Save the date !!

Virginia Biological Farming Conference
"Transitioning to Organic Agriculture"

Feb. 10-11, 2012
Holiday Inn, Koger Center
Richmond, Virginia

We hope you will join us for this informative, always stimulating event.  Pre-conference options begin at 10 am on Feb. 10, followed by our traditional food-festival potluck-type lunch for which we ask everyone who wants to join us to bring a dish of food to share.  We provide paper plates, cups, and flatware.

Our trade show begins at 11 am. 
Official welcome, youth program, and opening plenary session start at 1 pm.

Who comes to the conference?

Certified organic farmers and market gardeners 
Practitioners of organic farming / gardening who have chosen not to be certified 
Sustainable, ecological and low-input producers 
Biodynamic gardeners and farmers 
Producers of pastured beef, poultry, eggs, dairy cows or goats, etc. 
Home gardeners and homesteaders 
Researchers and other agricultural professionals interested in organic or sustainable agriculture 
Others who want to support ecological agriculture or sustainable food systems, or who simply want safe, nutritious, fresh, locally-grown food.

Mary-Howell and Klaas Martens, the Friday afternoon keynote speakers for our conference, were conventional grain farmers in New York until Klaas began to develop health problems due to  pesticide exposure in 1991. Following the examples of other organic farmers, the Martens began transitioning to organic production in 1992. They received invaluable assistance from a neighbor named Cliff Peterson concerning weed control through mechanical cultivation. They also learned a great deal about management of soil fertility, organic quality control and adding value to their organic grains by producing livestock feeds. Today they operate 1300 acres organically with  higher profits per acre than they ever earned using conventional practices.

The keynote speaker at the Virginia Biological Farming Conference in 2009 was Will Allen with Growing Power from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Allen described the incredible system he developed for commercial production of horticulture crops in urban neighborhoods of Milwaukee and Chicago. This inner city farming is based on utilization of compost made from food wastes collected from many urban sources such as restaurants, bakeries and institutional food services.

Renee Catacalos and Christian Melendez from ECO City Farms in Edmonston, Maryland will provide the second keynote presentation at the 2012 Virginia Biological Farming Conference. They will speak about their successful development of the Growing Power model for urban horticulture in their city in Maryland. Many people have heard Will Allen speak but these folks at ECO City Farms have actually employed the Growing Power model.

Have a look at our program to see all the other great sessions offered!

Have an interest in sustainable farming but don't know how to get started?
Come a day early for the stand-alone Pre-Conference offering:
           "Starting a New Farm Enterprise"  (full description and registration here)