Virtual ticket holders: Check your email for links to the sessions!
Monday, October 7th
This year’s Deep Roots Award is extended posthumously to Dr. Don Wyse, a beloved leader who passed away unexpectedly in 2024. Earlier this year, Don celebrated 50 years of teaching and research at the University of Minnesota. He was the visionary and co-founder of the Forever Green Initiative. The 2024 New Shoots Award goes to Jacque and Dan Enge, founders of the Veggie Emporium, a regenerative microfarm growing nutrient dense produce while promoting soil health, water quality, and biodiversity.
Keynote Speaker: Sean Sherman, Indigenous Food Advocate and Chef
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.
Speakers: Mike Breckel, Ocooch Mountain Elderberries; Jim and Bernis Ingvaldson, HoneyberryUSA; Wandy Peralta, Branches and Berries; Erin Schneider, Hilltop Community Farm
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!
Speakers: Ariel Pressman, Renewing the Countryside, Whole Farm Strategies; Terry Durham, River Hills Harvest; Pamela Saunders, American Hazelnut Company; Chris Patton, Midwest Elderberry Cooperative
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 talk about challenges and overcoming them to get products to market.
Tuesday, October 8th
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.
Speakers: Cherrie Nolden, 1dr Acres Farm; Brett Chedzoy, Cornell University
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.
Speakers: Brian Lampert, George Washington High School; Tomas Delgado, National Farm to School Network; Emily Steinwehe, Wisconsin Food Forests
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.
Speakers: Tiffany LaShae, Black-eyed Peace Project; Jose Franco, USDA-ARS, Dairy Forage Research Center, and incoming Director of Research, Savanna Institute
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.
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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.
