The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) held its 28th annual Winter Conference on Feb. 13-15 at UVM.
The keynote speaker on Saturday was LaDonna Redmond of the Institute for Community Resource Development in Chicago (more info: Rodale, Time). She spoke about a food system with S.O.U.L - Sustainable, Organic, Urban and Local.
Also speaking on Saturday were Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressman Peter Welch and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (see this post).
The keynote speaker on Sunday was Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm in Westfield. He talked about his 35 years on the farm, which produces organic milk, yogurt, grains, beans and sunflowers.
Yankee Farm Credit had a table in the vendors area on Saturday and Sunday, variously staffed by Ken Button, Tina Guerrero, Chuck Custeau, Pam Simek and Kristi Quesnel.
Richard Wiswall of Cate Farm in Plainfield presented a workshop on Monday about improving profitability on organic farms. He has written an excellent book on this subject: The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops and Staff - and Making a Profit. Lisa Young, a Records and Tax Specialist in the Williston office, and I attended this workshop.
About 1200 people attended the conference on Saturday and about 800 on Sunday.
