Organic Agriculture | Page 2 | Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture Program | College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences

Event: 12th Annual Composting Symposium: Building Soil and Community

Join us on Tuesday, February 24th from 9am-3pm at the Trutter Center at Lincoln Land Community College for the 12th Annual Composting Symposium in Springfield.

The symposium is a forum for sharing composting information; stimulating the composting market; and bringing composter, educators, and businesses together so that everyone can benefit from learning about this organic soil amendment.

Registration fee: $30 before February 3rd. $35 after February 3rd. Free to students with valid ID.

Build Your Own Bin registration fee: $15 before February 5th. This optional session allows participants to learn more about vermicomposting and construct their own composition bin for use at home, work or the classroom. Continue reading “Event: 12th Annual Composting Symposium: Building Soil and Community”

Event: Slow Food Springfield Film Festival

A film festival for everyone interested in learning about and supporting local food systems is planned for Saturday, January 24, 2015 in Foundation Hall at the Old State Capitol (Level 2) in Springfield from 2:00 – 8:30 p.m. Continue reading “Event: Slow Food Springfield Film Festival”

Event: Food Systems for Food Security Symposium

On February 10, 2015, the College of ACES and International Food Security at Illinois (IFSI) will host a symposium on Food Systems for Food Security at the ACES Library, Information, and Alumni Center.

Faculty, staff, post docs, graduate students, and others who are interested in food security are invited to attend.

Speakers and panelists will include faculty from across the campus, including those in Crop Sciences, iSEE, and ACE as well as Psychology and Civil Engineering. The event will begin at 8am with breakfast and conclude with a wine and cheese reception in the late afternoon.

Registration can be found here. The deadline to register is January 30, 2015.

Sustainable Agriculture Scholarship Program Open

Annie’s Sustainable Agriculture Scholarship Program gives out $100,000 a year to students pursuing degrees in sustainable agriculture. The company, which you can read more about here, is dedicated to producing responsible, simple, and nourishing packaged food. You can read about past winners by clicking the above image.

Eligibility Guidelines

The program is open to full-time undergraduate and graduate students studying at an accredited 2 or 4 year college or graduate school in the U.S. for the 2015/2016 school year. Students must be focusing studies on sustainable agriculture. International students may apply as long as they are studying at a U.S. school. Annie’s accepts applications postmarked between November 3, 2014 and January 5, 2015. If you are chosen to receive an award, you will be notified by May 25th, 2015, and funds will be dispersed directly to your school on or around July 2, 2015.

The Application

The application consists of two parts – your application and your supporting documents. Complete the application cover page, sign the form and draft a personal statement. Your supporting documents consist of an official copy of your transcript and two letters of recommendation from someone who can speak to your commitment to Sustainable Agriculture. The letters of recommendation must be from contacts that are NOT related to you. Letters of recommendation should be in a sealed envelope and the writer should sign the seal.

Click here for the application (Word Document).

Event: Cover Crop and Soil Pit Digs in Northwest Indiana

The preview for the event can be found here.

Event: Specialty and Organic Grains Workshop at Prairie Fruits Farm

Supply simply cannot keep up with today’s demand for products made from organic, non-GMO, and specialty grains as consumers increasingly seek alternatives to conventional foodstuffs. Growing the grains for these products is possible for many farmers, but getting started can be daunting. In this intensive training, grain growers and marketers with expertise in all aspects of starting and maintaining a successful specialty grain enterprise will teach you how to:

Continue reading “Event: Specialty and Organic Grains Workshop at Prairie Fruits Farm”

Reminder: iSEE Congress 2014 opens this evening!

Critically acclaimed DotEarth blogger Andrew Revkin returns today to the University of Illinois campus, this time as a guest of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment to deliver the opening keynote address for iSEE Congress 2014.

“Feeding 9 Billion: A Path to Sustainable Agriculture” opens at 5 this evening in the new home for the Institute, 1101 W. Peabody, Urbana. A few seats remain for walk-ins to hear Revkin, a longtime New York Times reporter.

Some seats also remain open when the Congress continues all day Wednesday and Thursday at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on campus. For the complete schedule, click here. For a list of all of the world scholars assembled for this event, click here.

We hope you’ll join the conversation on how to produce more food with a smaller environmental footprint as the world population continues to increase.

Florida Local Food Summit

Up here at the University of Illinois, we’re gearing up for the iSEE Congress 2014 (which you should sign up for if you haven’t already), but for our readers in the more southerly part of the nation, several organizations are combining forces to give you the first annual Florida Local Food Summit.

Out Front of East End Market, Photo By the Robinsons

The summit will take place at the East Market in Orlando on October 3rd and 4th, with events ranging from Farm Bill 101, to discussion of food justice, to a guide to setting up a CSA. Speakers and guests include microfarmer Jean-Martin Fortier, representatives from the Farmworker Association of Florida, and Janisse Ray, writer of The Seed Underground.

Registration information can be found here, and please note that fees will rise after September 22.

For more information, you can visit their website here, or email questions to flfoodsummit@gmail.com.

Seed Saving Workshop

Prairie Fruits Farm and The Land Connection will be hosting a workshop on Saturday, September 27 from 1-4pm on the principles and history of seed-saving. The workshop will be led by Vicki Nowicki, founder of the Liberty Gardens Seed Lending Library. She will also demonstrate how to save lettuce and bean seeds. More information about her can be found in this Chicago Tribune article.

The cost to register is $20, and the workshop will be held at Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery.

2014 National Young Farmer’s Conference

Every December, hundreds of beginning farmers from across the United States gather at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture to learn from agricultural luminaries, peers, and advocacy organizations at the National Young Farmers Conference: Reviving the Culture of Agriculture. On December 3-5, 2014, Stone Barns Center will host the 7th annual National Young Farmers Conference, providing participants with access to inspiring keynotes and unique workshops that address soil science, technical skills, agricultural policy, farm business management, conservation and more. Continue reading “2014 National Young Farmer’s Conference”