Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is hosting its 10th annual Young Farmers Conference on December 6–8, 2017, bringing together more than 300 farmers, chefs, scientists, and activists in the sustainable food and agriculture movement from across the United States. This year’s conference is highlighting young farmers and food activists working to build equitable and inclusive food systems.
“Many young farmers and other food movement leaders are working to expose the roots of what is a very unjust food system, built as it is on the exploitation of people, land, and natural resources,” said Jill Isenbarger, CEO of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. “They’re on a mission not only to open our eyes but to right what’s wrong.”
The conference will also emphasize the role of farmers and farming in adapting to and mitigating climate change. Techniques such as lower-emission production systems, carbon sequestration practices, and soil regeneration methods will be explored through discussion and workshop sessions to help farmers become more resilient to changing weather patterns.
“Today’s young farmers will be farming in crisis mode, with more devastating storms, fires, and droughts like those we saw this past summer becoming part of their new normal. Yet we’re counting on them to feed us and our families far into the future. This conference provides a grounding in some of the cutting-edge techniques for farmers to be part of the solution,” says Isenbarger.
The three-day conference features more than 100 experts addressing a range of food and farming issues in more than 75 discussion sessions. Sessions will explore farmers as agents of social change, youth empowerment through agriculture, diversified farming systems for building resilience, and food as medicine among many other topics. Keynote sessions will feature food writer Mark Bittman, Ricardo Salvador, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and M. Sanjayan, of Conservation International. Food Tank President, Danielle Nierenberg, will be speaking alongside Isenbarger and others in a keynote session on women leaders in the food movement.
Select sessions of the Young Farmers Conference will be streamed live on Stone Barns’ Facebook page. Click here to view the livestream schedule.
