Saturday, October 5th
Pre-Gathering: Open House
FREE ● Open to All
Join us before the gathering at Savanna Institute’s farm campus in Spring Green. See our nursery and hazelnut research trials with Savanna Institute’s farm team. Enjoy perennial food tastings, press your own cider, and hear music from Bluegrass-folk fusion band, The Iowans. Pre-registration required. Register here or when you purchase your PFG Tickets.
Sunday, October 6th
Pre-Gathering: Agroforestry Coalition Annual Meeting & Networking Event
Agroforestry Coalition is a coalition of agroforestry leaders and practitioners working across sectors to dramatically increase the number of people growing food in diverse, tree-based farming systems in the United States. Learn more and RSVP at www.agroforestrycoalition.com
Fruitful Libations: A Workshop for Perennial Growers and Beverage Makers
Speakers: Stan Frankenthaler, Culinary Innovation Consulting
Heidi Leuszler, Berries and Flour
Derek Nedvek, The Flower Factory
Ele Muni, Galena Cellars
Join us for an add-on Perennial Farm Gathering workshop to connect and educate growers and beverage makers. Growers will share their experience selling to beverage makers, beverage makers will cover how they develop new products/lines, and marketers will share their perspective on making value-added products.
PFG2024 Welcome Reception
Savanna Institute’s Executive Director Keefe Keeley welcomes all to the Perennial Farm Gathering and sets the stage for two days of discussion, perennial foods, and nutshell talks with fellow perennial agriculture enthusiasts.
Monday, October 7th
Light Breakfast & Networking
Keynote Speaker: Sean Sherman
Oglala Lakota Chef Sean Sherman, founder of The Sioux Chef, is decolonizing our food system. From growing up on Pine Ridge to an epiphany on a beach in Mexico, Chef Sean Sherman shares his journey of discovering, reviving and reimagining Native cuisine.
Perennial Foods Lunch
Speakers: Craig Solverson, Mike Breckel, and Jim & Bernis Ingvaldson
What does a high quality berry – elderberry, black currant, aronia, or honeyberry – look like? Feel like? Taste like? What are the key preparation, practices, and processes needed to grow a consistent berry from year to year? How hard is it? What has worked and what hasn’t worked? What mistakes have been made and what can others learn from those? What should growers, processors, buyers, and consumers expect in growing, handling, processing, purchasing, and consuming these berries? Come find out what a panel of growers do and share your tips, tricks, and practices as well!
Farm Hacks for Agroforestry Systems
Speakers: Graham Cassellius, Owner of Cassell Hollow Farm
Kevin Wolz, CEO of Canopy Farm Management
Join us as we explore creative solutions and clever hacks for sustainably integrating trees, crops, and livestock. Learn about small-scale DIY equipment design, innovative fencing, and prototype harvesters. This session offers practical advice and inventive approaches to elevate your agroforestry game. Bring your questions and be ready to engage in lively discussion with experts and fellow farmers.
Culinary Creativity With the Fruits and Nuts of Agroforestry
Speakers: Chefs Odessa Piper and Beth Dooley
Agroforestry we can eat! Chefs, home cooks, foragers and growers share their passion for perennial foods, both cultivated and wild. With practical tips and recipes our panel will explore paths of flavor through contemporary foodways. Come away with creative ideas for becoming a more empowered eater.
Nutshell Talks: Share Your Perennial Story
Moderator: Jacob Grace
A perennial favorite of the gathering, audience members can share five-minute updates, stories, lessons-learned or nagging questions from their work. Include slides or other visual aids–or just talk with guests. Nutshells are a great way to connect with a community of practice and help build knowledge across the region.
Speakers: Terry Durham, River Hills Harvest
Ariel Pressman, Whole Farm Strategies
Pamela Saunders, American Hazelnut Company
This panel of food system leaders discuss topics in processing, distributing, and connecting people to perennially grown foods through the marketplace. From farm to table and producer to consumer, these leaders play a role in growing access to healthy, locally grown foods that are beneficial for the environment. We will especially look to talk about challenges and overcoming those challenges as it relates to getting products to market.
Tuesday, October 8th
Light Breakfast & Networking (included with registration)
Speaker: Steve Gabriel, Wellspring Forest Farm
In natural forests, mother nature plants hundreds of thousands of seeds, only to see a few hundred survive to become a mature forest. This, and other lessons from nature, offer us a way to humbly approach tree planting in agroforestry systems. Regardless of the type of agroforestry we want to employ on the land, understanding the fundamentals of tree propagation, planting, and care are critical to success. This session will explore tree biology, ecology, and discuss tips and techniques in the field and nursery to support healthy trees for the long term.
Nutshell Talks: Share Your Perennial Story
Moderator: Jacob Grace
In part 2 of this perennial favorite of the gathering, audience members can share five-minute updates, stories, lessons-learned or nagging questions from their work. Include slides or other visual aids–or just talk with guests. Nutshells are a great way to connect with a community of practice and help build knowledge across the region.
Speakers: Brett Chedzoy, Forest Ecologist/Cattle Grazier, and Cherrie Nolden, 1dr Acres Farm
Is it forest or is it pasture or both? To dive deeper into this topic, we will hear the experienced perspectives of Brett Chedzoy, Regional Extension Forester with Cornell University and full-time grazier with operations in New York and Argentina. Brett has been a leader in showcasing techniques of grazing cattle in the woods to convert problematic understories into beneficial forages. We will also hear from agroecologist and multi-species grazier, Cherrie Nolden who grazes livestock in SW Wisconsin. Cherrie is working to produce diversity and functionality in former savanna systems that are being reclaimed from woody invasion due to restriction of fire and grazers in recent centuries.
Perennial Foods Lunch (included with registration)
Afternoon Sessions & Presentations
Perennial Problems and Opportunities: Crowdsourcing Solutions
Speaker: PJ Connolly
What do you think are the highest risk-adjusted agroforestry crops or systems/practices now? What would you like to be a profitable crop, system, or practice? What crop, system, or practice are you most excited about? What would you like to grow if 100 of your neighbors were helping? These are the questions we will dig into together during this interactive session.
Emerging Tree Crop Research, Resources, and Tools
Speakers: Nate Lawrence and Eleanor Johnson, Savanna Institute
Kevin Wolz, Canopy Farm Management
Nate Lawrence and Safa Hafiz share their bird recording research showcasing how different agriculture systems impact bird biodiversity. Savanna Institute’s Eleanor Johnson will introduce you to the Wisconsin Agroforestry Demonstration Farm Network, a new peer-to-peer education and community-building opportunity for farmers practicing agroforestry in Wisconsin. CEO of Canopy Farm Management Kevin Wolz will cover Canopy Compass, a web-based crop suitability mapping and farm analysis tool built to support farmers’ transition to regenerative agriculture.
Join us as we feature local and regional partners in discussing the successes, obstacles, and nuances of establishing perennial crops in urban spaces. We’ll cover the benefits of urban (agro)forestry, some strategies to approach or start your own community project, and talk about how to integrate trees, shrubs, and perennial crops together with other regenerative and climate smart practices for a larger vision of urban resilience.
Enhancing Conservation through Agroforestry: Collaborative Approaches to Strengthen Technical Assistance
Speakers: Carina Isbell, Research Manager at Meridian
Producers need accessible, high-quality technical assistance (TA) to effectively integrate agroforestry and related conservation practices into their operations. This workshop, part of a nationwide effort led by Meridian Institute to envision how TA for conservation can be enhanced to best meet the needs of producers and the lands they steward, will identify strategies to reimagine a TA system that better meets producers’ needs for agroforestry-related assistance. Workshop participants will share their conservation experiences, discuss strategies for improving TA for agroforestry specifically, and engage in small group discussions to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within current support systems. Through group discussion and community-sourcing, this workshop will illuminate pathways for strengthening conservation efforts and improving agroforestry training for both TA providers and producers. The session is designed for agroforestry practitioners and TA professionals of all experience levels who are committed to advancing both producer productivity and environmental stewardship.
The Future Now: a Perennial Vision for Agriculture, Taking Root Today
In this panel discussion, we’ll aim to bridge the ideals of ecology with the practicalities of agriculture, to explore our shared visions while inoculating against fixations on “the future,” and to invite reflection on what has taken root at 2024’s Perennial Farm Gathering and what we hope it will yield.
Closing
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Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with the Midwest farming community members who are invested in improving water and soil quality, producing healthier crops and animals, and helping restore natural balance to the climate.
