Tilth Producers hosts a statewide conference each November, attended by more than 600 growers, researchers, students and agricultural businesses and organizations. Please feel free to listen to our past Keynote Speakers. Current Tilth Producers members may listen to past conference workshops in our library.
Tilth Producers of Washington 38th Annual Conference – November 9-11, 2012
Growing Forward: Holistic Management for Organic Farms
Fort Worden State Park – Port Townsend, Washington
Keynote speaker Allan Savory is founder and President of the Savory Institute and created the holistic management philosophy and practice used worldwide today. Holistic Management is a decision-making framework which results in ecologically regenerative, economically viable and socially sound management of the world’s agricultural lands and grasslands.
Friday features a full-day Washington State University symposium called Seeding the Future: Ensuring Resiliency in our Plant Genetic Resources, plus an afternoon session on small engine repair with “Ask Albert” Roberts and Grant Gibbs.
Twenty-five workshops will be offered Saturday and Sunday by organic and sustainable farmers, researchers and agency educators. A beginning farmer series features Farming Land You Don’t Own, Fertility Testing, Start Up Record Keeping, CSA Start Up and Marketing. Kiki Hubbard and Jared Zystro of the Organic Seed Alliance will offer workshops on Seed Concentration and Protecting Organic Integrity. Farm business topics feature WSDA on Organic Systems Plans, GAPS and Good Handling Practices; Town & Country Market’s Joe Pulicicchio on Optimizing Marketing Relationships, Holistic Management of Small Farms with Allan Savory and Farm Internship Programs with Laura Lewis of Jefferson County Extension and Tom Thornton of Cloud Mountain Farm.
We have a great line up of expert growers sharing their expertise on organic farm practices, including Terry Carkner, John Gunning, Jesse Hopkins, Colin Barricklow, Genine Bradwin, Andrew Dykstra, Roger Short, Eric Zakarison, George and Eiko Vojkovitch, Cheryl Ouelette, Melissa Barker, Alex Winstead, Brad Jaeckel, Brandon Sheard and Caitlin Moore. And, you can learn about current research on weeds, diseases and soils at sessions with WSU Research and Extension speakers Doug Collins, Ian Burke, Chris Benedict, Debra Inglis, Craig Cogger and Todd Murray.
Social events include a square dance with The Tallboys, an organic wine & cheese tasting, an intergenerational mixer hosted in partnership with the Washington Young Farmers Coalition, and of course, organic meals.
We hope you’ll join us in Port Townsend! Check back in early fall for additional details and online registration.
- Year | Keynote Speaker
-
2003 | Paul Stamets
Mushrooms as Allies: Potentiating Planetary Host Defenses Through Fungi -
2004 | Vandana Shiva
Agriculture for Life: Beyond the Suicidal Economy of Industrial Farming & Globalized Agriculture -
2005 | Fred Provenza
The Role of New Science in Sustainable and Organic Agriculture -
2006 | Helena Norberg-Hodge
Creating a Regional Food System -
2007 | Lynn Miller
Cultivating the Family Farm -
2008 | Dr. Paul Hepperly
No Till, Organic and Traditional Agriculture: They Can All Work Together -
2009 | Dr. E. Ann Clark
Organic and Sustainable: The Common Ground -
2010 | Chuck Hassebrook
The Next Wave of Change in Agriculture, the Food System & Rural America -
2011 | Miguel Altieri
Agroecology: Designing a New Agriculture for a Changing Planet