Thank You!

Thank you to all who participated in this event, led sessions, hosted field trips, facilitated sessions, provided scholarship funds, donated door prizes, displayed posters, and exhibited in the trade show. Thank you, also, to those who coordinated these activities!

Don’t miss out! Sign up to our email list for the latest info about the conference and timely articles about what is going on in the South's sustainable agriculture community.

Conference Recap

Conservation and Cooperative Innovation:
Barbecue Chicken, Cabbage and Rice

A Memorable Keynote by Cornelius Blanding

Cornelius Blanding, our plenary speaker asked us, “What if?” What if… residents owned the economic base and infrastructure of their communities? Envision the possibility of people working together for the common good. And our communities banding together to conserve our air, water, soil and using our resources efficiently.

Blanding states the potential of agriculture and cooperatives in the South can be summed up based on a simple meal: Barbecue chicken, cabbage and rice. The South drives the world’s agriculture, with our states being the top producers of chicken, cabbage and rice. And yet the South is the poorest region in the U.S. We need to have a stake in our communities. We need cooperative innovation, big ideas, and restructuring of our food system and the courage to implement them. 

A Few Highlights: Bikes, Coffee and Work Jackets

We hope you had a chance to meet Gabriel Whitlock, the man who biked 1,500 miles from Fairview, NC to Little Rock, AR in support of hunger awareness, sustainable agriculture, and The Lord’s Acre, an amazing farm in Western NC, that grows all of its food for charity.

Networking at the conference is priceless. Many of you gave some great feedback on the engaging state sessions. And some folks found a networking session that was not even on the program: Standing in line for coffee at Starbucks! This watering hole turned into a great place for sponsors, vendors, and other like-minded people who share a love of sustainable agriculture to meet up.

The closing mixer was a blast. A big shout out to the band, for getting us up on our feet and dancing the night away. And thanks to Patagonia for sponsoring the photo booth and donating jackets for prize drawings.

We’ve already found a few of the presentations on Slideshare! Just go to the site and search by presenter’s name or topic.

• Post-Harvest Handling for Maintaining Quality Presented by Michelle Akindiya, Farmshare Austin Education Manager

• Growing for Restaurants Presented by Michelle Akindiya, Farmshare Austin Education Manager

• Add Cut Flowers to Increase Your Farm’s Diversity… and Your Income! Presented by Cathy Jones and Mike Perry, Chatham County, North Carolina

• Southern SAWG Panel on Hemp Production in Arkansas Presented by Dr. Victor L. Ford Interim Associate Director, Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperative Extension Service University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

• Cut Flower Crop Plans: How to Let Martha Stewart, Social Media, and Bloggers Do All the Work for You Presented by Laura Mewbourn

• Farm to School Presentation for Southern SAWG Presented by Dolores Sutterfield

Below are some of the events and sessions from the conference

Our thanks goes out to everyone who shared their photos of the event with us.

Next year we return to Little Rock!
Save the date: January 22–25, 2020