BLACK K

GARDENERS
November 19 - 21, 2010
Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York

FARMERS & URBAN

C O N F E R E N C E

Growing Wealth, Health and Justice in our Communities

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

ABOUT US
The 2010 Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference is presented by Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an alliance of predominately Black urban farmers and gardeners, food activists and allies united in rebuilding our community wealth and health by reconnecting to the land and our traditional roles as agriculturalists and environmental stewards. In November of 2009, this alliance began organizing and hosting a series of community events with the purpose of starting a conversation around food: Where does it come from? Who is providing it? Why dont we see more black farmers at the farmers markets? What is the relationship between our individual health and the health of our communities, and why does it matter? Beginning with a fundraiser event in February of 2010, followed by a Community Forum in April, weve been inviting more and more people from our communities to engage in the conversation and together connect the dots between the health of our farmers and our collective health as a community. At the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference happening November 19-21, 2010, we will engage in a national and international dialogue and action planning to build a national network that includes producers, consumers, and everyone in between in creating sustainable solutions. Based in the New York City Metropolitan area, our founding members include representatives from the following grassroots groups, non-prot organizations as well as individuals from our communities: Grassroots Groups Brooklyn Rescue Mission Brooklyn, NY Community Vision Council Brooklyn, NY Garden of Happiness Bronx, NY La Familia Verde Bronx, NY La Finca Del Sur Bronx, NY Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, New York Chapter Taqwa Community Farm Bronx, NY Non-Prots Organizations Citizens Committee for New York City Manhattan, NY GreenThumb Manhattan, NY Heritage Radio Online Radio Network Isles, Inc. Trenton, NJ Just Food Manhattan, NY NYFood Museum Manhattan, NY Weeksville Heritage Center Brooklyn, NY WEACT Manhattan, NY WhyHunger Manhattan, NY Volunteer Planning Committee Aki Hirata-Baker Asantewaa Harris Bilen Berhanu Erica Lonesome James Subudhi Jennifer Steverson Karen Washington Adjoa Linda Fletcher Lorrie Clevenger Meredith Taylor Onika Abraham Regina Ginyard Sharon Wong Yemi Amu

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

OUR SPONSORS
CULTIVATOR

Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation

GERMINATORS

Lawson Valen+ne Founda+on

POLLINATORS

GreenThumb, Department of Parks and Recreation

SEED STARTER Anderson's 1949 -brooklyn- Inc. Brooklyn College Grandaisy Bakery The Hor>culture Society of New York Murrays Cheese

NYC Community Gardens Coali>on TeIeh Tawiah Tom Cat Bakery Young GiJed
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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

THANK YOU
A special thank you to our local farmers who donated fresh produce and added-value products for our participants to enjoy:

Alan Troncillito, Troncillito Farms Cheryl Rogowski, W. Rogowski Farm Stanley Osczepinski,S&SO Produce Ron Binaghi Jr.,Stokes Farm Inc Dan Madura JR, Madura Farms Alice Messerich, Knoll Krest Farm Howard Stark, Eckerton Hill Farm Franca Tantillo, Berried Treasures Pete Osofsky, Ronnybrook Farm Just One, Red Jacket Ken Migliorelli, Migliorelli Farm Bronx Wholesale Market

We would also like to extend our thanks to the following supporters for helping make this conference possible: Adopt-A-Farmbox Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. Brooklyn College Coffee Collective Brooklyn College Staff: Calvin Abraham Mitzu Adams Ryan Buck DJQing Lewy Kwik Printing Company Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer Youth Ministry for Peace and Justice

Last, but not least, thank you to our tireless volunteers:

April Murray Ashley Pedraza Beatrice Beckford Brian Santigo Carly Hutchinson Damian Graham Dashana Robinson Erika Morales Frances Fabian Ida Cohen Iesha Wadala Karl Ingram Katia Reyes Lauren Royes-Baccus Maria Marasign

Nando Rodriguez Norda Nienstag Phillip Shipman Rabel Polanco Raven Sapp Ruby Doswell Selina Achou Shevon Gant Simon Herbin Stephney Rogers Suzanne Babb Talia Bravo Vance Cherbin Wendy Wilkins

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

SCHEDULE:
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM 9:00 AM - 9:20 AM 9:20 AM - 10:00 AM

Saturday, November 20
Registration & Light Breakfast Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Welcome Karen Washington, La Familia Verde Opening Keynote Will Allen, CEO and Founder, Growing Power, Inc. 2010 Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners George Washington Carver Awards Ceremony Presenters: Jennifer Stevenson, Weeksville Heritage Center Asantewaa Gail Harris, Community Vision Council Breakout Sessions #1 The Next Generation: Youth Creating Food Change Anim Steel, Director of National Programs, The Food Project; CoFounder Real Food Challenge, Brooklyn, NY Myles Postell-Reynolds, Field Organizer, Real Food Challenge, Alum of The Food Projects Summer Program, Springeld, MA Cameal Tapper, High School Intern, East New York Farms, Brooklyn, NY Rahkiah Clark, High School Intern, East New York Farms, Brooklyn, NY Reclaiming & Reframing Black Farmers History in the U.S. Gail Myers, Cultural Anthropologist and founder, Farms to Grow, Oakland, CA Jennifer Steverson, Public Programs Curator, Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, NY Undoing Racism in the Food System: Lessons from the Detroit Struggle Lila Cabbil, D-Town Farm Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit, MI Kids Hands On Cooking Demonstration from Farm to Table Rosalind Francis, Harlem Seeds, New York, NY Michele Hatchette, Harlem Seeds, New York, NY Using Herbs as Companion Plants in Your Organic Garden Solita Stephens, Olympus Garden Club, Union, NJ Scaling Up! Creating 100,000 New Farmers: Local and National Resources for Rural and Urban Farmers Michelle Hughs, Director, GrowNYC: New Farmer Development Program, New York, NY Professor Neil D. Hamilton, Dwight D. Opperman Chair of Law and Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University Law School, Des Moines, IA 2nd Floor: Glennwood 6th Floor: Gold Room 6th Floor: Gold Room 6th Floor: Gold Room 6th Floor: Gold Room

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

10:45 AM - 12:00 PM

4th Floor: African Art Gallery

4th Floor: Alumni Lounge 4th Floor: MaroneyLeddy 5th Floor: International 5th Floor: Occidental

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, November 20 (continued)

The Peoples Struggle for Food Sovereignty: From Local to Global, Another Food System is Possible! Juana Mercedes, General Coordinator, National Confederation of Women of the Countryside (CONAMUCA) and International Human Rights Commission Member, La Via Campesina, Dominican Republic Sara Medina, Urban Agriculture Specialist, Foundation for Training and Innovation to Support the Agrarian Revolution (Fundacin CIARA), Caracas,Venezuela Ben Burkett, President, National Family Farm Coalition and Member, La Via Campesina North America Detroit Black Community Food Security Network Malik Yakini, Founder and Chairman, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit, MI Monica White, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI Black Family Land Trust Ebonie Alexander, Executive Director, Black Family Land Trust, Durham, NC Urban Farming as a Framework for Holistic Community Development Michael S. Easterling, Convener, Community Developer and Food Producer, Cleveland, OH Increasing Access to Affordable Foods in Communities of Color Tanikka Cunningham, Executive Director, Healthy Solutions, Washington, DC 5th Floor: State Room

10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Breakout Sessions #1 (continued)

6th Floor: Gold Room

6th Floor: Maroon Room

Penthouse (Left)

Penthouse (Right) 2nd Floor: Amersfort & Bedford 6th Floor: Gold Room

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Lunch: Food Fair Marketplace Andersons 1949-Brooklyn Mexican Cuisine Live Sip Vegetarian Cuisine
Mirage Nigerian Cuisine

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Pigford, USDA, and the 2012 Farm Bill Panel: A Community Forum and Action Planning Session Gary Grant, President, Black Farmers & Agriculturists Association, Tillery, NC Spencer D. Wood, PhD; Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu'min, Minister of Agriculture and Farm Manager, Muhammad Farms, Albany, GA Barry Crumbley (Moderator), Intact Community Development Corporation; Mount Vernon, NY

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SCHEDULE:
3:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Saturday, November 20 (continued)

Breakout Sessions #2 A Conversation and Strategy Session around the Industrialization of Black Food Culture Malcolm X Grassroots Movement From Field to Policy: Leveraging Grassroots Power for the 2012 Food and Farm Bill Savi Horne, The Land Loss Prevention Project, Durham, NC Tracy Lloyd McCurty, Rural Coalition/Coalicin Rural, Washington DC Kathy Ozer, National Family Farm Coalition, Washington DC Designing Linkages Between Upstate Farmers and Downstate Food Desert Communities Dennis Derryck, President/Founder Corbin Hill Road Farm, Schoharie County, NY Feed Denver Paula Thompson, Urban Farmer, 42nd & Steele St. Parking Lot Farm, Denver, CO Trineka Freeman, Urban Farmer, 42nd & Steele St. Parking Lot Farm, Denver, CO 2nd Floor: Glennwood 4th Floor: African Art Gallery

4th Floor: Alumni Lounge

4th Floor: Maroney-Leddy

A Project Overview - Northeast Alliance in Support of 5th Floor: African American Farmers (NEASAAF) International Lisa Jackson, Former Secretary/Treasurer of the Northeast Alliance of African American Farmers (NEASAAF), LilClif Productions Segun Shabaka, PhD, Former Co-Chairman of the Northeast Alliance of African American Farmers (NEASAAF),The International African Arts Festival (I.A.A.F),The National Association of Kawaida Organizations (N.A.K.O.),The African Poetry Theatre (A.P.T.), Brooklyn, NY By Any Greens Necessary: Food as a Tool of Colonization and Joining the Resistance Jade Walker, Co-founder and Co-director, Mill Creek Farm Christopher Bolden-Newsome, Food Justice Consultant, Philadelphia, PA 5th Floor: Occidental

Creating Wealth and Improving the Lives of Black Farmers 5th Floor: and the Rural Community through Cooperatives State Room Ralph Paige, Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives / Land Assistance Fund, East Point, GA Training the Next Generation of Urban Farmers Patrick Crouch, Program Manager, Capuchin Soup Kitchen's Earthworks Urban Farm, Detroit, MI Marilyn Nefer Ra Barber, Coordinator, Earthworks Agricultural Training (EAT) Program, Earthworks, Detroit, MI 6th Floor: Maroon Room

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

SCHEDULE:
3:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Saturday, November 20 (continued)

Breakout Sessions #2 (continued) A Place for Us: Black Farmers in the Organic Movement Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm, Albany, NY Composting in the City: Why Composting is Important in Urban Settings Andrew Hoyles, Master Composter, Brooklyn, NY Young, Black and Gifted: Creating Niche Food Communities Nicole Taylor, Hot Grease on Heritage Radio Network Host and Food Justice Activist, Brooklyn, NY 6th Floor: Gold Room Penthouse (left) Penthouse (right)

4:45 PM - 5:30 PM

Closing Keynote 6th Floor: Ralph Paige, Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives Gold Room

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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Keynote Speaker - Will Allen Founder and CEO, Growing Power, Inc. Will Allen, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader and now farmer, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Will is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding eld of urban agriculture. At Growing Power and in community food projects across the nation and around the world, Will promotes the belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable and nutritious foods at all times. Using methods he has developed over a lifetime, Will trains community members to become community farmers, assuring them a secure source of good food without regard to political or economic forces. In 2008, Will was named a John D. and Katherine T. McArthur Foundation Fellow and was awarded a prestigious foundation genius grant for his work only the second farmer ever to be so honored. He is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and in February 2010, he was invited to the White House to join First Lady Michelle Obama in launching Lets Move! her signature leadership program to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. In May 2010, Time magazine named Will to the Time 100 Worlds Most Inuential People.

Keynote Speaker - Ralph Paige Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives Ralph Paige has dedicated his lifes work to proving that cooperatives can be used to enhance incomes and improve quality of life for Black family farmers and rural low-income families. Never deterred by scarcity of resources or organized resistance, he has been a tireless advocate, fundraiser and teacher. Under his leadership, the Federation has been the primary organization representing Black farmers and ghting the precipitous decline in a lifestyle and culture of land ownership and independence. Among the Federations accomplishments under his leadership: over 200 units of low-income housing developed; 18 community credit unions formed; 75 cooperatives started; and creation of the Federations Rural Training and Research Center in Epes, Alabama.

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2010 George Washington Carver Award Recipients

The Black Urban Growers (BUGS), the coalition of individuals and organizations behind the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference, is proud to present the rst annual George Washington Carver Award to three outstanding organizations. The award is given in recognition of extraordinary efforts to forge food, farming and policy solutions for the Black Community. We would like to offer our gratitude to the people who have shaped these esteemed organizations and contributed to the growing movement to promote health, wealth and justice in our communities.

Afrikan Zion Organic Roots Farm

Ras Oba Jacobs, a native of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, rst arrived in Vermont, he picked apples. Then he and his wife, Dana, founded the Afrikan Zion Organic Roots Farm in West Wardsboro,Vermont. By the mid-1980s, they were bringing produce to New York City, rst to Brooklyn, then to Harlem and the Bronx. In partnership with the Hattie Carthan Community Garden Farmer's Market, the Jacobs recently launched the Bed/Stuy CSA in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Oba and Dana Jacobs and Family

The Jacobs sell a full range of vegetables grown naturally without additives or pesticides from June through November. Afrikan Zion Organic Roots Farm has been recognized for its leadership in linking organic growing to urban neighborhoods. For more than three decades, the Jacobs have been learning, growing, building and sharing. Afrikan Zion Organic Roots Farm continues to bring their very best in a steadfast commitment to the organic food revolution.

East New York Farms

East New York Farms has worked with youth, gardeners, farmers and entrepreneurs to build a more just and sustainable community since 1998. East New York is a diverse and economically disadvantaged community in the eastern part of Brooklyn. Decades of urban decline and neglect left the community with numerous vacant lots, few businesses and services, and a reputation for violent crime and poverty. Through a coalition of local and city-wide organizations and residents, The East New York Farms! Project came together as a way to use and further develop one resource that the neighborhood had in abundancemore than 65 community gardens. Working with youth interns and adult gardeners to increase organic food production in community gardens, the organization was able to start a small farmers market that has grown over the years into a thriving destination including dozens of gardeners and local entrepreneurs of many backgrounds, as well as upstate farmers, bringing fresh affordable food to over 17,000 customers each year.

An East New York Farms! Youth Intern

Peoples Grocery
People's Grocerys mission is to build a local food system that improves the health and economy of West Oakland, CA. Founded in 2002, the organization now operates a network of urban gardens, a suburban farm, a CSA and a wholesale organic buying club. It has trained an army of community educators who offer cooking and nutrition demonstrations at local hospitals, schools, public events, and other community-based gatherings. People's Grocery has attracted local and national attention in their effort to transform the inner city food environment and address health Young Peoples Grocery urban gardeners problems in West Oakland. The organization continues to engage the conversation around wellness, socio-economic status and social determinants of health through a food lens, and ensure that diet and nutrition play a large part in the revitalization of communities.

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Farmer to Farmer Track:
Creating Wealth and Improving the Lives of Black Farmers and the Rural Community through Cooperatives Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 5th Floor, State Room Presenter: Ralph Paige, Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives / Land Assistance Fund Understanding Land Trust As Land Protection and Wealth Retention Strategy Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 6th Floor, Maroon Room Presenter: Ebonie Alexander, Executive Director, Black Family Land Trust, Durham, NC The mission of the Black Family Land Trust is to provide educational, technical and nancial services to ensure, protect, and preserve African American land ownership. Black land loss has reached the crisis stage. While AfricanAmericans amassed 15 million acres of land in the South between 1865 and 1919, by 1999 African-Americans owned a total of 7.7 million acres and only 2.5 million of those acres were farmland. In 1920, Black farmers numbered 925,708 (when 1 of 4 owned their own land) and controlled approximately 14 percent of the nation's farmland. Today, Black farmers have declined in number to approximately 18,000 and they control less than 1 percent of the nation's farmland. In this workshop learn how to protect family land through utilizing land trust and or conservation tools. Participants will receive an overview of the various trust, conservation and community economic development tools available to protect land by putting it back into production.

Photo Credit: Joshua east side

A conversation with Ralph Paige on building cooperatives to enhance incomes and improve quality of life for Black family farmers and rural low-income families; food deserts; childhood obesity; the Farm Bill and mobilizing for policy change; working in collaboration to effect change. Scaling Up! Creating 100,000 New Farmers: Local and National Resources for Rural and Urban Farmers

Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 5th Floor, Occidental Room Presenters: Michelle Hughs, Director, GrowNYC: New Farmer Development Program, New York, NY Professor Neil D. Hamilton, Dwight D. Opperman Using Herbs as Companion Plants in Your Chair of Law and Director of the Agricultural Law Organic Garden Center at Drake University Law School, Des Moines, IA Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM This workshop will examine various USDA and local Location: 5th Floor, International Room programs to support new and beginning farmers and Presenters: Solita Stephens, Olympus Garden Club, Union, NJ expand markets for locally grown food, and discuss how these efforts can help urban farmers scale up their operations. Speakers will discuss the recent proposal by Participants will learn about herbs that can be used to Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack to add 100,000 new farms reduce the use of harmful pesticides on/in the farm/garden. and discuss how a new farmer title in the 2012 farm bill can We will review plants and group will get to share any support this effort. The work of GrowNYC's New Farmer knowledge they have about the plants. I will share my Development Project will be reviewed to highlight personal experiences using these plants and some of their resources and support services available for all farmers on value-added uses in markets as teas, or potpourris in a the local level. Strategies for expanding the role of urban highly interactive format. agriculture within the work of USDA and local governments will also be addressed.

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Farmer to Farmer Track: (continued)
Training the Next Generation of Urban Farmers Designing Linkages between Upstate Farmers and Downstate Food Desert Communities Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 6th Floor, Maroon Room Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Presenters: Location: 4th Floor, Alumni Lounge Patrick Crouch, Program Manager, Capuchin Soup Presenter: Dennis Derryck, President/Founder Corbin Kitchen's Earthworks Urban Farm, Detroit, MI Hill Road Farm, Schoharie County (NY) Marilyn Nefer Ra Barber, Coordinator of Earthworks Agricultural Training (EAT) Program, Earthworks Farm, In creating a Farm Share Program, the Corbin Hill Rd Farm Detroit, MI (CHRF) began as a farm with a long term goal of creating a Farm Share membership of some 4-5,000 members over Urban farming is all the rage these days, but how do you 10 years who would eventually own shares on the farm. hire from the community that urban farms are in when Working at a scale that makes a difference requires most of the community have not been exposed to current reexamining the role of being a farmer, the importance of organic and sustainable farming methods? The answer is collaboration and dening the nature of strategic simple! You train them, and grow more farmers. partnerships are requirements needed to serve food deserts. The rapid transformation of CHRF to being a Earthworks Agricultural Training is a program which seeks produce distributor with a social mission owning a farm has to teach residents of the near east side of Detroit about major implications as to costs and in attracting social organic farming and urban food systems-so they may investors. This experience and the learning that has acquire jobs in the quickly developing ban agriculture eld occurred in the rst year of CHRFs operation where it as well as start and incubate their own projects. In this surpassed its initial goal of 175 members by more than 60 workshop you will learn about the teaching methods percent will be shared and discussed with conference applied, the success and failures we have experienced, and participants. what are some of the keys for success of developing your own project. Earthworks Urban Farm has been cultivating the land and community for over 15 years.

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Food Policy and Action Planning Track:
Panel: How USDA and Other US Government From Field to Policy: Leveraging Grassroots Policies Effect both Farming & Urban Gardening Power for the 2012 Food and Farm Bill Time: 1:30 PM 3:00 PM Location: 6th Floor, Gold Room Presenters: Gary Grant, Black Farmers & Agriculturists Association President, Tillery, NC Spencer D. Wood, PhD; Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu'min, Muhammad Farms, Minister of Agriculture and Farm Manager, Albany, GA Barry Crumbley (Moderator), Intact Community Development Corporation; Mount Vernon, NY Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 4th Floor, African Art Gallery Presenters: Savi Horne,The Land Loss Prevention Project, Durham, NC Tracy Lloyd McCurty, Rural Coalition/Coalicin Rural, Washington DC Kathy Ozer, National Family Farm Coalition, Washington DC

The U.S. will begin renegotiation of U.S. Farm Policy before 2012; consequently, a grassroots alliance will need to begin laying the framework for a farm policy agenda that reects This panel of experts will discuss: the values of community food sovereignty, respect for Identifying underlying laws and food policy legislation in Mother Earth, and a renewed commitment to keep farmers the USA of African descent as well as other historically underserved How U.S. government and corporations work together farming communities on the land. In 2008, the Farm and to control food production Food Policy Diversity Initiative, a grassroots coalition How to acquire land by establishing nancial support working in solidarity for more diversity and access to systems and landowner alliances USDA programs, was successful in opening doors to Explaining the truth about the concept of heirs farmers, ranchers and farm workers long excluded from property federal agriculture programs and services. The Diversity Showing a perspective between gardening and farming Initiatives legislative victories included more than $1.5 billion designated for socially disadvantaged farmers and more than thirty provisions to ensure the equitable Undoing Racism in the Food System: Lessons participation of socially disadvantaged and limited resource from the Detroit Struggle farmers in federal agriculture programs. Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 4th Floor, Alumni Lounge Presenters: Lila Cabbil, D-Town Farm Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit, MI Key organizations with long experience in this debate will lead a discussion about developing grassroots focused strategies for the coming debate on farm and food policy, and to develop a concrete agenda to inuence this policy to advance rather than hinder food sovereignty and In this workshop we will begin by laying the foundation and economic solidarity at the national, regional and global developing an understanding of the scope of the problem in level. This will be an interactive workshop and will identifying structural/institutionalized racism in the food invigorate thoughtful dialogue through group participation system as a root cause for economic and health disparities. and smaller focus groups. The rst half of the workshop will We will outline critical content areas for strategic analysis focus on the changes achieved through the concerted and action planning then review resources for continued action of diverse organizations and on the additional learning, planning and taking action. Workshop will include: changes needed to assure food sovereignty for all Description of Detroit work in progress communities in the U.S. The second half of the workshop Interactive exercises to increase awareness of will focus on the structural issues of U.S. Farm Policy and unconscious participation in racism the implications for food sovereignty at the domestic and Group dialogue to provide opportunity to express global scale, as well as concrete recommendations on perspectives from individual localities process, substance and strategies for the upcoming US Action Planning Guide Farm and Food Policy Debate.

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Food Policy and Action Planning Track: (continued)
A Project Overview - Northeast Alliance in Support of African American Farmers (NEASAAF) Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 5th Floor, International Room Presenters: Lisa Jackson, Former Secretary/Treasurer, NEASAAF, LilClif Productions Segun Shabaka, PhD, Former Co-Chairman, NEASAAF, The International African Arts Festival, The National Association of Kawaida Organizations, The African Poetry Theatre, Brooklyn, NY The Peoples Struggle for Food Sovereignty: From Local to Global, Another Food System is Possible!

Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 5th Floor, State Room Presenters: Juana Mercedes, General Coordinator of the National Confederation of Women of the Countryside (CONAMUCA) and member of the International Human Rights Commission of La Via Campesina, Dominican Republic Sara Medina, Urban Agriculture Specialist, Foundation for Training and Innovation to Support the Agrarian In 1997, Community Organizer Segun Shabaka,The House of Revolution (Fundacin CIARA), Caracas,Venezuela Ben Burkett, President, National Family Farm Coalition the Lord Church Pastor, Brooklyn - Rev Herbert Daughtry, and Event/Marketing Consultant - Lisa Jackson formed the not and member of La Via Campesina North America for profit organization, Northeast Alliance in Support of African American Farmers (NEASAAF) in efforts to: Across the globe, a vibrant movement of farmers, food Lend support to southeastern African American workers, sher-folk, indigenous peoples, and others is Farmers, via the Federation of Southern Cooperatives calling for food sovereignty, the right of people to control Land Assistance Fund, a 501(c) 3 organization serving their food and agriculture systems. As we challenge the the rural south since 1967. underlying injustices of our current food system, we too Strengthen connections between farmers and are part of this movement. northeastern African Americans by enlightening northerners of the farmers plight & the importance of This workshop will explore food sovereignty from the local eating healthier produce. to the global levels, with a special emphasis on the critical Provide northerners with healthy freshly grown roles of people of African ancestry, particularly women, in produce by the farmers. this movement. Speakers will include powerful women leaders from the Dominican Republic,Venezuela, and the This presentation will be an overview of the project, which United States. can be used as a model to build upon by organizations with similar initiatives. Presenters will share info from the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund, including a brief explanation and status of the Pigford Lawsuit; how attendees can support the Federation and keep updated on their status and initiatives.

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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Building Self-Reliant Communities Track:
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 6th Floor, Gold Room Presenters: Malik Yakini, Founder and Chairman, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit, MI Monica White, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) is a coalition of organizations and individuals working together to build food security in Detroits Black community by: 1) inuencing public policy; 2) promoting urban agriculture; 3) encouraging co-operative buying; 4) promoting healthy eating habits; 5) facilitating mutual support and collective action among members; and 6) encouraging young people to pursue careers in agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, bee-keeping and other food related elds. Feed Denver Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 4th Floor, Maroney-Leddy Room Presenters: Paula Thompson and Trineka Freeman, Urban Farmers, 42nd & Steele St. Parking Lot Farm, Denver, CO Feed Denver is a nonprot organization dedicated to creating working urban farms to create food, jobs, and business. This past summer we created a farm out of a Parking Lot in one of our more challenged communities. The neighborhood of Swansea is cut in half by a highway and dwarfed by truck stops, industrial factories, and junk yards but now has its own operating farm in answer to Joni Mitchells iconic song, Big Yellow Taxi, we took that parking lot back and made it paradise! Our Parking Lot Farm and Urban Agriculture Project is in a federally recognized enterprise zone, the Globeville/ Swansea/Elyria neighborhoods, which are home to over 10,000 residents. According to the Piton Foundation over 80% of the individuals in these communities are low income and 27% live in poverty, making accessing fresh foods and employment opportunities a great challenge. These diverse neighborhoods include strong ethnic cultures representing predominantly African-American, Latino, and Asian communities.

Young, Black and Gifted: Creating Niche Food Communities Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: Penthouse (Right) Presenter: Nicole Taylor, Host of Hot Grease on Heritage Radio Network and Food Justice Activist, Brooklyn, NY Whether you are a farmer interested in social media, a gardener with a food product idea or local eater interested in self-reliance, this workshop will give you the examples and inspiration to sustain niche food communities. In this presentation, participants will learn the fundamentals elements for successful community building through food. Case studies include Roberta's Pizza, The Greenhorns, African Hebrew Israelites, Muhammad Farms, and Eat Slow Jams. There will be an open discussion on resources needed for stronger black food organizations. Increasing Access to Affordable Foods in Communities of Color Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: Penthouse (Right) Presenter: Tanikka Cunningham, Executive Director, Healthy Solutions, Washington DC Lack of Food Access is not just a hot topic now, but it is a very real situation for African Americans. Most of our communities fall into food deserts and we suffer some of the highest negative health outcomes because it. We can help change our health, our food, and better our youth by creating community food systems that allow us to feed ourselves. This workshop will allow you to see some of the simple things that anyone can do to make food access a reality for our communities. This workshop will answer questions about what food systems are and what they can do to impact our communities. Healthy Solutions vision is to create equitable communities by creating community based food systems allowing all community members: 1. access to healthy affordable foods, 2. quality jobs through agriculture, and 3. education and training.
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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Building Self-Reliant Communities Track: (continued)
Urban Farming as a Framework for Holistic Community Development Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: Penthouse (Left) Presenter: Michael S. Easterling, Convener, Community Developer and Food Producer, Cleveland, OH This presentation offers a vision of how neighborhoodbased food production can work as the foundation of a holistic social and economic development strategy. The regenerative economics model was synthesized from the experience and best practices of educators, growers and policymakers and is based on the belief that a thriving local food economy is the most fundamental basis for building the local economy. Participants will be provided with a framework that can be used to: Rene program strategies and assess opportunities for partnership, Apply models cooperative nance to create lower cost, high impact learning, and Engage school systems through project-based learning in the community Participants will also be provided with an overview of an enterprise development strategy that prepares youth for opportunities: Horticulture / Aquaculture / Permaculture Construction & Design Compost/ Waste Utilization Logistics / Distribution Program Documentation

Seed to Table Track:

By Any Greens Necessary: Food as a Tool of Colonization and Joining the Resistance Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 5th Floor, Occidental Room Presenters: Jade Walker, The Mill Creek Farm, Co-founder, Codirector of The Mill Creek Farm Christopher Bolden-Newsome, Food Justice Consultant, Philadelphia, PA The workshop will be hosted in popular education style and participants will engage through a series of discussions (large and small group), historical games, and listening. There is a serious isolation and lack of cohesion in the food justice movement. We will use conference space to gather together and challenge ourselves to rewrite the narrative to not be about our individual work but to focus on the collective good of a transformed society. A goal of this workshop is to stimulate the creation of a food justice praxis. We want participants to leave with the ability to recognize the interconnectedness of oppressions and learn new ways to challenge the (way) systems of oppression (act within ourselves) within our work. Through this workshop we will expose that as long as the imposition of colonization has occurred, there have been movements to resist it.

We will begin the workshop by honoring our ancestors, move to a history of the food politics game in order that participants in this conversation leave with the ability to see our work in a historical context as a vehicle for social change. Then through an interactive timeline we will investigate the historical role of food in colonization. To help us locate ourselves and our justice work in the stream of food centered revolutions throughout human history. In closing we reect, through meditation and story, on our own ancestral paths to the US and the personal and collective work it will take to get us to liberation. A Place for Us: Black Farmers in the Organic Movement Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 6th Floor, Gold Room Presenters: Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm, Albany, NY Participants will have the opportunity to share experiences and wisdom gleaned from interfacing with the organic movement. Additionally, I will provide information about the requirements of organic farmers and strategies to make organic farming possible without access to huge amounts of capital. I particularly have experience with organic vegetables, small fruits, and poultry as well as teen farming programs. I have been a part time grower for 15 years.
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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Seed to Table Track: (continued)
Reclaiming and Reframing the History of Black Farmers in the U.S. Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 4th Floor, African Art Gallery Presenters: Gail Myers, Cultural Anthropologist and founder of Farms to Grow, Oakland, CA Jennifer Steverson, Public Programs Curator Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, NY Very little research has been conducted on the topic of blacks in United States agriculture, nor has the important contributions of blacks in agriculture been properly noted. This paper discusses the agricultural contributions of black farmers in early American history and the ability of black farmers to transform land into meaningful resources, during and after the enslavement years. For example, the author cites the rice economy in South Carolina as evidence of African based landscape architectural design knowledge of the Senegambians. The paper discusses the plantation survival adaptations, Colono-Ware pottery, and the ethnobotanical/ecological knowledge of the rst Africans in the Americas. A Conversation and Strategy Session around the Industrialization of Black Food Culture Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: 2nd Floor, Glennwood Room Presenters: Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Join us for pre screening of Byron Hurts forthcoming lm Soul Food Junkies, followed by a conversation about the industrialization of Black food culture, from slavery to today. Lets Build, and discuss ways we can collectively address the oppression of our communities through food/ our food system. "We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary."
Malcolm X
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Capuchin Soup Kitchen's Earthworks Urban Farm, Detroit, MI

The Next Generation: Youth Creating Food Change Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM Location: 2nd Floor, Glennwood Presenters: Anim Steel, Director of National Programs, The Food Project; Co-Founder Real Food Challenge, Brooklyn, NY Myles Postell-Reynolds, Field Organizer with the Real Food Challenge Real Food, Alum of The Food Projects Summer Program, Springeld, MA Youth Team from East New York Farms! Young people (in their teens, twenties, and thirties) are a rising voice in the movement. Whether were growing food in our communities our advocating in our schools, we believe real food is our right and our responsibility. In this interactive workshop, you will hear about three models of youth engaged in the food movement: East New York Farms!, a program that is greening one Brooklyn neighborhood with gardens and a thriving farmers market; Real Food Challenge, which mobilizes college students to create new markets for family farmers; and Live Real, a new project uniting youth nationwide to reform federal food policy. After these short presentations, participants will have a chance to discuss how they might want to shape the movement, individually and collectively. We intend to come out of the workshop with new ideas and ways to be involved.

2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Seed to Table Track: (continued)
Kids Hands On Cooking Demonstration from Simply put, Harlem Seeds; cultivating the seeds of Farm to Table tomorrow one child at a time. Participants will be able to make smarter, more informed choices about what food Time: 10:45 AM 12:00 PM they put inside their bodies. They will be empowered with knowing where the food comes from and how to best Location: 4th Floor, Maroney-Leddy Room prepare it for maximum nutrition. They too can continue Presenters: Rosalind Francis, Harlem Seeds, New York, NY the legacy in growing food for their communities. Michele Hatchette, Harlem Seeds, New York, NY At Harlem Seeds, we understand the importance and urgency to connect childrens relationship to food with the growing process and agricultural practices. Participants will also learn: How to prepare tasty and delicious farm fresh food The differences between farm fresh foods and processed foods The positive benets of consuming healthy food Composting in the City - Why Composting is Important in Urban Settings Time: 3:15 PM 4:30 PM Location: Penthouse (Left) Presenter: Andrew Hoyles, Compost Instructor, NYC Compost Project in Manhattan, New York, NY

A basic primer on why composting is a critical part of urban gardening and a look at some of the tools that help you to get started. Topics discussed will be why composting Participants will be divided into teams; four members per team. A maximum total of 20 participants will be allowed to matters, different composting options, what should or shouldn't be composted, and applications. participate in the hands-on cooking demonstrations. The purpose of the workshop is to introduce an alternative way of preparing food for maximum nutritional benets.

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

Garden Tours Sunday, November 21

Come experience why they call New York City the mecca of urban agriculture on one of three garden tours this Sunday. Our gardens and farms are among the citys most extraordinary and best-kept secrets. Tourists will discover an enormous variety of trees, vegetables, herbs and owers as well as ponds, gazebos, rain-water harvesting systems, and more. The gardens are host to people of all ages and to a wide range of programs, from canning to composting, rain water harvesting to CSAs, homework tutoring to environmental studies workshops. On the tours you will have a chance to see and hear how community residents took back their neighborhoods and now are growing food, providing education and in some cases have become healing and cultural centers. In Harlem come meet and greet urban farmers whose history stems from the migration of the rural South to the urban North, bringing with them the seeds of our past. In Brooklyn, learn about the boroughs oldest African American settlement Weeksville and the spiritual rituals passed down from our ancestors at Hattie Carthan community Garden. In the Bronx, discover our ancestral roots from Southern, Caribbean and a blend of Afro-Latino cultures, as you visit farms, a community garden and a rooftop youth garden. The only drawback is that you have to choose just one tour! Tours are scheduled for Sunday morning, November 21. Transportation on the Bronx and Brooklyn tours is via vans; the Harlem tour is a walking tour. Please dress accordingly. Tours cost $25 and are on a rst come rst serve basis. CHECK AT THE REGISTRATION DESK TO SEE IF SPACE IS STILL AVAILABLE.

Brooklyn Itinerary
Tour Guide: Jennifer Stevenson, 347-678-1258 Start Time: 11 AM Start Location: Weeksville Heritage Center, 1698 Bergen Street, between Rochester and Buffalo Avenues. A, C trains to Utica Avenue: Walk four blocks south on Utica. Turn left on Bergen St. 3, 4 trains to Utica Avenue: Walk eight blocks north on Utica. Turn right on Bergen St. 11:00 AM 11:45 AM: Weeksville Heritage Center, Host: Jennifer Stevenson 12:00 PM 12:45 PM: East New York Farms! (613 New Lots Ave.), Host: David Vigil 1:00 PM 1:45 PM: 2:00 PM to 2:45 PM: 3:00 PM: Brooklyn Rescue Mission/Bed-Stuy Farm (255 Bainbridge St.), Hosts: Rev. Robert & Rev. DeVanie Jackson Hattie Carthan Community Garden (Lafayette & Marcy Ave), Host:Yonnette Fleming End

East New York Farms!

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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

Garden Tours Sunday, November 21 (continued) Bronx Itinerary

Tour Guide: Karen Washington, 917.861.2783 Start Time: 10 AM (Buses leave at 10:15 AM) Start Location: La Finca Del Sur, 138th Street and Grand Concourse. 4, 5 trains stop at garden. 10:30 AM 11:00 AM: Taqwa Farms! (164th & Ogden Ave), Hosts: Abu Talib & Bobby Watson 11:15 AM 12:00 PM: Tremont Community Garden (178th and LaFontaine Ave), Hosts: Elizabeth Butler & James Alexander 12:15 PM 1:00 PM: Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (174th and Strafford Ave), Hosts: Julien Terrell & Youth Organizers 1:15 PM 2:00 PM: La Finca Del Sur (138th and Grand Concourse), Hosts: Nancy and Demetrio Suran 2:00 PM: end
Gardener Abu Talib at Taqwa Community Farm. Photo Credit: Ira Block

Manhattan Itinerary
Tour Guide: Haja Worley Start Time: 10 AM Start Location: Joseph Daniel Wilson Garden, 219 West 122nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. Take A, C, or D train to 125th and St. Nicholas or 2,3 trains to 125th and Malcolm X Blvd/Lenox Avenue.

10:00 AM 11:00 AM: Joseph Daniel Wilson Garden, (219 West 122nd Street), Hosts: Haja and Cindy Worley 11:15 AM 12:00 PM: Hattie McCracken/Truce Garden (St. Nicholas Ave., 118th & 119th Streets) Host: Steve Kidd 12:15 PM 1:00 PM: Clayton Williams Garden (126th and 8th Ave.), Host: Loretta Welcome 1:15 PM 2:00 PM: William B. Washington Garden (126th @ St Nicholas). Host: Gwendolyn Kingsberry 2:00 PM end
Clayton Williams Garden
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2010 BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE

TAKE ACTION!
Thank you for attending the rst annual Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference!
We hope that this conference has helped you strengthen networks with other growers and activists and inspired new ideas to address the food-related issues that contribute to inequities in health, wealth and justice in black communities. Our work together should not end with this weekends events. Help further our collective efforts by staying connected:

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Get ready for the 2011 Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference!
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