Sowing Seeds Here and Now! A Chesapeake Urban Farming Summit

The Summit

The Sowing Seeds Here Now and Now! Summit promotes community based urban farming because it:

• increases food security and the availability of healthy food,
• decreases unemployment by supplying meaningful green jobs,
• anchors vital resources and wealth in local communities, and
• is a key component in promoting public health and creating a sustainable, just, local food system.

The summit gathers innovative practitioners, farmers, scholars, for-profit and not-for-profit leaders, policy makers and agency directors to discuss specific strategies to help move the urban agriculture movement forward throughout the Chesapeake area.

Click here for more information on the Summit

Sowing Seeds Here and Now!

June 18, 2010

8:00am-5:30pm

Format

Sowing Seeds Here and Now! A Chesapeake Urban Farming Summit

Friday, June 18

Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC)

10300 Baltimore Ave

College Park, MD 20705

Only confirmed speakers are listed;

additional speakers may be added prior to the Summit

8:00 am to 9:00 am Registration (Bldg 5 – Room 21)

Light breakfast provided by Good For You

9:00 am to 11:00 am Keynote Session (Bldg 3 – Auditorium)

Lynchburg Grows (inspirational story)

Welcome to BARC with a short introduction by ECO

Senior Executive Kaiser Permanete

Potomac Vegetable Farms (inspirational story)

Sarah Cavitt, Commisioner Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning

Scott Nash, CEO My Organic Market (MOM's)

Molly Jahn, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economy

Will Allen, CEO Growing Power

10:15 am to 12:45 pm – Breakout Session A

Track 1: Technical Workshops (outdoors/tents)

Urban Farm Design and Business Plan Basics

Learn the basics for planning for new urban agriculture projects.

Trainer: Will Allen, Growing Power; Vinnie Bevivino, Engaged Community Offshoots (ECO)

Track 2: Creating Healthy People (Bldg 3, Auditorium)

Linking Food and Health

Feeding people isn’t only about filling bellies; the quality of what we eat matters. Panelists will discuss how fresh food affects health, at look at programs bringing fresh food to health care institutions and under privileged communities.

Presenters: Celeste James, Kaiser Permanente; Louise Mitchell, Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment; Jody Tick, Capital Area Food Bank

Track 3: Planning for Urban Farms (Bldg 5, Room 21)

Linking Theory and Practice: Baltimore Case Study

Community food mapping systems can help determine locations, size of population that can be served, even what to grow in urban agriculture projects. The experience of Baltimore’s Real Food Farm demonstrates real-life applications of mapping data in urban farm planning.

Presenters: Amanda Behrens, Anne Palmer, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future; Tyler Brown, Real Food Farm

Track 4: Investing in Social and Environmental Justice (Building 3, Room 20)

Farming and Faith Communities

Faith communities can play an important role in fostering access to fresh, local food in partnership with urban and rural farms.

Presenters: Larry Bangs, USDA Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships; Angela Smith, Johns Hopkins Food and Faith Project; Joan Norman, One Straw Farm

12:45 pm to 1:45 pm

Lunch provided by Chipotle

2:00 pm to 3:30 pm – Breakout Session B

Track 1: Technical Workshops (outdoors/tents)

Community Composting

Learn the basics of building a compost system that can turn community and municipal waste into fertile soil for urban gardens and farms.

Trainers: Christian Melendez, Engaged Community Offshoots (ECO),  Brennan Dougherty, Our School At Blair Grocery

Growing with High Tunnels

Low-cost high tunnels can create growing conditions for year-round harvest. Learn how to assemble a high tunnel and incorporate them into urban farm projects.

Trainer: Gene Casey, Greenhouse Growers Cooperative

Track 2: Creating Healthy People (Bldg 3, Auditorium)

Bridging the Gap: Getting Fresh Food to the People

Growing food in urban settings is only half the battle. The panelists will discuss innovative ways of getting food to people who need it at all levels of society.

Presenters: Carl Rollins, community food activist; Tanikka Cunningham, Healthy Solutions DC; Kristin Roberts, DC Hunger Solutions; Maurice Small, City Fresh Social Enterprise

Track 3: Planning for Urban Farms (Bldg 5, Room 21)

Farming in the Middle of Your Market

Eating local is all about getting food as close to the source as possible. Here how farms brand-new urban farms and once-rural farms can be the food source next door through progressive zoning and planning.

Presenters: Gul Guleryuz, M-NCPPC; Hiu Newcomb, Potomac Vegetable Farms; Lisa Rogers, Feed Denver

Track 4: Investing in Social and Environmental Justice (Building 3, Room 20)

Engaging Youth

Panelists share how urban gardens and farms can help teach youth where food comes from and replace food knowledge being lost from one generation to the next.

Presenters: Kaifa Anderson-Hall, Washington Youth Garden; Joanna Katz, Foundations, Inc.  Seeds for Learning; Laurel Sims, Growing Power

3:45 pm to 5:15 pm – Breakout Session C

Track 1: Technical Workshops (outdoors/tents)

Community Composting

Learn the basics of building a compost system that can turn community and municipal waste into fertile soil for urban gardens and farms.

Trainer: Christian Melendez, Engaged Community Offshoots (ECO), Brennan Dougherty, Our School At Blair Grocery

Growing with High Tunnels

Low-cost high tunnels can create growing conditions for year-round harvest. Learn how to assemble a high tunnel and incorporate them into urban farm projects.

Trainer: Gene Casey, Greenhouse Growers Cooperative

Track 2: Creating Healthy People (Bldg 3, Auditorium)

Healthy Food and Farms in Schools

Learn about projects that not only bring fresh food into schools, but take kids to farms and teach urban agriculture as a career path.

Presenters: Andrea Northup, DC Farm to School Network; Greg Strella, Baltimore City Public Schools; Christi Dorsey, Prince George’s County Public Schools;  Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

Track 3: Planning for Urban Farms (Bldg 5, Room 21)

Growing Business Models

Socially responsible businesses need to understand new business models in order to leverage financial capital from a variety of sources. 

Presenters: Christopher Washington, Engaged Community Offshoots (ECO); Cheryl Kollin, Social Enterprise Consultant; Matthew Kochka, Victory Programs reVision Urban Farm; Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin (invited)

Track 4: Investing in Social and Environmental Justice (Building 3, Room 20)

Food and Environmental Justice

Food can be the nexus through which issues such as inclusiveness and environmental responsibility can be brought into the open to help achieve community-wide solutions.

Presenters: Genevieve Villamora, Common Good City Farm Board Member; Chris Bolden-Newsome, Foundations Inc. Seeds for Learning; Lorette Picciano, Rural Coalition; Michael Van Ness, Lynchburg Grows

5:30 pm to 6:00 pm Conclusion / Lessons Learned with Will Allen and Wrap-Up

6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Reception: Light Appetizers / Networking

Provided by Whole Foods