Advancing Our Regional Foodshed: The Role of Higher Education

The The Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges & Universities' 7th annual meeting and conference, Advancing Our Regional Foodshed: The Role of Higher Education, is bringing together small-scale, family farms; chefs/restaurant owners; agricultural policy experts; farm-to-table non-profits; academic researchers and others to foster an interdisciplinary, multi-perspective conversation about the fundamental questions surrounding our foodshed.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Opening Keynote by Christian Peters, Assistant Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, and lead author of “Mapping potential foodsheds in New York State: A spatial model for evaluating the capacity to localize food production” (Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2009).

Evening documentary film screening of The Greenhorns, with special guest speaker Benjamin Shute, Co-Owner and Farmer, Hearty Roots Community Farm.

Confirmed Speakers (updated list):
• Polly Armour, Co-Founder and Farmer, Four Winds Farm
• Jacquie Berger, Executive Director, Just Food, NYC
• Stephanie Boyd, Director, Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, Williams College
• Heath Braunstein, Director Purchasing & Food Safety, Lackmann Culinary Services
• Jean-Paul Courtens, Farmer, Roxbury Farm
• Daniel Guenther, Farmer, Educator and Activist, Brook Farm Project
• David Haight, Director, New York Chapter, American Farmland Trust
• Peter Hoffman, Chef and Owner, Savoy Restaurant
• Jill Isenbarger, Executive Director, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
• Michael Mascarenhas, Assistant Professor, Science & Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Ann McMahon, Coordinator, NYS Council on Food Policy, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets
• Fabio Parasecoli, Coordinator, Department of Food Studies, The New School
• Richard A. Plunz, Director, Urban Design Lab, Earth Institute of Columbia University
• Andrew C. Revkin, Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding, Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, Pace University
• Thomas Sleight, Executive Director, New York Farm Viability Institute

MORE HIGHLIGHTS
• Interdisciplinary Poster Session (abstract deadline 9/15)
• Exhibitor Expo
• Book Table
• Field Trip to the Pfeiffer Center for Biodynamics and the Environment