Workshops

Historically, food systems in the U.S. have placed yield and profit above environmental health, nutrition, and human rights. Food Rescue organizations such as Haven’s Harvest are at the intersection of food insecurity, environmental issues, and social justice—we work to distribute good food that would otherwise be put into our waste streams where it would produce enormous amounts of greenhouse gases—and transport it hyper-locally to organizations that make it easier for people with food insecurity to access it. We rely on a large volunteer corps to use an app to quickly “rescue” the food when it’s about to be tossed, and drive it to senior centers, daycare centers, schools, faith-based organizations, affordable housing units, and other places where there may be food insecurity. While we focus on proteins and perishable, prepared foods, we also rescue vast amounts of good, edible produce from grocery stores and farmer’s markets. This workshop will dive deeper into our model and share some ways we hope to partner with Connecticut’s farmers.

Careful application of nutrients to meet crop needs is important not only for successful production, but also to minimize negative environmental impacts. Inadequate application of nutrients can cause stress to plants resulting in greater susceptibility to pests and diseases, decreased production, and ultimately loss of income. Excessive nutrient applications can lead to additional farm expenses, nutrient leaching, and downstream water quality issues such as eutrophication. Managing nutrient applications accurately can, however, be challenging for beginning farmers and growers, and those producing crops in smaller areas. A worksheet has been developed to help such farmers and growers navigate these challenges. The worksheet walks the user through determining their growing area for each crop, using tools such as the New England Vegetable Management Guide to determine the nutrient recommendations for each crop, converting those recommendations to a scale appropriate to their farm or garden, and then determining how much amendment or fertilizer is needed to supply those nutrients. This can also be used to determine how much of each nutrient source should be purchased for the growing season. The tables a farmer or grower creates by completing this worksheet can easily be incorporated into their farm or garden record keeping.

La aplicación cuidadosa de nutrientes para satisfacer las necesidades de los cultivos es importante no sólo para una producción exitosa, si no también para minimizar los impactos ambientales negativos. La aplicación inadecuada de nutrientes puede causar estrés a las plantas, lo que resulta en una mayor susceptibilidad a plagas y enfermedades, una disminución de la producción y, en última instancia, una pérdida de ingresos. Las aplicaciones excesivas de nutrientes pueden generar gastos agrícolas adicionales, lixiviación de nutrientes y problemas de calidad del agua , como la eutrofización. Sin embargo, gestionar con precisión las aplicaciones de nutrientes puede ser un desafío para los agricultores y cultivadores principiantes y para aquellos que producen cultivos en áreas más pequeñas. Se ha desarrollado una hoja de trabajo para ayudar a dichos agricultores y productores a superar estos desafíos. La hoja de trabajo guía al usuario sirve para determinar su área de cultivo para cada cultivo, utilizando herramientas como la Guía de Manejo de Vegetales de Nueva Inglaterra para determinar las recomendaciones de nutrientes para cada cultivo, convirtiendo esas recomendaciones a una escala apropiada para su granja o jardín, y luego determinando cómo Se necesita mucha enmienda o fertilizante para suministrar esos nutrientes. Esto también se puede utilizar para determinar qué cantidad de cada fuente de nutrientes se debe comprar para la temporada de crecimiento. Las tablas que un agricultor  crea al completar esta hoja de trabajo se pueden incorporar fácilmente al mantenimiento de registros de su granja o jardín.

Big Ag and structurally problematic farm policy continue to undermine family farms and ranches, leading to the drastic loss of generational wealth, depressed rural communities, and a highly concentrated food and farm system vulnerable to disruption—problems largely ignored by Congress and government agencies. The Farm Bill opens an important opportunity to reverse these trends and ensure good food for all, prosperous local economies, and healthy ecosystems. The National Family Farm Coalition, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and the National Young Farmers Coalition will offer a basic overview of the Farm Bill, the current stage of the process, and their priorities for this bill.

Las grandes empresas agrícolas y las políticas agrícolas estructuralmente problemáticas continúan socavando las granjas y ranchos familiares, lo que lleva a una pérdida drástica de riqueza generacional, comunidades rurales deprimidas y un sistema alimentario y agrícola altamente concentrado y vulnerable a la interrupción , problemas en gran medida ignorados por el Congreso y las agencias gubernamentales. La Ley Agrícola abre una oportunidad importante para revertir estas tendencias y garantizar una buena alimentación para todos, economías locales prósperas y ecosistemas saludables. La Coalición Nacional de Agricultura Familiar, la Coalición Nacional de Agricultura Sostenible y la Coalición Nacional de Jóvenes Agricultores ofrecerán una descripción básica del Proyecto de Ley Agrícola, la etapa actual del proceso y sus prioridades para este proyecto de ley.

Changing the way people think about food and farming requires cultural change, which relies on stories, education, and sharing new narratives about how the food system – and the future at large – can look. But…where is the time?! If food system communicators are overwhelmed by the volume of events, fundraisers, programs, and application deadlines to promote, how can they make time for developing and sharing the stories and narratives that are critical for driving the systemic change we so desperately need? In this session we’ll define narrative building in the context of systems change, share examples of what narrative building looks like, and share tools and resources for funding and integrating narrative building into your marketing work.

Attend this talk to learn about how permaculture practice can help us in the 21st century. We’ll start with a quick review of historical context before we delve into what permaculture is and is not. Throughout, we’ll emphasize how this practice of system design can help us meet and mitigate the ecological and social challenges of our time through the ways we steward our land and built environments.

This workshop will cover key planning elements for successful pest management when transitioning from conventional to organic systems. The focus will be on vegetable systems and topics will include review of National Organic Program expectations, strategies to build a strong beneficial insect community, preventive non-chemical tools, and planning for specific pests including the use of OMRI-listed materials.

Este taller cubrirá elementos clave de planificación para un manejo exitoso de plagas al realizar la transición de sistemas convencionales a orgánicos. La atención se centrará en los sistemas vegetales y los temas incluirán una revisión de las expectativas del Programa Orgánico Nacional, estrategias para construir una fuerte comunidad de insectos beneficiosos, herramientas preventivas no químicas y planificación para plagas específicas, incluido el uso de materiales incluidos en la lista de OMRI.

This workshop will include an overview of PFAS chemicals and their impact on health and the environment, particularly the impact to farms. Participants will learn about how sludge has been a major source of contamination across the country, as well as current issues in CT, and hear about state action to identify and remediate contaminated sites. We’ll also discuss policy actions to reduce further contamination.