Slow Food Nation '08

Civic Center/State Building | 11am – 5:45pm | Friday, August 29 | By invitation, for professionals and practitioners

In collaboration with the non-profit organization Roots of Change (ROC), Changemakers Day convened hundreds of leaders from the private, public, civic and non-profit sectors to discuss how to build sustainable food systems. Due to the overwhelming interest and limited space, participation for Changemakers Day was by invitation only. Download the full schedule of Changemakers Day or read the list of workshops (copied and pasted verbatim from the schedule, below).

Food for Thought at Changemakers Day

State Building, Milton Marks Conference Center, Auditorium

• Accessing the Real Price of Good Food

  How do we deliver good food to food deserts?

  Location: State Building, Auditorium | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  Access to healthy, fresh and sustainably grown food is a basic human right that is being systematically denied to those who live in historically excluded urban communities. Limited access to good food is only one symptom of a broken food system that affects people worldwide. Other symptoms include diet-related chronic health conditions, growing dependency on government food programs, and food insecurity. The question of “how” to get good food into urban food deserts requires us to think critically about the broken food system as a whole, and it challenges us to develop community-based solutions that empower and encourage those living and working in underserved areas.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Oran Hesterman, Fair Food Foundation
  Panelists: Saru Jayaraman, Restaurant Opportunities Center – United; Michel Nischan, Wholesome Wave Foundation; Guy Williams, Fair Food Foundation; Malik Yakini, Detroit Food Security Project

• Markets and Money: The Means to Good, Clean and Fair Food

  How Can Business Change the Food System?

  Location: State Building, Auditorium | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  The “food business” often brings to mind agrochemical companies, industrial farming, and business concentration – much of it aimed at marketing unhealthy food. But is there an alternative role for business, where money and markets become the agents of change in the food industry? What are forward-thinking companies doing to put a more sustainable vision in place? What challenges – and compromises – do they encounter along the way? Join a panel of business leaders to lie out an alternative path for the food industry and discuss the ways they are creating it.

  Moderator: Samuel Fromartz, Author
  Panelists: Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appetit Management Co.; Walter Robb, Whole Foods Market; Rick Schnieders, Sysco Corp.; and Woody Tasch, Investors Circle

• Linking Urban and Rural as a Basis for a Good, Clean and Fair Food System

  Could food sheds become real, like watersheds are real?

  Location: State Building, Auditorium | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  The UN estimates that beginning this year; more humans will live in cities than in the country for the first time in world history. We know from history that when urban and rural communities disconnect, cities fall. City people provide markets, capital, recycled water, compost, and increasingly they drive policy. Country people are stewards of important finite resources and places, and are producers of food, fiber, and energy. Urban and rural populations are interdependent, but many people have forgotten this fact. Join four innovators as they explore their challenge in leading San Francisco’s effort to develop a common cause among urban and rural leaders in a 200-mile arc around the city.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Michael Dimock, Roots of Change
  Panelists: Sibella Kraus, Agriculture at the Metropolitan Edge; Paul Muller, Full Belly Farm; David Pascal, Office of the Mayor, City of San Francisco; Ed Thompson, Jr., American Farmland Trust

• The Future of Farming

  Location: State Building, Auditorium | Time: 4:30 – 5:45pm

  Never has the way we’ve commodified water and land and crops and animals demanded neither clearer thinking nor more innovative programs than now, at the end of the era of cheap energy and the beginning of the era of climate change. We need new models, new visions, new ethics and new strategies, and we’re fortunate to have gathered together five pioneers of America’s New Agriculture who, although they represent diverse generations and experiences, share a deep understanding of how to put preachments into practice.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Betty Fussell, Food Historian, Essayist and Author
  Panelists: Zoe Ida Bradbury, Groundswell Farm, Food & Society Policy Fellow; Frederick Kirschenmann, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture; David Mas Masumoto, Masumoto Family Farm; Theresa Marquez, Organic Valley and Organic Prairie; Patrick Martins, Slow Food USA and Heritage Foods

Changemakers Day Sessions

State Building, Milton Marks Conference Center | Federal Building, Conference Center

11:00am – 12:15pm

• Reframing the Slow Food Conversation to Support Food Justice

  How should Slow Food reframe its conversations to support food justice?

  Location: State Building, San Diego B/C Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  Efforts to celebrate and restore local food heritage and traditions are noble and worthwhile. They contribute to rapidly growing movements to preserve local, small-scale agriculture; to bring high quality, delicious, nutritious food to local people; to support and provide sustainable livelihoods for local farmers and food producers; and to heal and restore the environment. However these noble efforts do not yet account for, or address the systemic, structural barriers that keep good, clean, fair food out of vast swaths of low-income communities and communities of color. Whether we use Paul Farmer’s analysis of structural violence or the anti-racist analysis of white power and privilege, the Slow Food movement ought to take on the hard work of addressing food justice and food sovereignty in communities most vulnerable to the harmful effects of the industrial food system. This panel will speak to this challenge.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Hank Herrera, HOPE Collaborative
  Panelists: Brahm Ahmadi, People’s Grocery; Eric Holt-Gimenez, Food First; Josh Viertel, Slow Food USA, Yale Sustainable Food Project; Kimi Watkins-Tartt, Alameda County Public Health Department

• From Supply Chain to Value Chain: What does it take?

  How do we develop value chains throughout the system?

  Location: State Building, San Diego A Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  Typically, in the traditional food supply chain, margins are slim, competition is cutthroat and farmers are price-takers. Much of the control of the supply chain now lies with very large food retailers and food service corporations who are primarily interested in a low-cost supply especially given the nature of competition in a heavily globalized, industrialized and centralized food system.

  Is it possible to create a new type of food system based on values-based value chains, where system players are working in greater cooperation and partnership, where farmers are involved in price making, where there is greater equity in the returns from the food dollar, where consumers have a voice, and where common interests and self-interests are in better balance? We believe yes! This session will briefly explore what a value chain is, the difficulties, challenges and benefits in creating value chains, and what the future might hold. Different food system perspectives will be represented – producer, distributor, producer co-op/distributor and retailer.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Larry Yee, Emeritus Cooperative Extension Advisor; Roots of Change Stewardship Council Co-Chair
  Panelists: Larry Jacobs, Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo Inc.; Theresa Marquez, Organic Valley and Organic Prairie; Bu Nygrens, Veritable Vegetable; Walter Robb, Whole Foods Market

• Network Power: Food Politics in the Connected Age

  Can complex collaborations be successfully developed and maintained?

  Location: Federal Building, California Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  We live in the age of the internet, networks and distributed leadership. We face complex challenges. There are polarized communities abound. We are bombarded with information and calls to action. Individuals are highly self-directed, less influenced by “authority.” Diversity is increasing in most communities. Bureaucracies are slow to adapt. Given these realities, many seeking food system transformation face a question: how to develop and maintain large and complex collaborations? Explore this question with four leaders discovering the answers.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Michael Dimock, Roots of Change
  Panelists: Holly King, Great Valley Center; Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Network; Howard-Yana Shapiro, PhD, Mars Incorporated; Tom Tomich, PhD, Agriculture Sustainability Institute and UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, UC Davis

• Eat it to Save it: What does it mean, why do it and how?

  How can communities of farmers scale up endangered food
  production, and how does this impact our local food systems?

  Location: Federal Building, Nevada Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  Who would think that sometimes to SAVE a food – you have to EAT IT? Join in the dialogue as farmers, sheep producers and advocates associated with Renewing America’s Food Traditions initiative discuss why the diversity of place-based heritage foods matters and how you can help your local community renew, sustain and celebrate endangered food traditions. From the point of view of RAFT (Renewing American Food Traditions) founder Gary Nabhan and the perspective of Slow Food USA Ark of Taste chair, Poppy Tooker this panel will give attendees a first hand look at the compelling work of food recovery and how delicious the results can be.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Gary Nabhan, Founder, Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance
  Panelists: Anthony Boutard, Ayers Creek Farm; Brian Campbell, Uprising Seeds/ Uprising Organics; Linda Colwell, Chef, Slow Food Portland, OR; Poppy Tooker, Founder Slow Food Chapter New Orleans LA

• Something is Fishy: Aquaculture, Seafood and Sustainability

  How can Aquaculture become sustainable?

  Location: Federal Building, Arizona Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing food sector, worth $70 billion and providing over one-third of the seafood consumed worldwide. This dynamic panel brings together activists, policy experts, fishermen, a retailer, and a chef to discuss ways of overcoming the industrial food dilemmas created by aquaculture. It will address the harmful impact of shrimp and salmon farming on the environment, communities, family fishing businesses and consumer health, and will focus on strategies for reforming policy and increasing consumer awareness. Often, consumers are confused about how to purchase and use sustainable seafood. This session will offer a taste of wild salmon and provide resources and guidelines to help Changemakers promote clean, sustainable seafood that is at the heart of Slow Food.

  Moderator: Eli Penberthy, Shrimp Less, Think More
  Panelists: Laura Anderson, Local Ocean Seafood; Ben Bowman, Food and Water Watch; Diane Morgan, Cookbook Author; Anne Mosness, Go Wild!; Alfredo Quarto, Mangrove Action Project

• HELP WANTED: 50 Million New Farmers

  How do we bring 50 Million new Farmers into the system?

  Location: Federal Building, Hawaii Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  In 1900, nearly 40% of Americans farmed full time. Today, only about 1% are actively engaged in raising the food we eat, and food imports are at an all time high. But as rising fuel costs, resource depletion, and the unprecedented challenges of climate change make industrial farming and long distance food transportation impractical and unsustainable, how will we feed ourselves and who will grow our food? If we follow the farming patterns of 1900, we will need 50,000,000 new farmers – experienced, healthy, intelligent, good-humored, committed individuals with exquisite ecological literacy – to provide the food we need for our current population. Where will they come from, how will we educate them, and how will the farms of the very near future be different from those we know today?

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Karen Brown, Center for Ecoliteracy
  Panelists: Mike Azzara, Northeast Organic Farming Association Stacy Carlsen, Agricultural Commissioner for Marin County, Farmer; Janet Brown, AllStar Organics, Marin Organic; Steve Schwartz, California Farm Link

• The Real Food Challenge

  Are You Up For It?

  Location: State Building, Santa Barbara Room | Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm

  We stand at a critical moment in the food system movement on college and university campuses. The different facets of this movement have been building momentum in recent years, approaching a critical mass capable of generating great change. There is a lot of activity on campuses from farm to college programs, fair trade advocates, slow food groups, local food activists, and students fighting for farm workers rights. The Real Food Challenge aims to unite these separate campaigns to amplify their strength and make a system wide change in institutional food services and operations toward greater sustainability. Guided by an innovative cross section of students, youth, NGOs, higher education land-based learning staff, and national leaders, the Real Food Challenge invites all campus stakeholders to the table. This session will provide a space to dialogue across issues, explore ways to reach our collective goals, and share strategies to make our collective efforts a monumental success.

  Speakers: Megan Carney, California Student Sustainability Coalition; Erin Gaines, Stanford Dining Services; Tim Galarneau, Real Food Challenge, Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems

1:00pm – 2:15pm

• Exploring the Meaning of Clean

  Is organic the only clean?

  Location: State Building, San Diego B/C Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  A good food system will produce food that is free from poor farming practices that foul soil, water, air and living tissues of plants, livestock and humans. Although some do not agree, organic farming is generally seen as clean, but there is too little available and it’s expensive. Four innovators who promote clean farming explore tough questions: Is clean farming really possible? How do we measure clean? What farming systems produce clean food at a price that all income levels and public institutions can afford? Who shall judge what is clean enough?

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Michael Dimock, Roots of Change
  Panelists: Linda Brown, Scientific Certification Systems; Matthew Buck, Food Alliance; Jonathan Kaplan, Sustainable Agriculture Project, NRDC; Karen Ross, California Association of Winegrape Growers

• Handshake-by-Handshake: People-Centered Events that Make a Market

  How do we connect food buyers and food sellers more authentically?

  Location: State Building, San Diego A Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  In 2001, Ecotrust in partnership with the Portland chapter of Chef’s Collaborative held its first networking conference that gave space for food producers and food buyers to meet one another, build relationships, and strike deals. Since that time, the annual Farmer-Chef Connection Conference has become a powerful networking tool for regional food producers and buyers, who have discovered the mutual value derived from long-term, stable business relationships.

  In 2007 and 2008, 35 distinct communities—from New Orleans to Iowa City and Saskatoon to Durango, CO—hosted their own Farmer-Chef networking events based on the foundation laid in the Pacific Northwest. In this session, each of the presenters will speak to their experiences as a conference host, what that has meant for the food community at large, and how others might learn and build from the amazing groundwork in place. In turn, this session prepares the audience to make steps forward to bring effective, resonant events to their regions.

  Moderator: Deborah Kane, Ecotrust
  Panelists: Deb Deacon, SE Wisconsin Farm and Food Network; Julie Hudak, Garden Project of Southwest Colorado and Slow Food Durango; Robin Rodriguez, Slow Food Memphis and Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee

• Taking a Stand: An Action Plan for Fair Food

  What do we actually have to do to make food system labor sustainable?

  Location: Federal Building, California Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  As Cesar Chávez once noted, “It’s ironic that those who till the soil and cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.” In return for the bounty of food they bring to our tables, most agricultural workers receive low wages, harsh and dangerous working conditions, lack of health care, substandard housing, immigration raids and fear of deportation. Nonetheless, a range of efforts promoting a more fair food system has been emerging in recent years. This session will present four innovative strategies for promoting improved farm worker conditions. Come learn about these models and share your ideas for promoting a more equitable food system.

  Moderator: Ron Strochlic, California Institute for Rural Studies
  Panelists: Lucas Benítez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers; Tim Galarneau, Real Food Challenge; Elizabeth Henderson, Agricultural Justice Project and Domestic Fair Trade Association; David Visher, Food Alliance

• Rising Seas, Shrinking Catch

  How will chefs and fishers save the seas as a resource?

  Location: Federal Building, Nevada Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  As populations of wild fish decline, consumer demand for seafood shows no sign of slowing down. Chefs, seafood suppliers, and fishermen must balance the business demands of supplying seafood to their customers with an understanding of marine conservation efforts. This Chefs Collaborative-moderated panel will discuss marine conservation from the perspective of those making a living by catching, selling, and serving seafood. A fisherman, chef, and seafood supplier will discuss why sustainable seafood is critical, and how they support marine conservation efforts in their work.

  Read Roots of Change’s report on this panel.

  Moderator: Leigh Belanger, Chefs Collaborative
  Panelists: Paul Johnson, Monterey Fish Company; Joe McGarry, Bon Appetit Management Company; Riley Starks, Lummi Island Wild

• Stalemate or Dynamite: The Next Federal Food Fight

  How do we maximize alignment on the Farm Bill?

  Location: Federal Building, Arizona Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  How do we create a food and farm bill appropriate for the 21st Century? The 2007-08 farm bill negotiation was a stalemate lasting months, indicating change, with urban legislators gaining more power over food and farm policy. This panel of experts with first-hand experience in the federal food fight will explore how we might align a broader set of stakeholders to ensure major gains in 2012. Should we maintain the current framework or start over?

  Moderator: Dan Imhoff, Author
  Panelists: Noelle G. Cremers, California Farm Bureau Federation; Heather Fenney, California Food & Justice Coalition; Allen R. Hunt, Northeast Midwest Institute; August Schumacher, Undersecretary USDA 1993-2000, Consultant to Roots of Change

• Fostering Diversity in Food System Leadership

  How do we foster more diverse food system leadership?

  Location: Federal Building, Hawaii Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  An ambitious vision and plan are being set forth to transform California’s food system and leaders from many sectors are being drawn into this vision. Yet, there are questions as to whether this leadership is sufficiently representative of the diverse ethnic and multicultural populations of California and, therefore, equipped to lead a transformation in an increasingly diverse and changing multicultural food system.

  In order to transform California’s food system, and embrace the opportunities and challenges presented by rapidly changing demographics, we must first grow the leadership within the food system to be more reflective of the population. This panel will feature leaders of color engaged in food system and leadership development work in an exploratory conversation about how to build more diverse leadership in the food and farming movement. Each panelist will discuss their perspective and strategies and then the panel will engage in a dialogue with the audience.

  Moderator: Brahm Ahmadi, People’s Grocery
  Panelists: Nikki Henderson, Green for All; Oran Hesterman, Fair Food Foundation; Ed Mendoza, Indigenous Permaculture de Atzlan; Carina Wong, Chez Panisse Foundation

• Building Ag Futures Alliance (AFA) and Food System Alliance’s (FSA) for Local Food Systems Change

  Location: State Building, Santa Barbara Room | Time: 1:00pm – 2:15pm

  This session will explore the Who, What, Where, When, and How to begin a Food System Alliance. The AFA and FSA is a burgeoning statewide alliance of county-based consensus building roundtables that develop guiding principles and intelligent policies focused on the challenges surrounding food production and agriculture. The Ag Futures Alliance (AFA) and Food System Alliance (FSA) are working to ensure that agriculture, community, and the environment will thrive indefinitely. All three elements are essential to the health and well being of California and the nation’s food system. Come and discover if a FSA is relevant to your area.

  Speaker: Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Network

2:45pm – 4:00pm

• Heritage or Hogwash: Is Saving Rare Breeds a Scalable Endeavor?

  If so, how can they be scaled?

  Location: State Building, San Diego B/C Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  What is a “heritage” breed? Is it just another consumer scam? What does it take to put culturally important but rare and endangered breeds of livestock or poultry back on the table? And how can consumers and food advocates support their efforts? This session will give glimpses into the multitude and complexity of challenges faced by breeders of endangered livestock and poultry who are attempting this renaissance, explore the cultural heritage of the US, and discuss strategies for supportive participation.

  Moderator: Marjorie Bender, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
  Panelists: Brian Anselmo, Good Shephard Turkey Ranch; Gay Chanler, Navajo-Churro Sheep Presidium; Arie McFarlen, Marveric Heritage Ranch

• Labels and Indicators: New Tools for Delivering Good Food in the U.S.

  How could Geographic Labels and indicators be a tool for delivering good food in the U.S.?

  Location: State Building, San Diego A Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  The “Labels and Indicators” session brings together a panel with a remarkable diversity of experience in marketing good food with geographic labeling. From a grassroots to the global perspective, the panel will explore the opportunities and challenges of geographically labeling good food for consumers and delivering that source-identified from the farmer to our tables.

  Moderator: Kathryn Lyddan, Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust
  Panelists: Judson Berkey, UBS, Slow Food; Duncan Hilchey, Cornell University, Community and Rural Development Institute; Debra Tropp, United States Department of Agriculture/ Agricultural Marketing Service; Robert Tse, California Department of Food and Agriculture

• Re-imagining School Lunch

  What is important and what is possible?

  Location: State Building, Monterey Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  The rising rate of obesity in our nation’s children has suddenly made school lunch a hot topic. Parents and policymakers are finally asking: why are we feeding children such bad food at school? Across the country, the response has been overwhelming. Many districts are trying to get the bad food out and create new food policies that restrict fat and sugar. But is that really the solution? Is there another approach? How do you help children make lifelong healthy food choices? This diverse panel will explore the issue of reimagining school lunch, discussing what’s important and what’s possible. The panel includes a community leader, a food service director, a longtime advocate of edible education, and a systems change expert.

  Moderator: Carina Wong, Chez Panisse Foundation
  Panelists: Donna Cavato, Edible Schoolyard New Orleans, LA; Ann Cooper, Berkeley Unified School District; Marsha Guerrero, Edible Schoolyard/ Chez Panisse Foundation; Carolie Sly, Center for Ecoliteracy

• The Evolution and Revolution of the Grassfed Production Model

  How “green” is your meat?

  Location: Federal Building, California Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  This panel will lead you through four major components of the Grassfed Movement. Beginning with a brief introduction and overview history of Grassfed in America, by Carrie Balkcom, Dr. Patricia Whisnant, DVM will then lead you through the “Journey of food” from the industrial production model. Will Harris will share with you the production model of ” from birth to bar code” and the grassfed model as practiced in his farm. Brian Kenny will share the story of the Hearst Ranch, speak about rancher integrity, the importance of Certification, and relationship marketing. Andrew Gunther will add to the conversation ‘Grassfed, safer for humans, kinder for animals,’ and Wendell Berry, as one of the leading spokespeople for sustainable agriculture, will add the amazing dimension of his wisdom about “The Pastoral Perspective.”

  Moderator: Carrie Balkcom, American Grassfed Association
  Panelists: Wendell Berry, Author; Andrew Gunther, Animal Welfare Approved; Will Harris, White Oak Pastures; Brian Kenny, Hearst Ranch; Patricia Whisnant, DVM, American Grassfed Beef

• No Farms, No Food! Preserving the Land Base

  How do we scale the preservation of farm and ranchland?

  Location: Federal Building, Nevada Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  Every single minute of every day, America loses two acres of the farmland that sustains us. We’re losing our best land—the most fertile and productive—the fastest. A panel of leading experts on farmland preservation will have a conversation about the different ways communities have come together to save the farmland around them and also discuss possible new solutions to saving farmland where it is disappearing the fastest. Ralph Grossi, the former President of the American Farmland Trust, will give an overview of the variety of successful farmland protection programs and activities across the county. He will be joined by California land conservation leaders talking about how their different programs have saved farms and ranches in their communities.

  Moderator: Constance Washburn, Marin Agricultural Land Trust
  Panelists: Ralph Grossi, American Farmland Trust, Andrea MacKenzie, Sonoma Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District; Jeremy Madsen, Greenbelt Alliance; Nita Vail, California Rangeland Trust

• Ecological or Technological?

  What standards and values ensure a safe healthy food system?

  Location: Federal Building, Arizona Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  Food safety is one way to measure of the health of our food system. In a world full of e-coli and salmonella, are antibiotics, radiation, and stricter sanitary standards, or other attempts to control nature, the best answer? Industrial agriculture, which relies on chemical and genetic technologies and monocultures, has produced mad cows, dead zones, and an intense debate over how to feed a growing world population at a time of ever-declining resources. Are the alternatives provided by organic, local and sustainable farming the answer? This panel will explore a wide range of opinions about the assumptions underlying agriculture and whether or not we have to choose between biology and technology.

  Moderator: Clair Cummings, Environmental Lawyer, Journalist, Author
  Panelists: Andrew Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety; Elisa Odabashian, Consumers’ Union; Noelle G. Cremers, California Farm Bureau Federation

• Crossing the divide: Slow Food and Isolated Communities

  How do slow food leaders intend to link to isolated communities?

  Location: Federal Building, Hawaii Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  Over recent years, Slow Food has grown in size and scope across the country, especially as the public begins to understand the need for a revitalized local food system. What role can Slow Food play to help bridge the gaps in our food system and serve as a relevant contributor in the quest for food justice for all communities?

  Moderator: Martha Davis Kipcak, The Kitchen Table Project
  Panelists: Erika Lesser, Slow Food USA; Lynn Peemoeller, Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council; Mark Winne, Community Food Security Coalition

• A Local Food Networks Toolkit: The Nuts and Bolts

  Location: State Building, Santa Barbara Room | Time: 2:45pm – 4:00pm

  This session will explore the nuts and bolts of Ecotrust’s new toolkit. The toolkit synthesizes many years of experience building local food networks in the Pacific Northwest. Interested in hosting a “Farmer-Chef Connection” inspired event in your area? The toolkit and interactive learning community assist organizers by fostering peer-to-peer exchange of ideas, questions, and lessons learned around the topic of building local food networks.

  Speaker: Deborah Kane, Ecotrust

4:30pm – 5:45pm

• Going Local: Can the Great Valley Do it?

  Can grassroots efforts build awareness of local agriculture?

  Location: State Building, San Diego B/C Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  11,000 third-graders, hundreds of volunteers, and three days—that’s all San Joaquin County needs to educate thousands of children, teachers and parents about local agriculture. San Joaquin County produces nearly two-billon dollars in agricultural products, much of that exported out of the county. However, in an ever-growing population the urgency to educate is greater than it has ever been. Through demonstrations, field days, and outreach, farmers are collaborating to build an unconventional partnership focused on the healthy attributes of eating local.

  Moderator: Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Network
  Panelists: Scott Hudson, San Joaquin County Ag Commissioner; Katie Patterson, San Joaquin Farm Bureau’s Foundation for Ag Education; Molly Watkins, Select San Joaquin Program

• Building ‘Netmarkets’ to Support Producer Viability

  How can networks be used to support producers’ economic viability?

  Location: State Building, San Diego A Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  ‘Coopertition’ is how some farmers describe the act of supporting, while simultaneously competing, with your neighboring family farms. Longstanding methods such as farmers markets, as well as innovative models including websites, presidiums, regional trade shows and local grower-centered distribution ventures – are all emerging with new twists on the traditional communal support farmers have always provided each other. Speakers will explores the creative and vital ways that networks of farmers and their representatives are coming together to support the economic and cultural vitality of family farming as a whole.

  Moderator: Aliza Wasserman, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
  Panelists: Laura Avery, Santa Monica Farmers Market Manager/ Supervisor; Paula Shatkin, Slow Food Russian River; Jim Slama, FamilyFarmed.org; Tom Willey, TD Willey Farms

• New Models of Philanthropy for a Changing Food System

  Can philanthropy do more than just make grants?

  Location: State Building, Monterey Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  Savvy foundations are using recoverable investments to catalyze positive ecological and social impact. In this workshop, learn about new developments in the world of program related investing (“PRI”). The range of options is expanding and becoming more customized to specific areas of sustainable food and agriculture. Panelists will explore the role that funders and other social investors can play in accelerating the movement of capital to this important sector.

  Moderator: Lisa Richter, GPS Capital Partners
  Panelists: Matthew Buck, The Food Alliance; Curt Riffle, David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Don Shaffer, RSF Social Finance; Jason Winship, Sea Change Management, LLC

• Triple Bottom Line: The Real Returns of Good, Clean and Fair

  What does clean cost?

  Location: Federal Building, California Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  Can a business do well by doing good? Or is the high cost of producing and serving food that is good, clean and fair too much to bear? Four dynamic entrepreneurs will talk about their passions, their triumphs and the obstacles they face in managing businesses designed to achieve triple bottom line results.

  Moderator: Larry Bain, Let’s Be Frank
  Panelists: Erin Gaines, Stanford University Dining Services; Nicolette Hahn-Niman, Writer/Rancher; Karen Heisler, Pie Ranch; Marc Pastore, Incanto/Boccalone

• Rich Diet, Poor Communities: Real Solutions to a Real Problem

  How do we advocate for, source, prepare and serve good food to people in need?

  Location: Federal Building, Nevada Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  Food providers and activists discuss challenges and strategies for procuring fresh and sustainable food for lo- income and needy populations. Panelists discuss how legislation, economics, education, and accessibility intersect to determine the degree of food security in many communities. This cadre of food security advocates and front line resource managers discuss what the impact of changes in food streams are having on our communities nutritionally, economically, and culturally, and the dialogs that need to happen between food provider communities, farmers, and legislatures to bring food security to everyone.

  Moderator: Michael Kearney, St. Anthony Foundation
  Panelists: John Curry, San Francisco Food Bank; Jason Harvey, Oakland Food Connection; Dan Schumann, Project Open Hand; Mark Winne, Community Food Security Coalition

• Nutrition for All: Improving Community Health

  How do we better link food system work and health education?

  Location: Federal Building, Arizona Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  Food education is about more than nutritional value of different foods. It is about reframing our reasons to care about nutrition from a political perspective. What and where we eat is not just a matter of individual choice, cooking skills and better health resolutions. It is equally or more a product of the retail food environment, community safety, employment opportunities, transportation, and media messages that promote disdain for low-income and minority communities. It is about cost and convenience and reluctance of business to share information on calories of items on the menu. It is about major food stores moving out of the inner cities, or never being located in poor rural areas. It is about school boards having long-standing contracts with vendors of unhealthy foods for our children. It is about equity in poor quality products being sold in some stores, and higher quality in others in the same chain. It is about blaming the victim for obesity, poor health and disparities in health while those who control food systems bear no accountability. This panel will explore how individuals can recapture their health today and be part of the effort to preserve our human and natural resources in agriculture for tomorrow.

  Moderator: Sylvia Drew Ivie, South L.A. Community Kitchen, Roots of Change Stewardship Council
  Panelists: Colleen Cavanaugh, Campaign for Better Nutrition; Ann Cooper, Berkeley Unified School District; Laurie True, California WIC Association

• Carrots and Carrots: Accelerating Food System Change using Profit, Sustainable Certification, and Social Marketing

  How do we accelerate food system change using economic incentives, sustainable certification, and social marketing?

  Location: Federal Building, Hawaii Room | Time: 4:30pm –5:45pm

  This workshop will explore how the food system can be moved towards greater sustainability by harnessing the power of the marketplace. The energy to drive a change can be found only if each link in the food production and distribution chain gains by adopting the practices and values of sustainable agriculture and proving that they have done so to the other links.

  Moderator: David Visher, Food Alliance
  Panelists: Linda Adams, University Dining Services by Sodexo; Scott Exo, Food Alliance; Brian Kenny, Hearst Ranch Beef; Peter Truitt, Truitt Brothers Inc.

• Starting From Scratch: Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE)

  Location: State Building, Santa Barbara Room | Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm

  This session will explore the BALLE network, from its founding and purpose to how to start a local network in your area or plug into an existing one. BALLE’s mission is to catalyze, strengthen, and connect local business networks dedicated to building Local Living Economies, which include strong local food systems built on sustainable agriculture.

  BALLE envisions a sustainable global economy as a network of Local Living Economies, which build long-term economic empowerment and community prosperity through local business ownership, economic justice, cultural diversity, and a healthy natural environment.

  Speaker: Todd Mills, BALLE