News
Lecture Series to Highlight Sustainability
Local Food as Economic Development" will be the topic of the first installment of a new lecture series to be held at Dayton's Liberty Theater starting in May. Sponsored by the Port of Columbia and the Sustainable Living Center in Walla Walla, five lectures will be presented through October, under the theme "Cultivating Sustainability". The series will explore natural, organic, and sustainable farming, grazing and energy practices. Experts in the industry will be featured, along with local business case studies.
Topics for subsequent lectures will include "searching for sustainability" in farming and agriculture, "Holistic Management" of livestock and grazing and "Energy and Agriculture". A wrap-up workshop will be held in October covering the topics of organic certification and other food certifications, and marketing and management of value-added food products.
The keynote address at the May 28th lecture will be delivered by Ken Meter, president of Crossroads Resource Center in Minneapolis, MN. Meter will examine how rural areas like ours can take better economic advantage of their broad range of food products. He will explore the many opportunities farmers and small businesses have to produce and sell sustainable food products directly to consumers.
Meter conducted a pioneering study of the farm and food economy of Southeast Minnesota called "Finding Food in Farm Country." It helped a group of 35 food producers expand and led to the creation of a rural investment fund. It also serves as a national model for analyzing rural economics, one that has been adopted by 40 regional food initiatives in 20 states.
Meter taught economics of agriculture at the University of Minnesota, and microeconomics at the Harvard Kennedy School. He manages the national review of funding proposals for USDA Community Food Programs.
A short film entitled "Good Food" about a Northwest Food System will also be shown at the May event, and "sustainable" concessions – including organic popcorn in eco-select popcorn bags – will be offered.
Other keynote speakers in the upcoming series include David Granatstein and Chad Kruger, both from the WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Maurice Robinette, a third-generation rancher and Eastern Washington Organizer for the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network.
A complete schedule that will be updated as presenters are confirmed can be found at www.bluemountainstation.com or www.sustainablelivingcenter.com.