Urban Shepherdess, Regenerative Ag Advocate, Entrepreneur, Educator & Aspiring Stunt Performer I call myself modern day urban shepherdess, shepherding animals, people and projects. Working in both the built landscapes of urban metropolises as well as on the land with my comrade graziers, I am committed to supporting a new era of working on the land with livestock and innovative agrarian entrepreneurship. My work takes place in the fields of education and advocacy for the good food & fiber movement, supporting efforts to enhance ecological health of the land...Read more
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I was incredibly grateful to be able to attend EcoFarm in 2018 after receiving a scholarship. Spending several days surrounded by inspired and passionate farmers invigorated my own motivation to do great work in the agriculture world. Workshops ranging from flower farming, to marketing and sales, to broad-acre range management provided a plethora of useful information that I can take forward with me in my career, making my businesses more profitable, more adaptable, and the work more personally fulfilling. Meeting lifelong farmers whose wisdom and mentorship can alter...Read more
Wednesday, Jan 23 Keynotes Denisa Livingston Denisa Livingston (Diné, New Mexico, USA) is an unapologetic food justice organizer, social entrepreneur, an Empowered-to-Serve National Ambassador for the American Heart Association, and voted as the first woman to be the Slow Food International Indigenous Councilor of the Global North. Her mission is to improve and empower the lives of others. She is committed to addressing the diabetes epidemic, the dominant culture of unhealthy foods, and the lack of healthy food access on the Navajo Nation. Denisa has been a...Read more
Rachel Kohn Obut's life was impacted by last year's Sonoma Fires. Soon after, she was awarded an EcoFarm Conference Scholarship to help her put down roots and begin her own small farm called Little Moon Farm . "The Scholarship I received to attend the 2018 EcoFarm Conference was so immensely helpful for me transitioning post-fire and starting a new farm business this year. For the past few years, I was managing a farm that suffered serious losses in the Sonoma Fires last fall. I had significant losses of income and property. I had recently moved from Sonoma to Napa...Read more
Full Belly Farm is taking a year off from the Hoes Down Harvest Festival. We are re-envisioning this wonderful event and are excited to bring back an even more magical, educational, and meaningful festival come 2019. So please put October 5, 2019 on your calendar! The Hoes Down Harvest Festival is dedicated to honoring and promoting the knowledge of agricultural arts and sustainable rural living through inspiration and education. Our goals extend beyond the weekend of fun and education. Every year for 30 years, the Hoes Down Harvest Festival has generated valuable...Read more
Wise Words from Well Seasoned Farmers is a long-standing EcoFarm Conference tradition. This year, farmer activists Chris Bunn and Wendy Johnson shared their experience with EcoFarm attendees. Watch the session, now on video! Chris Bunn, 72, is a second-generation Salinas vegetable grower whose father began shipping Bunny brand lettuce in 1927. His family helped establish the Salinas Valley Vegetable Exchange, a very early example of growers getting together to market as a group. Chris grew up in a very dynamic farming community that has seen huge change over the 100...Read more
You can now download many of the workshop presentations from EcoFarm 2018, which make great companions to the set of audio recordings ! Click on a workshop below, then scroll down to View Presentation. A New Model for On-Farm Internships Advances in Organic Insect, Disease and Nematode Management Composting on Your Farm: New Rules and Regulations Controlling Pest Animals Without Poisons on Farms Creative Strategies for Financing Sustainable Farmland Succession Daily Drip Irrigation for Greater Yields Dedicating Land to Agriculture: Agricultural Conservation Easements...Read more
YOU can help shape EcoFarm 2019 by suggesting workshops and speakers via our online Workshop Suggestion Form by Friday, June 15, 2018. Workshops should cover practical and cutting edge information useful for farmers, ranchers, distributors, retailers, activists, and educators in ecological and regenerative agriculture. Over 60 workshops are presented at EcoFarm Conference each year on these topics: Soil, Roots, Water Crops, Seeds Farm Business, Labor Pest, Beneficials, Habitat Marketing, Retail, Wholesale Livestock Production Tools, Equipment Activism, Policy,...Read more
In his keynote speech at EcoFarm 2018, John Ikerd proposed that “Eliminating hunger is the first requisite of agricultural sustainability.” John told us, as he has written before, that “Thus far, the sustainable agriculture movement has put far more emphasis on the second requisite for sustainability than on the first—on developing an ecologically sound, economically viable approach to farming.” And he backed this up with what may be a startling statistic to some: “In 1968, when CBS-TV aired its classic documentary, “ Hunger in America ,” an estimated 5% of the people...Read more
Audibly attend EcoFarm all year long! Stream or download 130+ audio recordings from both EcoFarm Conference 2018 and 2017 for only $70. Browse the list of available recordings. You can login to the audio library here if you already have an account (such as a previous audio purchase) or purchased the audio recordings when you registered for EcoFarm Conference 2018.Read more