SISC Team to Present at EcoFarm Conference 2/2

Jessica Siegal, SISC Project Director

At the EcoFarm Conference on Feb 2, the SISC team will present a workshop titled "The Importance of On-Farm Stewardship Metrics"

Agricultural producers and retailers alike are looking for ways to communicate the “good food” story and support that story with data on sustainability practices. In this session, we will learn about the Stewardship Index for Specialty crops, an emerging system for measuring, benchmarking and communicating stewardship performance data throughout the supply chain. A grower who has piloted these on-farm metrics will discuss the value proposition of comparing stewardship data year-over-year. We will also seek grower feedback about the concept of sustainability metric reporting and request your involvement in the 2012 metric pilot.

Presenters: Jessica Siegal, Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops, Sebastopol, CA; Dana Gunders, Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco, CA; Larry Jacobs, Jacobs Farm / Del Cabo, Pescadero, CA.

As the oldest and largest ecological agricultural gathering in the West, the EcoFarm Conference meets every year to create, maintain, and promote healthy, safe, and just food farming systems. With over 1,500 attendees, the three days yield myriad opportunities for networking with colleagues, discovering the newest ecological agricultural development and techniques, and building skills for us as individuals and together as a community.

This year we are Raising EcoFarmers' Voices with over 60 workshops featuring a comprehensive array of technical sessions for farmers, ranchers, handlers, marketers, activists, students, and educators. With our generous food donors and delicious menu created by Angela Karegeannes of A Fork Full of Earth Organic Catering, meals in Crocker Hall are delicious and satisfying. Evening events include tastings, mixers, live entertainment, and more. And our annual EcoFarm Awards Ceremony on Friday evening celebrates giants in the sustainable agriculture community, always an inspiring event of the conference.