Thank you for visiting this events page. Please submit food system events so that we can include them in this listing.
Join fellow travelers from October 25 through November 19 to practice "the art of being fully human in a time of crisis"
Four weeks to connect, share gifts, learn, and support one another in our work and our lives
Farmworkers and other agricultural laborers, such as those working in meat processing and packing facilities, are on the frontlines of toxic pesticide exposure and other human rights violations. Farm work is one of the most dangerous professions and continues a legacy of agricultural injustice and racism in the United States. When we participate in an industrial agricultural system, we participate in the oppression of farmworkers. Join us as we hear from Araceli and Elisa, two farmworker women, and Lariza Garzón, the Executive Director of the Episcopoal Farmworker Ministry as they share their experiences and ideas for creating change.
The Women, Food, and Agriculture Network offers a platform, with our conference, to advocate and agitate for social transformation in our lives, communities, and shared work. We are committing to the following statements as our guiding 2021 WFAN Conference principles--and we invite you to join us.
Join Indigenous Seed Keeper Rowen White and Black cook activist Jocelyn Jackson to dream into a food culture of liberation & care on November 4th, at the first Around The Table event of RFRS' new virtual series.
How can we reclaim our shared food culture to feed our collective care, healing, liberation, and joy? This is the question at the heart of Real Food Real Stories' (RFRS) November 4th virtual roundtable. Join celebrated food activists, Mohawk Seed Keeper and farmer Rowen White and Black culinary artist and Peoples Kitchen Collective co-founder Jocelyn Jackson, for an electrifying conversation on decolonizing mainstream food culture, and the role food culture plays in shaping our lives, stories, and dreams for the future.
A new virtual series, Around The Table events feature informal conversations with thought leaders, elders, organizers, and culture-bearers working at the intersection of food, culture, place, and power. Together, we take a deep dive––sinking our teeth into the juicy stories, live questions, and challenging conversations buzzing in our ecosystems.
Young Farmers 7th Annual National Leadership Convergence will be held virtually as the second half of a two-year event with the theme of “Achieving Equity Through Agriculture.“ In 2021 we will gather in a hybrid virtual and in-person format to move from learning to action to make equitable change in our own food and farming communities.
Last Convergence four hundred farmers, ranchers, and supporters from across the country gathered virtually for a week in November to build a shared understanding of the racist histories of American agriculture, and how we came to have the food and farming systems we do today.
The New England State Food Systems Planners Partnership, composed of the six leading NGOs responsible for supporting development and implementation of their state’s food system plan and part of the Food Solutions New England regional network, is leading the New England Feeding New England Project. Our mission is to expand and fortify the region’s food supply and distribution systems to ensure the availability of adequate, affordable, socially, and culturally appropriate products under a variety of rapidly changing climate, environmental, and public health conditions. We are creating a roadmap to achieve our short-term goal that by 2030, 30% of the food consumed in New England is harvested, produced, raised, and caught within New England.
We are inviting you to a discussion and quarterly information meeting on November 16, 2021 from 12:15-1:30pm.
Join us for another insightful conversation with Barbie Izquierdo, Jimmieka Mills, and Diane Sullivan on how and why organizations should engage people with lived and living experiences with hunger and poverty.
During this conversation the team will welcome a special guest, Alissa Beers of the Center for Health Care Strategies, to highlight practical tips for centering the knowledge and perspectives of community members with lived and living experiences. The group will share learnings around how organizations can develop effective and sustainable partnerships and will hold time to address audience questions.
What is Land Justice, and how can we form meaningful partnerships with historically excluded people to build more resilient regions and communities? How can Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs) support, amplify, and replicate the successes of neighborhoods, grassroots groups, communities, networks, and organizations already driving Land Justice work in the Northeast? How can we work toward more equitable, sustainable, and just land-use patterns? How do we balance our conservation missions with the imperative of advancing land justice and equity—NOW?
White-led higher education institutions such as 1862 land grant universities and other public/private universities in the U.S. often have an incredibly rich array of resources, programs, and networks that support the growth and success of their educators (including those in Cooperative Extension), students, and researchers. However, many who work for, study at, or partner with these higher education institutions are less aware of the networks and systems that support the success of educators, students, and researchers at 1994 Land Grant Tribal Colleges and Universities, 1890 Land Grant Universities (historically Black universities established under the second Morrill Act of 1890), and Hispanic Serving Institutions.
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, join the Norwalk Historical Society via Zoom on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 6:00pm for the virtual lecture, "Food Sovereignty in Native America", with guest presenter Rachel Sayet of the Mohegan Tribe.
Join Rachel Sayet of the Mohegan Tribe as she discusses her work with the Mohegan Tribe’s Cultural Department where she developed food sovereignty initiatives and continued her community-based research focused on promoting traditional foods. She will also explain her most recent project, the Native Food Discussion Group, created to bring community members into discussion about Native foodways and to record traditional knowledge about seasonal eating, harvesting, growing and fishing practices.
The Disparity to Parity project (see https://disparitytoparity.org/) has explored issues around agriculture and fairness in the United States, but we have always seen these issues in the broader international context of human rights, globalization and social movements that extend beyond national borders. The concept of parity is grounded in fair prices for farmers, but it extends beyond that to issues of environmental, cultural and social justice for producers and their communities. In this webinar, we will hear from partners around the world about what the concept of parity means in their context, as well as the international policies and agreements that need to be changed. The webinar will be held on the eve of the World Trade Organization Ministerial. It will also honor the successes of the Indian Farmer Protests, as well as plans for the November 26 General Strike in solidarity with the farmers’ demands. We hope it will serve as input for critical reflection on the failures of neoliberal globalization and the need for alternatives that advance food sovereignty and agroecology.
The webinar is hosted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the American University Center for Environment, Community, and Equity, and the National Family Farm Coalition.
The Department of Agriculture's civil rights record is among the worst in the federal government. Black farmers have lost hundreds of billions in land and income since 1910 in large part due to federal policies—implemented by USDA—designed to drive them out of business. Despite sporadic attempts to reform the department's civil rights process, farmers, advocates, and reporters have continued to document widespread discrimination within the department in recent years. After Congress created a debt cancellation program for Black farmers in response to USDA's discriminatory lending practices, opposition groups brought the program to a halt through litigation. Our panelists will examine USDA's civil rights record, share their experiences in the fight for debt cancellation, and analyze the legal issues at stake, many of which will have important repercussions for public policy in the coming decades. Co-hosted by The Counter.
Join us for a deep dive into understanding how traditional philanthropic practices have negatively impacted movements led by people of color, specifically understanding “movement capture” and how participatory grantmaking practices aim to address those negative impacts.
Our sessions will feature BIPOC centered participatory processes, and how committee selection, orientation, committee support, and the deliberative process look like for these models.
Join us in a roundtable discussion as PAN journeys towards decolonizing permaculture. We wish to create a frank conversation modelling vulnerability and transparency, moving past decolonization and moving towards equity. This event will include a panel with PAN board members and breakout groups with attendees.
Whether you have just started to study about decolonization or have been an activist or a community leader for years, we all have a place on this learning continuum. We invite you to join us as we learn together and share our experiences.
Black farmers have a rich history and promising future in the United States, even though the Black history of agriculture is often reduced to slavery and cotton plantations. In Farming While Black (2018), Leah Penniman argues that justice for Black people, farmers and otherwise, requires learning about Black histories of agriculture, creating new experiences in the natural world, and getting in touch with our food systems. With a panel of Black scholars, farmers, and activists, in this webinar we explore what justice for Black farmers is today, what it has been in the past, and what it can be in the future.
Esteemed Panelists:
Maya Allen, PhD Candidate in Botany | The University of New Mexico
Teona Williams, PhD Candidate in History | Yale University
Ashley Gripper, PhD Candidate in Environmental Epidemiology | Harvard University
Laquanda Dobson, Chef and Farming Activist
Jayson Porter, PhD candidate in History | Northwestern University & Social Justice Intern | The Organic Center (Discussion Leader)
This webinar is open to all and will be recorded and made available on demand
Recounting stories from the early twentieth century and across generations to the present, the recent book In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California (2021, NYU Press) by Daniel O’Connell and Scott Peters brings together the experiences of eight politically engaged scholars, documenting their opposition to industrial-scale agribusiness in California. As the narrative unfolds, these eight scholars’ previously censored and suppressed research, together with personal accounts of intimidation and subterfuge, is introduced into the public arena for the first time. This event, a part of the Fall 2021 “Food and the Public” series, will begin with these narratives as grounding for a discussion and public discourse on timely agricultural justice and policy issues in New York City and State
Come join us as we explore the last 100 years of school food, and discuss how the history of school lunch can provide context for bringing Farm to School to life in your cafeterias. We will review current policies in place to support Farm to School work and hear from Guy Koppe, a local food service director who has navigated the school food terrain and gained valuable experience using the different resources available to build robust farm to school programs. Not a food service director? This workshop is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about school food and how to become an advocate for farm to school in their community.
Thriving in the Era of Climate Disruption: Resiliency Strategies for Land and Communities This year’s annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference will address food production and land management strategies to help people
Resources, tips, financial and legal considerations and more!
Feel like your family needs to start talking about the future of the farm, but you don't know where to start? Have questions about passing on the farm?
Attend this FREE webinar series for transitioning farmers and junior generation farmers to learn the basics of farm succession planning, how to get started, where to find advisors and additional resources, ask questions of succession planning experts, and get support on this challenging process. All generations, including family and non-family members, who may play a role in the farm’s future are encouraged to attend.
Although the term “regional food system” is used more frequently these days, regional food systems are inadequately understood and valued. "A Regional Imperative: Making the Case for Regional Food Systems", a new Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) report by Kathy Ruhf and Kate Clancy, takes a comprehensive look at regional food systems and makes a compelling case for their importance in food systems change work. Clancy and Ruhf are not new to this topic. This report greatly expands their 2010 NESAWG working paper: "It Takes a Region". As two of NESAWG’s founders, they have championed regionalism and regional food systems as core to NESAWG’s work for over three decades.
Are you an advocate or funder of regional food systems? Do you want to know more about RFS and “thinking regionally”?
Join us on January 26th when the authors will present the key concepts of the report, along with examples from the field. Ruhf and Clancy will distill the material into digestible “take-aways” for food system practitioners, educators, policymakers, funders, researchers and advocates.
Local food procurement is not just about reducing food miles and greenhouse gas emissions but also includes sourcing food that is fair, just, and supports workers' dignity. Today’s labor crisis is stark evidence of the need to listen and respond to the needs of workers in the food system. Join FINE and our speakers from Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network and Migrant Justice to learn more about their worker-driven model, how the model was started, and the organizations that have implemented it. We will discuss what farm to institution stakeholders can learn from this model and how institutions can support worker-driven solutions to long-lasting worker abuses. We’ll also take a closer look at the dairy industry in New England as an example of worker-driven efforts and leadership. Learn more about how farmworkers and allies are making Vermont dairy sustainable, unique, and a source of dignified work for this state.
Join the USDA National Agricultural Library for an event featuring talks by Laurie Beyranevand of Vermont Law School's Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III of the Black Church Food Security Network.
For BIPOC, this series creates space for healing from white supremacy culture and transforming anti-Blackness within ourselves, toward healing our webs of relationships, organizations and societal structures. In this series participants will practice a creative combination of healing practices ranging from embodied awareness to movement, reflection and writing. Join this series to rediscover, relearn, and reimagine in our current crisis-driven reality.
Food systems management takes place in diverse sectors and at different scales. This can include: kitchen management by culinary professionals and chefs; management of food businesses, cooperatives, and organizations; farm management; and labor management – whether worker-led or proprietor-driven. Meanwhile, food justice – as a movement, concept, and field of academic scholarship – insists that inequities in the food system are grounded in social structures such as structural racism, gender-based disparities, and intergenerational wealth and economic inequalities. There are many ways in which a food justice approach is important to supporting socially just and sustainable food systems management, touching upon diverse, but interconnected issues including wage disparity, uneven enforcement of regulations, and inequitable access to start-up capital for sustainable food businesses.
This panel discussion explores these themes from the perspectives of food entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders in non-profit, government, and business sectors. Panelist comments will be followed by audience questions and participatory discussion.
Thank you for visiting this events page. Please submit food system events so that we can include them in this listing.
Food Solutions New England is a regional network supported and coordinated by the University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute.
The FSNE network does not endorse or oppose specific candidates for elected office or proposed legislation. Instead, we seek to inform, educate and advocate for general policy ideas that align with the network’s stated values and vision for a just, sustainable and resilient regional food system. While FSNE receives support from the UNH Sustainability Institute, our activities do not reflect the positions of the University of New Hampshire, the University System of New Hampshire, or its Board of Trustees.
Food Solutions New England (FSNE), The Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire,
131 Main Street, Nesmith 107, Durham, NH 03824 USA | Phone: +1 603-862-8564
TTY 7-1-1 (Relay NH)
