School Food: A “from scratch” discussion.

Presenters: Kate MacKenzie, City Harvest; Toni Liquori, Liquori and Associates; Parent (TBD); School Food Service Worker (TBD); Youth (TBD).

Did you know that the school meal programs had their origins in NYC? Learn the ins and outs of the program that feeds millions of kids, as well as the most effective ways to advocate for change.

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Eat Smart, Eat Local: The top 3 ways local food can impact your health.

Presenters: Christina Dyer, MS, RD/United Way of NYC Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program/Dietitian; Melissa Ayres, MPH/ United Way of NYC Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program/Nutrition Expert on Local Foods; Elizabeth Vukovic Gartlan/City Harvest, Manager of Nutrition Education Programs/Dietitian.

Discover the connection between nutrition, health and eating local foods. Learn which local foods are delicious and nutritious and easy to prepare and store.

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Cheap and Easy: The impact of local, state, & federal policies on what we eat.

Presenters: Roger Doiron, NESAWG; Regional Organizer (ME); Billie Best, NESAWG; Regional Farm and Food Project (Albany, NY).

Our food system is not an accident. Our future food system will be neither cheap nor easy. How did public policy get us here and what can we do to change direction?

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Presenters:Dan Miner, Sierra Club NYC Group; Bill Burke, Tri-State Food Not Lawns.

Food production needs to be re-localized. Long distance shipping of food and ag. products burns more fossil fuels and increases greenhouse gas emissions, the rising cost of fuel makes long distance shipping painfully expensive, and world oil production is expected to peak within ten years. Developing local and regional ag. that doesn't’t rely on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and has minimal energy inputs, is key to re-localization, along with Permaculture, a comprehensive design system for gardening, farming and community design. Action steps to promote local ag. will also be discussed.

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CSA : The future of the movement.

Presenters: Eve Kaplan-Walbrecht, CSA farmer, Garden of Eve; Howard Brandstein, Co-Executive Director, Sixth Street Community Center, 6th Street CSA Coordinator. Facilitator: Paula Lukats, Just Food.

After 22 years of CSA in the Northeast and 12 years in NYC, CSAs have grown, developed and been adapted to the interests of farms and communities. There are many ways in which CSA may continue to develop in the future. Presenters will share their thoughts on the future of CSA and participants will be encouraged to share their ideas and sign up to help with the 2008 CSA Conference and/or join the Just Food CSA Advisory Team.

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Presenters: Rob Bennaton, Community Coordinator (7 years), NYCHA Garden & Greening Program.

In urban areas, soil quality is often impacted by local environmental quality which can then affect the quality and quantity of food and flower crops being produced. This workshop will provide a framework for determining one’s own soil quality using indicators in a community garden setting while promoting the use of organic methods of soil quality improvement. Participants will also leave with significant literature on soil as a natural resource.

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Presenters: Molly Culver, For A Better Bronx, So. Bronx CSA, So. Bronx Community Market Manager; Susan Fields, LMSW, Brooklyn Botanic Garden/GreenBridge; Karen Washington, La Familia Verde Community Garden Coalition, NYC Community Garden Coalition.

What are the connections between a successful and secure local food system and building strong communities? How can we all plug in on the local level (from honey and chickens to planting windowsill boxes) to get away from our current globalized system? Dream big and discover ways to make those dreams a reality.

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Presenters: Ceci Charles-King, Olympus Garden Club, Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Just Food Trainer; Rev. Devanie Jackson.

This interactive workshop will explore the concepts of Food Justice, Food Security, and Food Sovereignty. Discover what new and exciting projects are happening in NYC and how New Yorkers are working to build a more just and sustainable food system.

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Developing Youth Curricula: In gardens, for schools.

Presenters: Gretchen Ferenz, Garden Mosaics; Jonah Braverman, ENY Farms!; Joemi Regalado, ENY Farms!; Sara Epstein, Coordinator, Project Green Reach, BBG; Steff Lyon, Project Green Reach, BBG. Facilitator: Christina Chapman, Added Value.

The incredible diversity, color and hands-on potential of a garden environment make it the ultimate school yard. Learn new techniques and activities that will transform your garden into the perfect educational tool.

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Supermarket Literacy: How to shop the market for your health and planet.

Presenter: Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of “The Real Food Revival”. Facilitator: Irene Hamburger.

The supermarket can be a resource for a healthy diet and a healthy home. But how can rows of fructose filled entrées, snacks, and treats provide families with the balanced nutrition that is needed? This workshop will discuss ways to navigate the grocery aisles, and incorporate greenmarkets/CSAs into your weekly shopping, and we’ll discuss ways to promote and enacting change on the store shelves.

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Online Technology and New Media: Marketing and sharing information in the digital age.

Presenter: Kerry Trueman, www.eatingliberally.or; Rebecca Bray, Submersible. Facilitator: Diane Hatz, Sustainable Table/The Meatrix.

Learn about blogs, online videos, social networking and other ways to use new technology cheaply (or free!) to get your message or information out to the public.

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Mini Training of Trainers.

Presenters: Owen Taylor, Just Food Urban Training and Livestock Coordinator; Solita Stephens, Olympus Garden Club, Just Food Trainer.

Do you want to move beyond the PowerPoint presentations and lectures? In this workshop, discover the different ways people learn, and develop a better sense of how to design a workshop that not only reaches people more effectively, but is more fun!

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Presenters: Kate Granger, New Farmer Development Project Director; Benjamin Shute, Farmer; Chris & Eve Kaplan-Walbrecht, Farmers; John Ameroso, Cornell Cooperative Extension Agent. Facilitator: Emily Gunther, Just Food.

How do you get started farming in the Northeast and what does it entail? Learn from farmers and the people who work with them. Workshop includes an open Q & A.

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Making Food Democracy Work: Advocacy 101

Presenter: Kathy Lawrence, independent consultant on sustainable and just food systems, project development and non-profit management.

Learn how important citizen advocates are in creating true democracy as well as easy ways for ANYBODY to get engaged. If you’ve always wanted to be more active in shaping your community and country but haven’t known where to start, this is the workshop for you.

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NESAWG Annual Meeting: Part 1

Facilitator: Kathy Ruhf

Everyone is welcome to NESAWG’s 15th annual meeting -- short, sweet, and inspiring. Find out what the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group is all about and what’s going on in the Northeast region.

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Social Food Entrepreneurs: Cooking up missions that are making a difference in the marketplace.

Presenters: Jessamyn Waldman, Founding Director, Hot- BreadKitchen; Jessica Rolph, Founding Partner and COO, HappyBaby. Facilitator: Pritha RaySircar

Learn how these social change activists are using the business of food to change the world, right here in New York.

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GOOD FOOD: Short films on food and sustainability

Presenters: Leah Sapin, Festival & Outreach Manager, Media That Matters Film Festival

Media That Matters will present some short films on food and sustainability, discuss the work they do and answer questions.

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NESAWG Annual Meeting: Part 2

Facilitator: Kathy Ruhf

Part 2 of NESAWG’s Annual Meeting, a continuation.

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Capturing the NY Market: How to attract and maintain NY customers

Presenters: Annie Farrell, Millstone Farm; Anne Saxelby, Proprietor of Saxelby Cheesemongers. Facilitator: Jacquie Berger, Just Food.

Have your marketing challenges and questions answered by two savvy agricultural marketers. Learn how to market your products more effectively.

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Author's Panel

Panelists: Mark Winne, “Closing the Food Gap”, Joan Gussow, “This Organic Life”, and Alexandra Zissu, “The Complete Organic Pregnancy”.

Join this ultimate book club at lunch. Have your questions answered by the authors, hear first hand experiences, and discover how each story came to life.

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Presenters: Alyson Abrami, Healthy Bodega Campaign; Park Slope Food Co-op; Cara Fraver- Just Food, Caroline Sidanza, Executive Chef, Marlow and Sons; Holly Freishtat, Food and Society Policy Fellow, Cultivate Health, Healthcare Without Harm. Facilitator: Kate MacKenzie, City Harvest.

Hear from those in the trenches. How do local farmers and institutions connect? What are the challenges and joys of sourcing locally? How can we incorporate more local foods in your diet? How can we encourage more New Yorkers to buy local? What steps can we take to ensure more stores carry local foods?

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Food Safety 101: How to eat safely and sustainably.

Presenter: Kristyn E. LaPlante, Food Safety Monitoring and Training, City Harvest.

What journey does our food take from field to processing plant to plate? How can our food become contaminated? What can we do to protect ourselves and the environment? Learn the basics of food safety and discuss the current trends in food recalls.

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Overcoming Health Disparities and Planting Seeds of Social Change: Equity in survival for all beings to build neighborhood health.

Presenters: Molly Culver, Trevor Nicholas, Rachael Leiner, Sache’l Williams, For A Better Bronx.

What are health disparities and why do they exist? How do factors like race and class impact these disparities? How can we help create equal access to healthy food?

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Presenters: Aley Kent, Heifer International; Additional Panelist TBD. Facilitator: Christina Schiavoni

This workshop will connect NYC’s food security and food justice movements with the global movement for food sovereignty. We will build on recent exchanges in which international farmer leaders strategized with NYC’s urban farmers and food justice advocates on creating alliances and building solidarity across borders.

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The Future of Farmers’ Markets: City farms, Greenmarkets, Harvest Homes, youth.

Panelists: June Russell and David Hughes, Greenmarket; Karen Washington, La Familia Verde Farmers Market, City Farms Markets; Ian Marvy, Added Value, Brooklyn’s Bounty; Diane Eggert, Farmers Market Federation of NY; Bob Lewis, NY Department of Agriculture and Markets. Facilitator: Sara Katz, Drew Gardens/West Farmers Market.

This workshop will discuss the present and future of NYC’s farmers markets, and develop steps and ideas that will take us from the present to our vision of the future. A break-out session will follow the panelists’ presentations to allow participants to discuss ideas in small group settings before rejoining the big group for the final discussion and action plans.

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Livestock in the City: Bees, worms, chickens and goats.

Presenters: Roger Repohl, Genesis Park Garden, Bronx Beekeeper; Owen Taylor, Just Food City Chicken Project, Just Food Urban Training and Livestock Coordinator; Eric Toensmeier, Nuestras Raises, Tierra de Oportunidades Farm Director; Karla Osorio-Perez, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Compost Project. Facilitator: Aley Kent, Heifer International NE Prog. Office.

In cities throughout the world, livestock play essential roles: feeding communities, improving soil, recycling waste, pollinating crops and providing learning opportunities for kids and adults. Panelists will share how livestock has benefited their urban communities, whether it is honeybees in the Bronx, hogs and goats in Holyoke, MA, chickens throughout the five boroughs or worms in Brooklyn. The discussion will be facilitated and framed by Aley Kent who will speak about livestock projects in cities throughout the U.S.

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BEE POLICY [Word/PDF]

Got rights? Farm workers don’t. Building a Just Food System for All

Presenters: Jordan Wells, Rural and Migrant Ministry; Matthew Kurek, Golden Earthworm Farm; Tom Fritzsche, Just Harvest; Professor Margaret Gray, Adelphi University. Facilitator: Angela Davis, Just Food.

As the sustainable food movement has increased in visibility, the working conditions of those who pick our food have received very little attention. Farm workers do not have the same rights as other workers and are very vulnerable to exploitation. The sustainable food movement must include farm worker rights as one of its top priorities. Our food system can not be truly just and sustainable, unless farm workers are paid living wages with safe working conditions.

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Presenters: Fern Gale Estrow, FGE Food and Nutrition Team; Stephanie Demmons, Oxfam; Liana Hoodes, Nat’l Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture; Aimee Whittiman, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Facilitator: Kathy Ruhf

Major themes, successes and challenges around the 2007 Farm Bill. How and why people should be involved, even in NYC.

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Accessing media with food and farm issues.

Presenters: Dana Bowen, Deputy Editor, Saveur Magazine; Gabrielle Langholtz, Greenmarket Manager of Publicity & Special Projects; Mark Winne, Winne Associates. Facilitator: Irene Hamburger

Conveying your organization’s point-of-view and achievements to the media is as fundamental to the success of your efforts as planning and implementation. Through conversation and hands on problem solving, we’ll discuss ways in which you can develop your story, balance the needs of your constituencies, and formulate a message that will provide effective and meaningful access to the printed, internet, & broadcast press.

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Presenter: Leda Meredith, PSCSA, BBG, NYBG

Learn how to eat locally even during winter. Workshop includes canning demonstration, a discussion on food preservation methods (with handouts), a discussion on where to source local ingredients in winter and indoor growing options for fresh ingredients.

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Involving Youth in Urban Farms and Markets: The example of East New York.

Presenters: Joemi Regalado, CSA Intern at East NY Farms!; Taylor Gordon, Youth Intern at East NY Farms!; Jonah Braverman, Urban Agriculture Coordinator at East NY Farms!.

Learn from the experience and success of East NY Farms! Workshop includes an introduction to the work of East NY Farms!, insights into the challenges and joys of setting up a youth run farmers market, and a demonstration of how returning interns teach East New York Farms! workshops.

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Support for Sustainability: How can farmers become more sustainable?

Presenters: Greg Swartz, farmer, Interim Executive Director of NOFA-NY; Scott Chaskey, CSA farmer, Quail Hill Farm, Governing Council President for NOFA-NY. Facilitator: Paula Lukats, Just Food.

Explore the sustainability of farms from various perspectives- environmental, economic, and social. Learn about the many challenges to sustainability that farmer’s face and what steps we can take to help them increase and maintain the sustainability of their farms.

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Influencing Food Policy Councils: More civic engagement in NYC and NY State.

Presenters: Mark Dunlea, Esq. Associate Director, Hunger Action Network of New York State; Bob Stern, NYS Assembly Task Force on Food, Farm and Nutrition Policy Agency; Joel Berg, Executive Director, New York City Coalition Against Hunger; Fern Gale Estrow, MS, RD, CDN Chair, Food Systems Network NYC.

With a New York State Food Policy Council (NYS FPC) and an interest in NYC to be proactive in food systems policy, what can we do to participate and have an impact? Work with those who helped at the city and state level to reestablish the NYS FPC to identify recommendations for on-going community based participation.

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Making Food Democracy Work: Advocacy 201

Presenters: Tom Forster, Community Food Security Coalition; Kathy Lawrence, independent consultant on sustainable and just food systems, project development and non-profit management.

Join a lively and highly participatory workshop that explores what makes for successful advocacy. Discover which strategies work for individuals, organizations and coalitions, how to build relationships with legislators, and learn about hot button issues and upcoming advocacy opportunities. If you are interested in transforming our food system by learning and working with other advocates, come join us! Together we can make a bigger impact.

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SESSION THREE is designed to bring people together who are interested in a particular issue and want to strategize and/or organize ways to continue working on the issue after the Summit is over. Some groups that already exist are looking to add strength to their network. These groups are listed below. We encourage you to meet with them, learn more and get involved, if that is your area of interest.

Federal Policy: Farm Bill and beyond.

Facilitator: Kathy Lawrence, independent consultant on sustainable and just food systems, project development and non-profit management.

The fight for a better Farm Bill isn’t over yet. Join Kathy Lawrence to get a better understanding of what happens now and how your voice is still needed to influence the Bill, from its implementation and funding to rulemaking and public comment.

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Community garden protection, expansion.

Facilitator: Aresh Javadi, More Gardens.

Interested in creating more gardens in NYC? Want to find out how to protect what we already have? Curious about why community gardens might be threatened in NYC? Nobody knows the nitty gritty of community garden protection like Aresh Javadi of More Gardens. Join him and get involved in protecting our gardens!

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School Food

Facilitator: Toni Liquori, Liquori and Associates.

Join a veteran of the School Food fight to find out how you can add your voice and skills to the ongoing effort to bring New York food into New York schools.

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New Models for Institutions

Facilitator: Kate MacKenzie, City Harvest

What distribution models are needed to supply local food to institutions? Continue the conversation with experts, advocates, and innovators and identify what steps are needed to move forward.

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Peas Corps

Facilitator: Karen Washington, La Familia Verde Farmers Market, City Farms Markets.

Join one of New York’s most beloved urban farmers and community activists at the first-ever meeting of Peas Corps. Peas Corps is a volunteer group community gardeners can call on when they need assistance with clearing brush, planting seeds, moving heavy objects and collecting their harvest.

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State and Local Policy: Food policy councils and beyond.

Facilitator: Fern Gale Estrow, MS, RD, CDN, The FGE Food and Nutrition Team.

Whether you already work with the Food Systems Network NYC, The Food and Fitness Partnership and/or the New York State Food Policy Council or would like to become more active in these initiatives, please join us. By working collaboratively, we can reinforce and energize the existing efforts.

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Green Edge Collaborative NYC

Facilitator: Carolyn Gilles, Green Edge Collaborative NYC.

The Green Edge Collaborative is a Brooklyn-based organization dedicated to educating our community about the impact of individual consumption choices on society and the environment. They are committed to inspiring local action to create momentum for change. Website: www.GreenEdgeNYC.org

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Global Food, Land and Ag. Debate at the UN

Facilitator: Thomas Forster, Community Food Security Coalition, International Partners for Sustainable Agriculture.

In 2008 and 2009, the United Nations will take up the topics of food, land and agriculture. These meetings will bring leaders from hundreds of farm, food and peasant movements to New York. Find out how you can showcase your work and join forces on issues like food justice, food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture and the right to food.

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