Iowa Hunger Calendar
Community Food Systems Conference 2019
Hosted by New Entry Sustainable Farming Project and Georgia Farmers Market Association
Sign up for our conference e-list here!
The partners will build on the momentum of the 2017 Community Food Systems Conference and GFMA’s Food for Thought Conference. The 2019 Community Food Systems Conference will address common underlying themes between food security, social justice and sustainable agriculture including obstacles in urban and rural environments and fostering community empowerment to create and sustain resilient local food systems.
Sagdrina Jalal is the founding Executive Director of the Georgia Farmers Market Association: a state wide organization led by farmers, farmers market managers and other local food advocates. The Association has 160 members. GFMA seeks to support communities in growing healthy local food systems and foster pathways to equitable food access. GFMA emerged from a vision to strengthen the state’s farmers market infrastructure by shaping public policy, offering statewide representation, increasing whole food access and providing training and educational opportunities. GFMAenables markets to thrive, grow, and multiply and the organization includes Board representation from all constituencies and regions within the state.
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project’s (New Entry) mission is to improve the local and regional food systems by training the next generation of farmers to produce food that is sustainable, nutritious, and culturally-appropriate and making this food accessible to individuals regardless of age, mobility, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. In doing this work, they provide critical training, career development, and economic opportunity to new farmers. New Entry conducted the Community Food Systems Conference in Boston in December 2017.
The 2017 Community Food Systems Conference was held December 5 – 7, 2017 at the Boston Park Plaza, with the conference reception held at the Boston Public Market. 550 people participated over the course of the 3 day event. Pre-conference workshops offered intensive sessions diving into specific topics, and field trips gave attendees a look at community food systems initiatives in action in the Boston area. The keynote address was given by Winona LaDuke and a plenary panel session featured Suzanne Adely (Food Chain Workers Alliance), Aleya Fraser (Black Dirt Farm Collective), Malik Yakini (Detroit Black Community Food Security Network), and was moderated by Andy Fisher (former Executive Director of Community Food Security Coalition). The conference and reception featured performances by Urban Youth, with the organization Appetite for Change based in North Minneapolis, MN. You can find our 2017 Community Food Systems Conference Impact Report on our website here and more information here.
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-33800-25610.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For more information, please contact:
Lindsay Davies at Lindsay.Davies@tufts.edu or 978-654-6745,
Sagdrina Jalal at sagdrina@mygeorgiamarket.org or (404) 271-0071
www.nesfp.org | www.mygeorgiamarket.org