Jean-Martin Fortier, a farmer, educator, entrepreneur, and best-selling author specializing in organic and biointensive vegetable production, is the featured keynote speaker at this year’s S.D. Local Foods Conference (SDLFC).
His award-winning book, The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming, has inspired readers worldwide to reimagine ecological human-scale food systems. Fortier teachings have been adapted to the Market Gardener Masterclass, a comprehensive online program that supports over 2000+ growers in over 60 countries.
In 2020, Fortier founded Growers & Co., a farm tool and farmwear company that also features a biannual magazine focused on celebrating the movement of small-scale organic farming. He is based in Quebec, Canada, where he manages Ferme des Quatre-Temps, a research and training farm that intends to serve as a model for the future of agriculture.
This year’s SDLFC is a virtual event scheduled for Nov. 4-6, 2021. Producers, marketers, buyers and consumers of local food are encouraged to attend. Fortier will present ‘Working with Living Soil’ on Friday, Nov. 5 at noon central. The event is sponsored by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of South Dakota.
The SDLFC will also include two tracks of breakout sessions on topics including: agritourism, farm to school, S.D. food cottage laws, integrated pest management, cover crops, food preservation, pricing & budgeting, chickens & eggs, and more.
Thursday, Nov. 4 will feature Rob Hage, of Blind Butcher Brewery Co., who will tell the story of how the pandemic of 2020 changed their family farm and unexpectedly triggered the development of a small batch brewery.
North Central Region- Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) will also host its Farmers Forum on Thursday. This traveling annual event gives farmers, ranchers, researchers and others the chance to share information about sustainable agriculture practices.
This year’s projects highlight resources for building small meat processing capacity and local meat demand, planting a profitable pollinator habitat into a vegetable farm, and high efficiency, year-round greenhouses.
Registration by Nov. 1, 2021, is preferred on our Eventbrite Ticketing Page (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
The SDLFC is hosted by a collaboration of partners including the South Dakota Specialty Producers Association, SDSU Extension, Dakota Rural Action, USDA NRCS of South Dakota, Sicangu Community Development Corporation Food Sovereignty Initiative, Bear Butte Gardens, Sturgis Chamber of Commerce, and the Wizipan Leadership and Sustainability Initiative and Lakota Youth Development.
Event sponsors include NCR-SARE, SD-SARE, NRCS, Monument Health, Xanterra, the SD Soil Health Coalition, and through support by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Direct any questions to conference organizers at SDSPAinfo@gmail.com or 605-681-6793. For more information visit South Dakota Local Foods on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
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