From climate change solutions to okra-infused vodka, this farming conference offered education and inspiration.
Christina Nifong
The Virginia Association for Biological Farming hosted its 21st annual conference last weekend at The Hotel Roanoke.
To Laura Lengnick, the coming effects of climate change are frightening — but also an opportunity.
She believes the rising sea levels, the devastation of fire and drought, the food insecurity are going be so system-disrupting that communities will be forced to reinvent in ways that will ultimately fix the intractable problems of today’s world: poverty, hunger, health care, racial inequality.
“I feel like climate change might be striking enough to bring about real change,” Lengnick said, explaining that the industrialization of every sector of society is what led to today’s unsustainable world. “When food started to go wrong, everything started to go wrong.”
Lengnick, a soil scientist, consultant, and author of the 2015 book "Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate," delivered the keynote address at the 21st annual Virginia Association for Biological Farming. The conference is the culminating event for the state’s largest organization dedicated to sustainable growing. This year, it attracted some 500 participants from across Virginia, North Carolina and beyond. The conference began Saturday and concluded Monday.
In her workshops, small group conversations and address, Lengnick advocated for “resilient thinking” as a way for farms and communities to respond to the instability coming with climate change.
She said resiliency was more than "bouncing back." With each disruption, planners have the chance to recreate in a more sustainable way, she said. They can, in short, “bounce forward.”
To make lasting change, mindsets must shift from valuing efficiency to creating robust systems, she explained. From valuing “expert” knowledge to seeking out place-based expertise; from participating in extractive economies to prizing regenerative ones.
One concrete example she cited: “We’re going to need to start paying our farmers for soil health and carbon sequestering.”
In addition to Lengnick, conference-goers heard from Bettina Ring, Virginia’s Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, who praised the group’s inclusivity and sustainability.
“What you’re doing is very important for the environment, especially the emphasis on soil health,” she said.
Christina Nifong
Topics covered everything from Jabari Byrd (pictured) sharing his hemp-growing expertise to workshops on okra and creating forest farms.
Ellen Polishuk, farm consultant and writer, with 35 years experience in market farming, spoke about the disparity between the cost of environmentally conscious food production and the price consumers are willing to pay for food.
Americans pay the lowest percentage of their income on food of any country in the world, according to US Department of Agriculture figures — just 6 percent.
“We know the true cost of food to society has environmental and health effects,” Polishuk said.
She also addressed the importance of involving farmers in community conversations on all topics.
“It takes a village to sustain a farm,” she said. “Let’s sustain and love the farmers in our area.”
The conference offered 48 sessions taught by 40 practitioners and educators on topics from raising medicinal herbs to growing your own clothes, from the state of hemp in Virginia to the benefits of permaculture practices, from the market for unusual ingredients like paw paws and persimmons to stocking a homegrown pantry. It also provided farmers, seed companies, book sellers and advocacy groups like the National Young Farmers Coalition and the Agrarian Trust the opportunity to connect and share information.
For the first time in recent years, the conference offered childcare, which included meals and educational programming for enrolled children. Also new this year: The Hotel Roanoke prepared conference meals with chicken, beef, root vegetables, apples and other ingredients purchased from local farms.
While the conference’s audience is primarily Virginia farmers, there was plenty of information and inspiration for local food fans, home cooks and gardeners, local food producers, environmentalists and farm advocates.
“This is where we come to be fed,” said Nicky Schauder, co-owner with her husband of an urban garden consulting business based in Sterling, Va.
Christina Nifong
The Taste of Virginia market for handcrafted food, drink and goods was a conference highlight.
Other Highlights:
Okra. Chris Smith, communications manager for Sow True Seed in Asheville and executive director of the nonprofit Utopia Seed Project, wrote a 2019 book: The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration. Which made him an expert on all the ways you’d never imagine using an okra plant. An incomplete list: turn okra flower petals into tea; infuse okra flower petals in vodka for an earthy essence perfect for making Bloody Marys; dry okra seeds and grind them into a flavorful flour that serves as an alternative to corn starch; cook okra leaves as the new kale; include okra sprouts in micro green mixes for nutrient-dense salads; pickle okra for kimchi; dry okra stalks to use as sustainable straws.
Forest Farming. Virginia Tech professor and director of the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farming Coalition, John Munsell has been involved in research and advocacy around the intentional cultivation of wild plants for the past decade. As herbal remedy markets grow, there’s a demand for, not only the herbs, but also accountability for how they are foraged or raised and processed. Munsell explained that half the species dominating the herbal market are found in Appalachia. Plants like ginseng, golden seal, black cohosh. Munsell is interested in the economic potential for the Appalachian region that herbs represent and also the environmental and health benefits that would come with greater sourcing accountability for medicinal herb buyers. The concept of “forest farming” is pretty intriguing all on its own.
A Taste of Virginia. If there were any doubt about the robust market of culinary creators in Virginia, the open-to-the-public display of handmade food and goods at the conference put it to rest. Sunday’s Taste of Virginia was an exciting array of handcrafted wooden spoons and charcuterie boards, of honeys, jams, jellies, impossibly delicious ferments, and Virginia-tapped maple syrup and infused maple syrup (think elderberry, vanilla bean and cinnamon). There were wineries, distilleries, craft beer makers, bread bakers and food producers from across the state. Everyone who entered left with lighter wallets and happier bellies.
Christina Nifong
The conference serves as a networking and information sharing opportunity for farmers, gardeners, foodies and environmentalists.
About the Writer:
Christina Nifong is a writer with a decades-long career profiling interesting people, places and ideas. She’s recently launched a new email newsletter focused on life in the slow lane, called Nourishing Stories. Sign up and find more of her work at christinanifong.com.