Annual Conference
Resetting the American Dinner Table:
How Entrepreneurial Farmers Can Create a Healthy Nation and a Sustainable Food System
IFO’s 2012 Conference will be held at Ohio Wesleyan University on November 2 and 3.
Starting at 5:30 Friday night will be a fundraiser for IFO featuring samplings of local food and beverages from local restaurants and farmers. At 7pm there will be an address by Ben Hewitt, author of The Town that Food Saved and Making Supper Safe. Ben is a Vermont farmer who writes about real experiences of entrepreneurial farmers in his area who are producing delicious, nutritious food and reviving a rural town’s ecconomy. To finish the evening on a high note, IFO will make the Ben Stinner Award presentation that honors and celebrates entrepreneurial farming in Ohio.
Saturday’s conference will be held at Ohio Wesleyan University, Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, Delaware, OH 43015
Conference Schedule
8:00 Registration opens, morning refreshments available, trade show open
8:50 Welcome
9:00 Panel Discussion
Making Markets that Work for Farmers and Shoppers
Laura Zimmerman, manager of the Clintonville Farmers Market Columbus
Jim Votava, manager of the Tremont Farmers Market, Cleveland
Beth Knorr, manager of The Countryside Conservancy markets, Cuyahoga
Valley National Park
10:00-10:45 Breakout Sessions:
Increasing Profits with Season Extension and New Products
Phil and Mindy Bartholomae, Breezy Hill Farm
100% Grass-fed Beef, the New Health Food
Jon Berger, Green Vista Farm
Tools to Manage the Business of Farming
Tom Yoder, Decision Commerce
11:00 Plenary Session:
How to Make Farming Wholesome and Profitable
Joel Kurtz, Wholesome Valley Farm
11:45 Networking Trade Show Open
12:30 Lunch
1:15 Resetting the American Dinner Table, What Will It Take?
Mary K. Holmes, President, Innovative Farmers of Ohio
2:15 Repeat of the Breakout Sessions
3:00 Trade Show and Networking
3:30 Ohio Wesleyan University Student Essay Winner
4:00 Open Discussion and Conference Wrap-Up
Students who register with their school address are automatically given a one year membership and may register for the conference for $25. Simply give your school address and check off that you are already a member. Glad to have you! Click on map below for directions.
2011 Conference
The Business of Farming: An Entrepreneurial Approach
The 2011 IFO Annual Meeting and Conference was held on February 26, 2011, at the Kennedy Center at Hiram College in Hiram Ohio.
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