Below is the overview of the Conference schedule. Listed times are tentative and subject to change. We will be continually updating this page as additional information becomes available. Please click here to explore the Conference tracks and break-outs.
Tuesday, March 109am – 5pm: Full-Day TrainingsFarm to Institution Boot Camp: Part training, part working and feedback session, join this workshop to learn the fundamentals of developing successful and high impact farm to institution initiatives from the ground up from leaders from the worlds of K-12, health care, and higher education. Food, Health, Jobs: Building Organizational Capacity for Urban Agriculture Programs: Join the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest team for a 1.5-day workshop designed to provide hands-on training for organizations interested in growing or expanding urban agriculture work. Let’s Meet About Meat: Hear from Jessica Roosa, owner of This Old Farm Food Hub in Indiana about how to establish and grow your business in meat processing and distribution. Unlocking the Economic Development Finance Toolbox for Food Systems: Join leaders of the Council of Development Finance Agencies to learn about building a comprehensive financing strategy with the variety of development finance tools available, including bonds, tax credits, tax increment financing, special assessment districts, revolving loan funds, and more. |
Wednesday, March 118am – 12pm: Morning Site VisitsGrow Dat Youth Farm: Visit this 7-acre urban farm located in the heart of City Park and learn about its robust youth leadership development organization which employs and nurtures 70+ high school age students each year. The Whitney Plantation: Visit the only plantation museum in Louisiana that focuses exclusively on the lives and history of enslaved people and be joined by historian and foodways expert Zella Palmer who will further explore the historic and modern connections between plantations and food systems. ReFresh Project: Join Broad Community Connections, Liberty’s Kitchen, Top Box Foods, The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, and SPROUT NOLA and tour this innovative community health hub that houses multiple non-profits and serves as an anchor for workforce and economic development along the Broad Street corridor of New Orleans, one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Values-based Food Business Tour: Learn about nuanced financing and business development models by visiting a range of values-based food businesses: Pythian Market, an urban food collective and community development project between Green Coast Enterprises and Crescent City Community Land Trust, Second Harvest Food Bank, Bhoomi Juices, and Melba’s Poboys. 8am – 12pm: Morning Half-Day TrainingsBuilding a Collaborative and Leaderful Organization: Join the Biodynamic Association to learn specific tools for collaborative decision making, managing and communicating with team members, and developing mutually beneficial partnerships with other organizations. Equity, Power Sharing and Authentic Engagement with Communities: Join Taproot Places to learn how to engage inclusively with whole communities and develop an actionable blueprint for equitable, authentic engagement with diverse communities. The Culture of (In)equity: Join Community Vision to explore how to recognize and move away from “equity” as an abstract notion to effectively implement equity and inclusion strategies in daily management, operations and institutional practices and innovations. Growing Resilient Cooperatives: Join co-op development experts and co-op founders to explore how cooperation can help farmers and ranchers access the same economies of scale and achieve the same market saturation as larger competitors. Fixing Your Cash Problems: Join the Food Finance Institute to learn ways to improve a Hub, farm, or food business cash position and how to prepare to raise working capital from a wide range of sources. Your Hub is Subject to FSMA, Now What? Practical Implementation Tools for Food Hubs: Join food hub practitioners and food safety specialists to receive practical knowledge to get your hub ready for FSMA certification including developing process flow diagrams and conducting a hazard analysis. 12pm – 1pm: Lunch1pm – 2pm: Welcome and Opening PlenaryLooking Back and Looking Forward: Welcome to NGFN 2020! 2:15pm – 3:45pm: Breakout Session 14pm – 5:30pm: Breakout Session 25:30pm – 7pm: Welcome Reception |
Thursday, March 127:30am-8:30am: Breakfast8:45am-10:00am: Morning PanelFrom Whence We’ve Come – Lessons from the Movement for Good Food 10:15am-11:45am: Breakout Session 311:45am-12:30pm: Lunch12:30pm -1:45pm: New Orleans PlenaryThe New Orleans Food System: Historical Inequities and Efforts for Equitable Economic Development Flipping this script to build an inclusive and equitable local food economy that builds community wealth and power requires understanding how the legacy of enslaved peoples, black land loss, and historical and current barriers for food businesses owned by people of color have shaped and continue to influence the food system in the region. Speakers from across the value chain will share their efforts to ensure that the benefits of the vibrant food economy in New Orleans and the surrounding region are equitably distributed. 2pm-3:30pm: Breakout Session 43:45pm -5pm: Topical Break-outs (Open Space) |
Friday, March 137:30am-8:30am: Breakfast8:30am – 9:45am: Morning PanelAct Locally, Think Globally: How Macro Trends Effect Food Systems Work (And What We Can Do About It) Join leaders as they explore the impacts of these big-picture trends on food systems work today. Learn how they are proactively developing strategies to address the complex challenges and harness the new opportunities that these global currents create for the future our work, our communities, and our world. 10am – 11:30am: Breakout Session 512pm – 1:15pm: Closing PlenaryLeading from the Future: Realizing a More Just Vision for the Good Food Movement How might we forge more strategic, collaborative action across geographies, sectors, and issue-areas within the broader good food movement? How can we address urgent issues and still find space and possibility for more creative, collective, and transformative strategies to emerge? What change is required of us – at the individual, organizational, and collective levels—to embody the values we aspire to, and to share and build equity and power across communities and across our differences? In this closing plenary, we’ll explore these big questions with brilliant leaders from across the country, challenging participants to step up our game, work together more effectively, and accelerate the movement towards good food. 1:15pm: Lunch and Close |