Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn from experts and each other! Pre-registration for the Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference ends Feb. 8.
At this year’s conference, Feb. 22-24, Marbleseed is hosting Farmer Summits, a Farmer Café, and a 2024 Convergence. All of these opportunities are for farmer-led learning.
At the conference in LaCrosse, Thursday afternoon will take an “unconference” approach with the Farmer Summits. Centering self-organizing, there is no strict pre-defined agenda. Instead, farmers will suggest topics according to their interests around five key themes: Wellness, Livestock, Climate, Farm Hacks & DIY, and Organic Production. Attendees will create a shared agenda in real-time using the same foundational Open Space Technology as last year’s convergence.
Marbleseed Executive Director Lori Stern tells us what we can expect:
Marbleseed has expanded the lunch hour on Friday to include Farmer Cafes, literal “round tables” with designated topics chosen by those present. Find your farmer peers who want to discuss grazing livestock, pest and weed management, conservation, etc. — the topics are up to you.
The 2024 Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference keynote is “Waste is Not Waste Until We Waste It.”
Meet The Speakers
Anna Hammond is the founder of Matriark Foods, a circular economy food business working to solve the dire effects of wasted food while supporting human-scale farms. Matriark upcycles farm surplus and vegetable trim from fresh-cut facilities into healthy products for food service: schools, hospitals, corporate cafeterias, food banks—simultaneously diverting waste from landfills while creating greater access to healthy food.
Ben Hartman and his wife, Rachel Hershberger, own and operate Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana. They make their living growing and selling specialty crops on less than one acre. Clay Bottom Farm is recognized for lean production. They practice continuous improvement of cutting out waste — of time, labor, space, money, and more. They align their organic production tightly with customer demand. Ben has authored three books.
Jim Kleinschmit is CEO and co-founder of Other Half Processing SBC, a producer of identity-preserved byproducts from the “other half” of regenerative, organic, and other more sustainably raised livestock. Other Half Processing’s mission is to create high-value and high-quality products in ways that are ethical and respectful to the animal and support regenerative farmers, ranchers, and agricultural systems. Other Half Processing’s goal is whole animal valuation and zero waste.
Learn more and register today: https://web.cvent.com/event/804a8531-a2cd-4c8e-b7ea-ee4954c3479b/summary
