Participation Type
Roundtable
Session Title
Growing Food, Growing Farmers: Challenges and Strategies for Forming a Regenerative Agriculture System in Appalachia
Session Abstract or Summary
How can we form livable and just Appalachian communities? The National Young Farmers Coalition estimates that between now and the year 2030, one quarter of American farmers will retire. “When our nation loses family farms,” they write in a recent report, “we all suffer economic, environmental, and social harm. In agricultural areas, fewer farmers may mean a further consolidation of farmland, the decline of communities and their economies, and in suburban areas and the rural areas just beyond, this trend may contribute to the transition away from working farms in to estates or residential developments.” In Appalachia, this transition represents a particularly acute challenge due to our already fractured and exploited landscape.
Our work focuses on creating a regenerative food system that can replenish and strengthen the soil in our communities. We do this by embracing the spirit of tradition in Appalachian culture through establishing opportunities for mentorships in the agricultural community and providing resources for farmers to grow and adapt to the current issues that face our region. This roundtable will be led by staff members from Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture in North Carolina, Community Farm Alliance in Kentucky, and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, who will lead participants in a collaborative conversation about our region’s diverse agrarian landscape and the participatory strategies we use to form a more resilient, livable, and just future.
Presentation #1 Title
Blue Ridge CRAFT: Cultivating Meaningful Mentor Relationships Between Aspiring and Experienced Farmers
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA) is dedicated to strengthening the High Country of northwestern North Carolina's local food system by supporting women and their families with resources, education, and skills related to sustainable food and agriculture. In the fall of 2014, Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture was approached by established farmers seeking a way to provide structured education and training to their on-farm apprentices. Through further input from the community, Blue Ridge Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) was formed with the goals of: connecting aspiring farmers with established farmer-mentors in the High Country; providing structured educational opportunities and training to aspiring farmers; and, providing labor-management education and assistance to established farmers. Blue Ridge CRAFT believes that the educational and professional development of tomorrow’s growers and producers informs the health of our diverse local-food system and rural economy. We do this through an online web platform that connects aspiring farmers with apprenticeships; a summer Workshop & Potluck series where farmers lead apprentices and their mentor farmers on topic-based farm tours; and, winter participatory Roundtables for established farmers. Through these strategies, Blue Ridge CRAFT encourages candid, meaningful conversations, form durable and inclusive partnerships, engage best practices, and excite innovation and creativity.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
David Walker is the Program Manager for Blue Ridge CRAFT, a program of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture.
Presentation #2 Title
The Blue Ridge Farm Book: a series of farm profiles from Northwestern North Carolina
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Agriculture creates community. Whether community is built through the cultivation and harvest, or through face to face interactions with farmers at the market, or at the dinner table; farming has always provided grounds on which to gather. Once gathered, the question becomes “how do we maintain a sustainable agricultural community?” The answer being, by establishing programs and networks that can provide practical resources and support for farmers in Appalachia. When Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture spoke with beginning women farmers in the spring of 2014 about their challenges, a place-based handbook was suggested as a way to connect the farmers with resources and potential mentors. What was originally envisioned as a technical book, evolved over time into an online resource and website and the thirteen profiles you hold in your hands. BRWIA realized that we can keep up-to-date with resources online; but in order to foster lasting mentorship connections, we needed to share personal stories and advice only learned through experience.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Lou Murrey received her Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Distinction in Studio Art: Photography. As a photographer and community member, she seeks to chronicle the stories and traditions of her native North Carolina mountains.
Presentation #3 Title
West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition furthers and supports self-advocacy for farmers and food businesses along the value chain, which takes the form of state food policy change, "foodshed" development (connecting producers to consumers through hubs and cooperatives in subregions of West Virginia), and pilot projects and trainings related to food access and sovereignty, land use, and business development.
The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition was launched in 2010 by the West Virginia Community Development Hub in August 2010. Community leaders began contacting the Hub in 2010 requesting food and farm information and resources. Hub stakeholders soon realized that to shape the economic landscape of local food would require resource and information sharing between individuals, farmers, governmental agencies, and businesses. The Hub convened over 25 food-focused agencies and organizations to identify needs and lay the basis for what would be called The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition. Since its inception the WV Food and Farm Coalition has worked to build and strengthen the state's network of small food and farm business owners, service providers, and other stakeholders. The Coalition has provided research support, networking activities, grant programs, policy training, and other assistance to food and farm system stakeholders. Through its statewide network, The West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition develops regional foodsheds and build connections among those foodsheds by growing food and farm business, promoting access to local foods, sharing resources, changing agricultural policy, mapping and connecting the local food sector, and telling West Virginia’s food and farm story.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Elizabeth Spellman is the Executive Director of West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition
Presentation #4 Title
Community Farm Alliance
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Community Farm Alliance works to organize and encourage cooperation among Kentucky's rural and urban citizens through leadership development and grassroots democratic processes to ensure an essential, prosperous place for family-scale agriculture in our economies and communities. CFA has focused efforts in Appalachian Kentucky through our AppalTREE research partnership with University of Kentucky, the Farmers Market Support Program, and "Breaking Beans: The Appalachia Food Story Project."
The Community Farm Alliance has a firm opinion that citizens truly deserve the right to address their say on public policies. This includes defining a problem, identify barriers, needed resources, create a plan to make change, and build leadership to give a voice and face to the problem. Transformation is implemented from one generation and secured by the next. By understanding true change in attitude takes time and effort, a result of successful community organization will be secured. Long-term change is the basis of CFA in an approach to help Kentucky create a transition process and develop strategic alliances to bring a critical public voice and vote to policy makers.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Mae Humiston is a Development Associate with Community Farm Alliance. She was raised in rural Rockbridge County, Virginia and attended college at Tufts University where she focused her Anthropology major on studies in food and farming.
Blue Ridge CRAFT: Cultivating Meaningful Mentor Relationships Between Aspiring and Experienced Farmers
Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA) is dedicated to strengthening the High Country of northwestern North Carolina's local food system by supporting women and their families with resources, education, and skills related to sustainable food and agriculture. In the fall of 2014, Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture was approached by established farmers seeking a way to provide structured education and training to their on-farm apprentices. Through further input from the community, Blue Ridge Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) was formed with the goals of: connecting aspiring farmers with established farmer-mentors in the High Country; providing structured educational opportunities and training to aspiring farmers; and, providing labor-management education and assistance to established farmers. Blue Ridge CRAFT believes that the educational and professional development of tomorrow’s growers and producers informs the health of our diverse local-food system and rural economy. We do this through an online web platform that connects aspiring farmers with apprenticeships; a summer Workshop & Potluck series where farmers lead apprentices and their mentor farmers on topic-based farm tours; and, winter participatory Roundtables for established farmers. Through these strategies, Blue Ridge CRAFT encourages candid, meaningful conversations, form durable and inclusive partnerships, engage best practices, and excite innovation and creativity.
