - 11:30
Closing Plenary Session – 10:30am: Walking the Edge: Deepening our Magic – Starhawk Closing Circle at the Beach – 1:15pm