A number of well-known national and state speakers will help participants look at all sides of sustainable farming, from historical obstacles to available supports to the potential for the future, at a conference sponsored by the Less=More coalition and held during ANR Week.
Tim Gibbons, communications director of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, morning keynote
Danielle Nierenberg, president of Food Tank in Chicago, afternoon keynote
Morning panel includes: Jahi Chappell, director of agroecology and agriculture policy at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Pete Kennedy, president of the Farm‐to‐Consumer Legal
Defense Fund; and Phil Howard, an associate professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Community Sustainability; moderated by Catherine Badgley of U of M.
Afternoon panel: Joe Maxwell, hog farmer and vice president of outreach and engagement at The Humane Society of the United States; Michelle Jackson, a fourth‐generation African American urban farmer from Detroit; Michael Vandenbrug, a sustainable farmer in West Michigan and agricultural operations director in the community outreach department of the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids; and someone from Sen. Stabenow's office to talk about USDA programs that can help beginning or transitioning fathers (invited, but someone else will speak on the topic if unavailable); moderated by Lindsey Scalera of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (and the Michigan Young Farmers Coalition).