The future of farming will include Big Data. And innovative packaging. And perceiving marketing opportunities. And providing services to small farmers, scaling for profitability and affordability. And taking advantage of climate change to grow new crops.
With conference sessions, meal keynotes, business coaching and other specialized sessions for farmers, and an exhibit hall, the 20th anniversary Future Harvest-CASA Conference continued the tradition of providing a place to learn and network for all of us involved in local agriculture.
The Crowd of Chesapeake Farmers
If you wanted a glimpse of way our farmers are planning for climate change, taking advantage of trends in consumer preferences, and making the most of the explosion of data gathering and communications on social media, the educational sessions at this year’s conference were ideal. Here are some of the highlights as I experienced them.
Conference Sessions
Phil Gottwals reported on the Chesapeake Foodshed Assessment, a massive data gathering project he undertook to expose trends in consumer attitudes towards local food production. What he found was disturbing: local supply cannot meet the demand for foods of verified local origin. His recommendations for remediation included a unified certification system employing a food blockchain.
Phil Gottwals Reporting on the Chesapeake Foodshed Assessment
Drew Baker presented a more optimistic assessment of local innovation. Old Westminister Winery was the first winery on the East Coast to put wine in cans. Drew discussed the obstacles met and overcome regarding consumer resistance and unfamiliarity. The winery leveraged their reputation for making fine wines to introduce the new products, which include low-alcohol wine blends.
Drew Baker and his Wine
An excellent session was presented by Nancy Staisey and Helaine Harris, market runners for the Historic Lewes Farmers Market, covering strategies for increasing sales for their farmers. They drew on a large data base, collected over several years, which allowed for analysis of the results of various special programs designed to maximize sales.
Lessons from Lewes
Their deep base of data was possible because they have been tracking farmers’ sales figures against different experiments, such as the effects of sampling unfamiliar produce and having cooking demos with seasonal tie-ins.
Farmers Markets were again the topic at Rene Catacalos’ special session. The author of The Chesapeake Table spearheaded the discussion celebrating the synergy among producers and value-added vendors within markets, and carbon-footprint reduction of using local produce. One big concern: the disengagement of college students from professions in the food chain by concern over student debt. Are we losing our future local farmers to crushing debt loads?
The Chesapeake Table Round-table
A session focusing on local grain growing and processing was lead by Heather Coiner of the Common Grain Alliance and Jonathan Bethony of Seylou Bakery and Mill. The CGA is working to foster a local culture of grain growing and bread baking in the mid-Atlantic similar to those already existing north and south of us. Jonathan is a pioneer in utilizing local grain at his mill and bakery in D.C.
Many, many questions remain to be resolved around small grain farming, efficient milling and the best grains for bread baking, not to mention convincing a retail audience to purchase loaves at a cost of $11.00 each. There is a lot of experimentation and development yet to be done. By the evidence of the baked goods we tasted, the results are delicious.
The Bread Session
The Seven Grains Used in Seylou’s Bread
I had been looking forward to a session on fig growing, and I was not disappointed. Although it was titled “Growing Figs as a Cash Crop,” I hoped to glean pointers from Eric Rice for making a success of this finicky but delicious fruit in my backyard. We will see if the knowledge I gained increases my luck this year!
Eric Rice Educates Us on Fig Growing
General Sessions
At the general sessions, awards were given, and keynote speakers enlightened us, while (not incidentally) delicious food was consumed. Ingredients provided by the producers and prepared by the conference center staff are one of the greatest arguments for locally produced Chesapeake-area food.
We heard from Dena Liebman, FH-CASA Executive Director,
Dena Liebman, Executive Director
and keynoters Karen Washington on food justice, Ellen Polishuk and Forrest Pritchard on sustainable agriculture, and Dr. Ray Weil on building soils. Chip Planck of Wheatland Vegetable Farm was honored for his years of service to area farmers. His recognition award was a plank. Yes, it was. See the picture if you don’t believe me.
Keynoter Karen Washington
Keynoters Policshuk and Pritchard
Keynoter Ray Weil
Chip Planck with his Plank (far left)
Other Stuff
And did I mention the food? There was a huge paella, a make your own taco bar, an ice cream sundae table, a very fancy dessert display, and other buffet items during the two days of the conference.
Menu and Thank U
Lunch Tacos
Baked Apples for Dessert
Another Day’s Dessert
Great Big Paella
There were other features I didn’t get to: Pre-Conference Sessions, One-on-One Business Coaching for Farmers, Farmer-to-Farmer Chats, the FH-CASA Annual Membership Meeting – for farmers, more information and networking packed into one weekend than the rest of the year combined.
And last but not least, the Tradeshow. Many companies and organizations had tables in the hall to familiarize farmers with their services and wares. There were mushroom suppliers, soil amendment purveyors, equipment sellers, insurance vendors, and friendly locales.
Vanessa Wagner and the Loudoun County Chicken
And, though many folks were dressed in Farmer Chic (denim and plaid), there was one wonderful dress. It came from Nepal.
Morgan Wittelsberger’s Beautiful Dress
And the future of farming? A very lively embodiment was careening through the room. The picture’s slightly fuzzy because the kid wouldn’t stand still!
Unstoppable!
