Let's chat: Options for derecho-damaged crops and cover crops
2020-08-25 07:30 - 08:30 (America/Chicago)
Join Practical Farmers of Iowa for a call next Tuesday, August 25 at 7:30 a.m. CDT to learn more about options for managing derecho-damaged crops and prioritizing cover crops, and to share your concerns.

Speakers will include Mark Licht of ISU Extension, Susan Kozak of IDALS, Mark Gutierrez of USDA-RMA, Mike Henderson of NRCS and Tim Bardole of Iowa Soybean Association.

7 $ecrets of Effective Farmers Webinar Series: Succession Planning
2020-10-01 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
University of Tennessee Institute of Agricultureâ€™s free monthly webinar series covers a variety of topics related to effective farm business management, marketing, and planning. This session focuses on succession planning.Â Learn more and register.

Virtual Soil Health and Climate Listening Session 3
2020-10-06 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
Farmer, rural, or urban, we are coming together to share our stories, brainstorm how to advance climate solutions and equity through public agricultural policy, and get ready to take action together. Join Land Stewardship Project’s Soil Health and Climate Organizing Committee to share your story on soil health and climate, brainstorm how to build soil and mitigate the climate crisis through agricultural policy, and learn about how to get engaged in LSP’s Soil Health and Climate Issue Campaign!
This is a virtual Zoom event. To best participate, having Zoom on a computer or smart phone is best, but is not required. Calling in with a landline or cell phone is also an option.Questions? Contact LSP policy organizer Amanda Koehler at 612-400-6355 orÂ via e-mail.
Please click the link below to register for this Soil Health and Climate Campaign event.
Virtual Soil Health and Climate Listening Session 3

Historical Structural Racism in the Food System Workshop, Part II
2020-10-15 13:30 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Recognizing that the U.S. agricultural system was built on systemic racism and continues to oppress and dispossess Black, Indigenous and communities of color, it is important to center examples of present-day grassroots resistance by those same communities as they continue to create solutions to a problem they did not create. Learn how white people and white organizations should support these communities. We request that anyone who wasnâ€™t able to attend Part I watches the recording before attending Part II.

After the presentation, participants will take a break, then divide into structured racial affinity spaces for one hour. Affinity groups are an opportunity for different identity groups based on race, gender, class, ability, and other identity markers to discuss topics related to their shared identity in an intentionally created safer space than in a larger group of varying differing identities. Here are two links to learn more about affinity spaces fromÂ Racial Equity ToolsÂ andÂ Just Lead WA.
The full cost of this workshop is $45, but we encourage you to pay the fee that feels right for your budget. The speakerâ€™s compensation is not dependent on revenue generated by the workshop. In addition to, or instead of contributing to the registration fee, we encourage you to make a financial contribution to one of these organizations:

Black Dirt Farm Collective
Three Part Harmony Farm
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Soil Generation
Earthbound Building

In an effort to build a space where all participants feel safety, dignity and belonging, participants are asked to answer a few questions about their understanding of racism. We reserve the right to cancel (and refund) any registrants whose answers we feel will compromise this effort.
About the hosts:
Xavier Brown, M.S. (he/his) is a native of Washington, DC and a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He operates at the boundaries of urban agriculture, environmental sustainability, and African Diasporic culture. His work intertwines sustainability with the issues that impact stressed communities from gun violence to mass incarceration. By studying the practices of indigenous people and going back to ancestral knowledge, Xavier is creating a new sustainability movement that is healing the people and the land by reconnecting our sacred relationship to the earth.
Sade Anderson, PhD (she/her) is a mother, racial justice organizer, facilitator, and member of Black Dirt Farm Collective which focuses on reconnecting Black people throughout the African Diaspora back to land through ancestral ways of remembering, being, and living. Dr. Andersonâ€™s food justice and sovereignty work in Wards 7 & 8 of the nationâ€™s capital culminated in her doctoral dissertation entitled Black Food Matters: Surviving Anti-Blackness and Food Insecurity in Washington, D.C. Sade has ample experience building connections and relationships across multiple identities through gardening, cooking, political education, strategic design/planning, as well as facilitation & training.
Affinity Space Facilitators:
Beth Schermerhorn (she/they) is a racial equity community planner, organizer, facilitator, and ecological landscape designer based in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
She was raised on Hanover County, VA homegrown tomatoes; sliced every summer evening after dinner with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, along with a hefty dose of white supremacist culture on top. Beth has spent her life dedicated to dismantling white supremacist culture within herself, her community, and within work cultures while building multi-racial, multi-identity organizing spaces to build radical power, love, and community.
Her work has included building worker-owned collectives, food equity planning, racial equity facilitation and training, community planning with environmental justice communities, land access for immigrant farmers, prison abolition, and urban agriculture.
Jonathan McRay is a farmer, facilitator, and writer in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He is passionate about land care, healthy culture and community, and the renewable use of energy, from sunlight to calories to conflict!
He grew up in Central Appalachia and worked overseas before completing an MA in Conflict Transformation and Restorative Justice, during which time he helped found, garden, and mediate for an urban farm, education center, and supportive home. Jonathan regularly teaches classes and workshops on cultural ecology and restorative justice and is a member of the Speakers Collective ofÂ Soul Fire Farm, where heâ€™s co-facilitated Uprooting Racism in the Food System training.
Through the Cambium Collective, he consults with and facilitates groups and organizations to transform conflict, understand power and oppression, and shape liberating visions and decisions. Jonathan grows beautiful and useful plants withÂ Blacks Run Forest Farm, a riparian nursery and folk school rooted in love and living soil, committed to remediating the toxins that pollute our souls, society, and soil, from chemical leaching to white supremacy.

Fence Options for Grazing Cover Crops & Corn Residue: Goodhue
2020-10-29 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
SFA’s ongoing Dirt Rich work continues this summer with four in-person events that feature expert knowledge and farm information focused on the Five Principles of Soil Health and especially, in the case of these events, livestock integration.
Each event will be led by SFA Senior Technical Advisor Kent Solberg and the accompanying SFA staff farmer host. These in-person events will be limited to 10 participants each to follow appropriate social distancing guidelines. Registration is free for current SFA members and $40/nonmembers.Â SFA recommends bringing face masks to its events.
This event will be cancelled if there are fewer than 5 registrants by October 25. If cancelled, registrants will be notified on October 26 and non-members will be reimbursed. Please register timely!

Why Trees Die in Silvopasture (and how you can help save them!)
2020-11-02 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) for part two of a three part silvoculture webinar series with presenter is Steve Gabriel. Mother nature plants trees in a specific way, so what can we learn from her as we look to bring trees into our grazing systems? Learn more and register.

2020 WFAN Annual Conference - Cultivating (Bio)diversity: Seeding Our stories, Growing Our power.
2020-11-06 11:00 - 2020-11-07 16:30 (America/Chicago)
The Women Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) will host our virtual 2020 conference on the web platform, Whova. Conference participants will gather in a space designed to foster connection and community. We are excited to offer seventeen different workshops, affinity groups, a movie night, yoga sessions, and more! Please join us in this time of both reflection and action planning together.
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 2020 WFAN Conference principles–and we invite you to join us. Our conference will:

Build and strengthen anti-oppression knowledge, initiatives, and action through training, reflection, and collaboration.

Provide practical farm-based educational opportunities for beginning through seasoned agrarians, landowners, and food systems advocates.

Increase our capacity as land caretakers to define, create, and implement practices rooted in ecological justice.

Offer intentional spaces for critical dialogue, networking, coalition building, and story-sharing.

Building Profitable Farms through Direct Marketing
2020-11-12 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Are you tired of working hard to produce a crop just to be told what you will sell it for and find that it isn’t even profitable? Learn how three farmers have gotten out of the commodity farming business and began to become price makers rather than price takers by building their own direct to consumer markets. Craig Fischer of Sleepy Bison Acres, Rachelle Meyer of Wholesome Family Farms, and Dayna Burtness of Nettle Valley Farm will share with us how they decided what they wanted to raise, how they established their prices, and how they built relationships with consumers that allow them to do what they love, Farming! Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9QPdDUr_Qr2TSligy46FoA

OGRAIN: Friday Weekly Workshops
2020-11-20 12:00 - 13:30, 2021-02-03 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Each week features a topic related to organic grain production. Brief presentations will be followed by open
discussion. Participation is free, but pre-registration is required for each session. See link for a full schedule.

ACRES Eco-Ag Conference & Trade Show
2020-12-01 - 2020-12-04
This educational experience and trade show, now in its 45th year, unites farmers, ranchers and ag professionals from every facet of eco-farming to share their experience and expertise. You will learn useful, practical information that they can apply to your operations.Â Register.

Perennial Farm Gathering
2020-12-06 - 2020-12-09
The Savanna Institute’s 2020 Perennial Farm Gathering will be held entirely online, Dec. 6th-9th. This event brings together agroforestry farmers, researchers, and enthusiasts throughout the Midwest. Learn more and register at http://www.savannainstitute.org/2020-pfgb

Helping Farmers Help the Land Through Climate Smart Farming
2020-12-10 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
Participants will learn about how the climate has changed over the last 125 years and how to help farmers adapt to those changes by improving natural resources. Producers can adapt to these changes by doing four things which will be explained in this webinar: assess landscape vulnerability, improve soil health, increase the heath and diversity of biological organisms, and conserve resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hosted by USDA NRCS

Minnesota Organic Conference
2021-01-07 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago)
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Annual Organic Conference is holding a series of workshops, one each week in January.
SFA is a “Blue” sponsor of the Minnesota Organic Conference. Cost is $10 per workshop or $30 for all 4 workshops. Recordings will be available for one week following each session.
Thursday, January 7
Back to the Future: Regenerative-Organic Food Production for Good Health

Bob Quinn, Ph.D., Organic Farmer, Entrepreneur, Author

Thursday, January 14
The Connection Between Farm Ecosystem Health and Human Health

Silvia Abel-Caines, DVM, Ph.D., Organic Valley Ruminant Nutritionist

Thursday, January 21
The Challenges of Our Times: Climate Change, COVID, and Organic Farm Viability

Carolyn Dimitri, Ph.D., New York University Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health
Andy Pressman, National Center for Appropriate Technology
Cristel Zoebisch, Organic Farming Research Foundation

Thursday, January 28
Soil Health on Organic Farms

Amber Sciligo, Ph.D., The Organic Center Science Program Manager

Soil Health Caucus 3-Part Annual Meeting
2021-01-12 15:30 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Do you care about soil health? Thriving ecosystems? Economic viability for farmers who are stewarding our land and resources? You’re invited to attend the Soil Health Caucus’s First Annual Meeting in January! Soil Health Caucus 3-Part Annual Meeting Tuesday, January 12, 3:30-5:00pm Tuesday, January 19, 3:30-5:00pm Tuesday, January 26, 3:30-5:00pm Happy Hours to follow each meeting from 5:00- 6:00pm
Registration $15: Includes T-shirt and mailed package of meeting materials In order to receive the mailing, you must register by January.

EcoFarm Conference
2021-01-20 - 2021-01-23
Building upon its farmer-to-farmer education model, EcoFarm is an essential networking and educational hub for ecologically-minded farmers, ranchers, and all who work to support their success in growing a healthy and just food system and world.
Get ready for an EcoFarm Conference unlike any before as we convene online for our 41st event! EcoFarm Conference will feature inspiring keynotes, educational workshops, skill-building pre-conferences, extensive networking, a virtual trade show and more! And at a price that is more affordable than ever before.

PFI Annual Conference
2021-01-21 - 2021-01-23
It is a familiar journey: driving home through the dark, icy chill as your headlights glare into the falling snow. You release held breath as your tires feel the last turn onto the gravel in the January night. Travelling to PFI’s annual conference each year is like visiting family, like being at a reunion where relationships grow and deepen; where we hear new ideas, make new friends and improve our farms You’ve driven through blizzards, ice and drifted roads not to miss this. But this year, with the risks of COVID-19 we won’t ask you to.
Stay where you are, this year PFI is coming home.
For three days of the deep winter, be safe and easy in your home while we gather on PFI’s virtual conference platform to engage with old friends and new, invited speakers and exhibitors. We will bring familiar elements you expect of the conference – like practical, farmer-led sessions, roundtables and moderated panels on the issues that matter to you and your farms.
We’ll also have some new offerings, including youth sessions, lightning talks, farmer-to-farmer conversations, a night of storytelling and PFI’s first feature-length film, “Livestock on the Land.” There’s even a virtual potluck.

Emerging Farmers Conference
2021-01-27 - 2021-01-30
The 16th annual Emerging Farmer’s Conference will be held virtually this year due to COVID 19.
We recognize the challenges that 2020 have presented in addition to the everyday challenges for our immigrant and farmers of color. We acknowledge the disproportionate disparities with the pandemic, injustice, and inequities everywhere. More than ever, this is the time that we need to connect with one another to build relationships and share our stories.
EFC attendees will be able to share experiences and learn from other farmers in the following workshops:

Profitable Farming
Pest and disease management
Scaling to wholesale
Value-added production
Land access panel
Producer panel
Conservation and NRCS grant programs
Keynote address with Tiffany LaShae

Interpretation available in the following languages:

Swahili
Spanish
Karen
Burmese
Kirundi
Hmong
Nepali
Arabi
Mai Mai/Kizigoua
Somali

REGAIN Launch
2021-01-27 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
We’re excited to announce the launch of a new online community of practice for regenerative agriculture educators, advocates, and leaders: the Regenerative Ag Idea Network (REGAIN)!
Are you an agriculture educator or advocate interested in learning about regenerative agriculture practices and connecting with others with similar interests? Are you a researcher interested in collaborating with peers and practitioners on studying the impacts of practices like silviculture, regenerative grazing, or cover cropping? Join us on January 27th from 12-1PM CT for the launch of the Regenerative Ag Idea Network (REGAIN), an online community designed for you!

Opportunities with Silvopasture: More Than Just Animals in The Woods
2021-01-27 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Silvopasture is an agroforestry system that combines trees and forages with livestock management. Join us while we discuss the fundamentals of silvopasture and hear from landowners and professionals on their experiences in implementing silvopasture as a land management practice.
In addition, learn how to use a soil health kit and about soil health training programs available to farmers and agricultural professionals in and near 9 key element watersheds through the UW-Madison Division of Extension Conservation Professional Training program.

Winter Meat-ings #3 -Creative Cooperative & Community Solutions
2021-01-28 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Creative Cooperative & Community Solutions
WFU is planning a “Winter Meat-ings” series on solutions to meat processing struggles in the state. “Meat Processing Infrastructure was one of the Special Orders of Business set by the grassroots membership at our 2020 convention, and it’s an issue that has become even more critical in light of the supply chain struggles around the pandemic,” said Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden. “This series will give farmers, processors, rural leaders, and other stakeholders a chance to come together in search of creative solutions.”
Panelists

Kelly Maynard – UW Center for Cooperatives
Paul Dietmann – Compeer Financial

LSSFA Annual Business Meeting & Conference
2021-01-30 09:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
At the Lake Superior Chapter of SFA business meeting the LSSFA board members will offer a yearly recap of our activities, present a 2021 budget for approval, and elect new directors to our board.
During the conference component we will have two presenters facilitate conversation around the topic, “Challenges and Opportunities Growing During COVID-19.”
Zoom registration info forthcoming. Contact lakesuperior@sfa-mn.org with questions.

Pasa 2021 Virtual Sustainable Agriculture Conference
2021-02-01 - 2021-02-05
With 30+ live and 30+ on-demand educational sessions suitable for farmers, food system professionals, and changemakers, our week-long main conference explores food system big ideas, as well as production-focused topics. Our main conference includes our keynote and featured speakers, social and networking events, and virtual exhibits.
Main conference registrants will have access to our interactive virtual event platform, which can be used on computers, tablets, and mobile devices. You can use this dynamic platform to build your personal agenda, navigate to the live and on-demand sessions you want to attend, peruse virtual exhibits, and connect with other attendees.
Registration for the main conference is all-inclusive, and includes access to all recordings.

Climate Change: Change is Coming to the Show-Me State
2021-02-02 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
Please join us as we host Dr. Tomas W. Blaine, Associate Extension Professor at Ohio State University, where he explains the economic implications of climate change for Missourians and engages in a lively dialogue with a special focus on agriculture.
Dr. Blaine explains his webinars by saying, “the way that I structure my presentation brings a lot of satisfaction to audience members who do not believe these kinds of questions have been adequately answered or explained by the scientific community. I present a history of the earth’s climate, explaining why temperatures have fluctuated so much in the past. We go over the era of the dinosaurs, the ice ages, you name it, we cover it. It turns out that audiences just love learning about Earth’s natural history – it’s a lot of fun.”

Lake Agassiz Winter Book Club
2021-02-04 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
The book: Restorative Agriculture by Mark Shepherd.
Hosted by the Lake Agassiz chapter of SFA.

Food Solutions New England Winter Series Week 1: The Power of the Network
2021-02-05 09:00 - 13:00 UTC
As we grapple with pandemic disruptions; reckon with white supremacy, the legacy of colonialism, slavery and systemic racism; and face ever-growing challenges from the climate crisis, the importance of networks and movement building in our food system is growing.
What is the power of the networked approach at this time?
What are the opportunities for building network momentum and network weaving?
What are the risks of not being networked?
How does a network turn into a movement?
Join Food Solutions New England to hear from special guests about why food system networks matter in these challenging times, what opportunities exist for networks to make gains across food, farming and fishing sectors, and how we can best guide our collective efforts to impact this important work for food system justice, sustainability and resilience.

SFA Annual Conference
2021-02-08 - 2021-02-13
Join us for SFA’s 31st Annual Conference, a virtual event with interactive online programming featuring the shared wisdom of our sustainable farming community.
We’re planning interactive sessions and features with topics including:

Silvopasture and Agroforestry
Conservation Practices and Programs for Your Farm
Farm to Local Grocery
A Conversation with Alan Guebert
Soil Health: Hay & Forage
Quality of Life on the Farm
“Side Hustles” – Off-season Income
Thom Petersen, MN Department of Agriculture Commissioner on COVID-19 Meat Processing Initiatives and Challenges
Theresa Keaveny interviews MN Attorney General, Keith Ellison
Beth Dooley on Cooking with Perennial Crops
A Music-filled Social Hour
and more!

Value-Added Products
2021-02-09 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
This free, live webinar, will feature Michael Gold of the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry and Jeff Hake of Funks Grove Heritage Fruits & Grains discussing opportunities for value-added agroforestry products.

Winter Meat-ings #4 - State & Federal Policy Solutions
2021-02-11 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
WFU is planning a “Winter Meat-ings” series on solutions to meat processing struggles in the state. “Meat Processing Infrastructure was one of the Special Orders of Business set by the grassroots membership at our 2020 convention, and it’s an issue that has become even more critical in light of the supply chain struggles around the pandemic,” said Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden. “This series will give farmers, processors, rural leaders, and other stakeholders a chance to come together in search of creative solutions.”

Farming for the Future: A Forum Exploring Ecosystem Markets
2021-02-12 11:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Join the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership and organizations from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin for a free, national webinar exploring different environmental and carbon market opportunities for Midwest farmers. This event brings four prominent carbon markets to one table, Indigo Ag, Nori, Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, and the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, providing farmers a side-by-side comparison of opportunities. Presentations will walk the audience through the process of program enrollment from start to finish, highlighting key contract terms and conditions, payment schedules, and verification requirements.
