
- This event has passed.
2021 Agriculture & Food Conference
February 28 @ 11:00 am - March 2 @ 9:00 pm

SEMAP’s flagship annual event, the Agriculture & Food Conference #AgFood21, returns this year with the theme Resilient Farming. Whether you’re a professional farmer, a backyard gardener, or just curious about locally grown food, the Ag & Food Conference is for you! Each year, the Conference includes workshops for the general public, as well as info-packed sessions for farmers and gardeners of all experience levels. For the first time in 2021, the Ag & Food Conference will be fully virtual!

Though it will be different from previous years, we’re excited to welcome you from your desk, field, barn, greenhouse, or anywhere you can hop online. Join webinars, workshops, networking hours, and more with other local food advocates across the region and beyond. You will have access to our online conference platform, attendee and sponsor/exhibitor list, and video recordings of all sessions for one year afterward.
Keynote Speaker: Severine von Tscharner Fleming
Severine is a farmer, activist, and organizer based in Downeast Maine. She runs Smithereen Farm, a MOFGA certified organic wild blueberry, seaweed, and orchard operation which hosts summer camps, camping, and educational workshops. She is a founder and board member of Agrarian Trust and current director of the Greenhorns, a 13 year old grassroots organization whose mission is to recruit, promote, and support the incoming generation of farmers in America.
Greenhorns produce media and publications for and about the young farmers movement from documentary films to almanacs, anthologies, mix-tapes, posters, guidebooks, and digital maps. They are best known for The New Farmer’s Almanac, now in its fourth edition, their documentary film, “The Greenhorns,” and the raucous young farmer mixers they’ve thrown in 37 states and 14 grange halls.
Severine is co-founder and board secretary of Farm Hack, an online, open-source platform for appropriate and affordable farm tools and technologies, as well as a founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition, which now boasts 23 state and regional coalitions. She serves on the board of the Schumacher Center for New Economics, and on the advisory board of Savanna Institute. Severine attended Pomona College and the University of California at Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.S. in Conservation/Agroecology.
Find Severine’s interview with SEMAP here. The Keynote will take place on Sunday 2/28, 12-1:30 p.m. EST.
Workshops and sessions will include (time slots subject to change):
Sunday 2/28
1:45 – 2:45 p.m.
Building Resilience Through Income Diversification Strategies
Myrna Greenfield, Good Egg Marketing
NRCS Resources in Reaching your Soil Health Goals
Maggie Payne, National Resource Conservation Service
Land Access Roundtable Discussion
Severine von Tscharner Fleming, Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust, and more
3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Growing Your Own Food from Seed to Seedling
Andy Tomolonis, Author
Carcass Assessment
Joe Eminheiser, UConn Extension
Interconnectivity of Beekeeping, Farmers & Food Access
Dan Conlon, Warm Colors Apiary
4:15 – 5:15 p.m.
Identifying & Managing Diseases in Greenhouse Tomatoes
Yonghao Li, State of Connecticut
Hate Ticks?
Blake Dinius, Plymouth County Entomologist
Online Sales Strategies: The Aggregators’ Perspective
Panel Discussion
Monday 3/1
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Adaptive Seed Stewardship for Climate Change
Petra Page-Mann, Fruition Seeds
Berry Production 101: Raspberries & Blueberries
Mary Concklin, UConn Extension
Planting for the Bees’ Needs
Anne Averill, UMass Amherst
Tuesday 3/2
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
No-Till Vegetables at Freedom Food Farm
Chuck Currie, Freedom Food Farm
Online Sales Strategies: The Farmers’ Perspective
Panel Discussion
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Cooking Nutritious Meals With Local Food
Haley Pollock, The Holistic Trick
Growing Biennials from Seed
Bill Braun, Ivory Silo Farm
Pastured Poultry
Erin Williams + Kathryn Shepard
Pricing:
Attendee Category | Price | Early Bird Price |
---|---|---|
General Public | $60 | $50 |
SEMAP Member | $54 | $45 |
Beginning Farmer, Veteran, BIPOC+ | $45 | $38 |
Student | $15 | – |
Post-Conference Video Access | $60 | – |
MEMBERS: email olivia.hart@semaponline.org for discount code.