ESSEX, Vt. — The University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops and Soil Program and the Northern Grain Growers Association (NGGA) will host the fifteenth annual Vermont Grain Growers Conference, March 28 at The Essex Resort and Spa in Essex.
The conference will address the theme, “Stories of an Evolving Food System,” with a look at Vermont’s agriculture history and how grains fit into the past and present landscape. Steve Taylor, former New Hampshire commissioner of agriculture, and Jennifer Lapidus, founder of Carolina Ground, a regional flour mill in Asheville, North Carolina, are the featured speakers at the event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The cost is $75, $50 for NGGA members, and includes lunch. Registrations will be accepted online at www.regonline.com/2019grainconference until March 22. To request a disability-related accommodation to attend, contact Susan Brouillette at (802) 524-6501, ext. 432, by March 7.
In his keynote talk, Taylor will offer a historical perspective on changing agricultural landscapes over the past four centuries, beginning with the arrival of European settlers in the early 1600s. He and his three sons are partners in a livestock, maple and cheese-making operation in Meriden Village, New Hampshire.
Before starting Carolina Ground in 2012, Lapidus previously owned and operated Natural Bridge Bakery, the first wood-fired brick oven bakery in western North Carolina to produce whole grain naturally leavened breads. In her plenary session she will provide insights drawn from her experience as both a miller and a baker.
Growers also will have a choice of several concurrent sessions offered throughout the day including a presentation by Quebec farmer Mark Bernard, owner of Barnyard Organics, who transitioned a conventional potato farm into an organic grain, soybean and livestock operation with a poultry processing facility and certified organic feed mill.
Other sessions will cover growing rice in New England, discovering the nuance of rye breads, updates on grain research in Vermont and other states, the basics of growing hemp for CBD, oil pressing and the role of cover crops in nutrient cycling and soil health, among other topics. The conference will conclude with a networking and social hour.
–UVM Extension
For more articles out of New England, click here.