Wil Bullock, Song Writer & Performer, Community Food Systems Advocate
Food & Society Fellow, Boston, MA
Wil Bullock is and avid advocate for food access in urban communities, committed to raising awareness about the importance of making healthy food choices among young people.  Sparking his career at the young age of 15, Wil worked at an urban youth garden where he learned the real value in growing fresh, healthy food. Since then, Wil has striven to spread his message in communities nationwide about the reality behind food's impact on society.

Healthy Food: What it Means to Me
An inspiring panel of local people including ISU graduate student Hanna Lewis and Community activist Hilton Bostick of Des Moines, share their reactions to the morning presentations.

Community Gardens and Healthy Local Food
Teva Dawson, Des Moines Park and Rec, Des Moines, IA

Hospitals and Healthy Local Food
Emily Krengel, RD, Food Service Director, Cass County Memorial Hospital, Atlantic, IA

Community Supported Agriculture
Jan Libbey, One Step at a Time Garden, Kanawha, IA

Food policy in Iowa. Join the Iowa Farmers Union and elected officials to explore the challenges and opportunities related to public policy and our changing food system.

How do I find local food all year long? INCA experts will share their knowledge and experience of connecting Iowans to locally grown foods. The panel discussion will feature opportunities for eating locally throughout the year.

Edible landscapes – we can all be farmers! A panel of Iowans will share pioneering ways to think about landscape design and community development in terms of food.

How can light processing improve marketability? Find out more about what it takes to process many items such as jams, jellies, purees or frozen products.  Light processing of some farm produce can help match products to markets that are likely to achieve higher prices and margin for the producer.

Baking great bread. Ancient family secrets or simply lots of practice? Learn how to prepare and market many different types of bread using specialty recipes as well as local and foreign grains.

Food Preservation Panel - tips from the experts... Bring your questions to this interactive session and become acquainted with resources as well as people who can help answer them.

Putting Community back in community food systems. Learn different ways to cause change in the food system which help underserved populations and those whose economic status prevents them from enjoying good, fresh food enjoy better nutrition and community.

Alternative and sustainable agriculture options at their best. Building marketing capacity for local foods - come and learn what ATTRA has to offer with their new office in SW Iowa and how to market your products to institutions in bulk.

Conservation options and success stories. Build conservation into your farm - Inger Lamb discusses how to use a prairie system to help save your soil and build a “smart” conservation plan for your farm. 

Field to Family and more with Doug Wubben and Corry Bregendahl. Come be part of a session of interaction regarding CSAs, relationships between growers and institutions, food education for students and much more.  Enjoy real world, “grassroots” examples and discussion from Iowa and Wisconsin. 

Agri-tourism, spread the knowledge with these great examples! Attract travelers and visitors to your areas using some of the ideas and examples resulting from this wonderful discussion. Sure to be included topics are; lodging, great food, events and festivals, alternative agriculture education, recreation, tourism, etc.

Who says soil science isn’t interesting and exciting?! Without healthy soil and fertility where would we be? Along with the proper short-term environmental conditions and water availability; soil structure, soil texture and soil fertility are foundational aspects of growing crops. Don’t miss this interactive, problem solving session!

Market agreements and contracts. Are they necessary when expanding production to meet the increasing demand?  Manage that risk when increasing the production of quality food.  Hear and express different viewpoints on the topic such as those from producers, institutions, retail outlets and restaurants.

How do farmers sell to restaurants? How do restaurants find farmers selling what they need?  Anyone wanting to learn more about the complex opportunities and challenges of buying and selling LOCAL food products directly shouldn’t miss this session. Discuss the diverse topics in depth with our guest speakers – actual restaurant owners and actual producers lead this wonderful breakout discussion session. Raising Livestock on a Small Farm. Whatever happened to the diversity of crops and livestock on the Iowa farming landscape? This session will share success stories dealing with wonderful diverse farming systems including livestock! 

Ken Meter, holds over 30 years experience in community capacity building as an administrator, researcher, journalist, and educator. His innovative tool for measuring financial assets in low-income communities, the “Neighborhood Income Statement and Balance Sheet,” helped spark development of a Latino Mercado in South Minneapolis and has been adopted by other communities nationally. His pioneering study of the farm and food economy of Southeast Minnesota not only helped a collaborative of 35 food producers form, it also serves as a national model for analyzing rural economics. Charter member of the International Sustainability Indicators Network, Meter directed the first U.S. effort to engage residents in defining indicators of neighborhood sustainability for their own communities. This resulted in a nationally pioneering set of 104 community indicators for use in long-term planning and evaluation.

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