Raleigh, NC: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), one of the nation’s foremost centers for research, extension, and education in sustainable agriculture and local food systems, will be hosting sustainable agriculture pioneer Fred Kirschenmann as part of its twentieth anniversary special events.

Mr. Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and President of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, will deliver a lecture entitled “The Future of Food and Agriculture” at 5 pm on Saturday, October 18, 2014 at Witherspoon Theatre on NC State Campus. He is also one of the featured speakers for CEFS’ SOILbration at its Goldsboro research farm on October 17.

A longtime national and international leader in sustainable agriculture, Mr. Kirschenmann is a professor in the Iowa State University Department of Religion and Philosophy and holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has held numerous appointments, including the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board and the National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production operated by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and funded by Pew Charitable Trusts. He also continues to manage his family’s 1,800-acre certified organic farm in south central North Dakota.

He converted his family’s farm in North Dakota to a certified organic operation in 1976. He developed a diverse crop rotation that has enabled him to farm productively without synthetic inputs (fertilizers or pesticides) while simultaneously improving the health of the soil.

Kirschenmann’s farm has been featured in numerous publications including National Geographic, Business Week, Audubon, the LA Times and Gourmet magazine. In 1995 it was profiled in an award-winning video, My Father’s Garden by Miranda Smith Productions, and is still widely used as a teaching tool. Kirschenmann also has been advisor for several documentaries including American Meat and Symphony of the Soil.

Kirschenmann served as the Leopold Center’s second director from July 2000 to November 2005 and has been recognized widely for his work. He was one of the first 10 recipients of the James F. Beard Foundation Leadership awards in 2011 and received the 2012 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from Practical Farmers of Iowa.

This event is FREE but pre-registration is required; please visit http://go.ncsu.edu/lecture to register.  For more information contact Lisa Forehand, CEFS Extension and Outreach, at 919-513-0954 or lisa_forehand@ncsu.edu.

“Ms. Wiley’s lecture promises to be stimulating and thought-provoking.  We hope that it will spark further dialogue around food justice and creating equitable and fair food systems accessible by all North Carolinians,” said Nancy Creamer, CEFS Director from NC State University.  John O’Sullivan, CEFS Director from NC A&T State University, added, “We are looking to stimulate greater engagement in the resurrection of a local food system inclusive of people of color – as producers, in value-adding, careers for youth, and in discussions of the best paths to follow to achieve equity and fairness in the food system”.

Maya Wiley is the Founder and President of the Center for Social Inclusion, a national public policy strategy organization that works to unite public policy research and grassroots advocacy to transform structural racial inequity into structural fairness and inclusion. Ms. Wiley graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1989 and is a frequent speaker on the national stage and author of many influential policy articles.

In addition to the Lecture, other associated events will include a “meet-the-speaker” Friends of CEFS reception just prior to the Lecture, a high school speaking engagement and community luncheon in Goldsboro, a food justice leadership dinner, and a dialogue with faculty, administrators, and students at NC A&T SU in Greensboro, NC. Compass Group is a sponsor of the lecture and associated events.

Says Ms. Wiley, “We all need to eat and we all need that food to be healthy. We aren’t there yet, as a nation. We need to talk about how small family farms can be viable businesses that supply healthy food, and we also need to link farming to jobs that pay workers of all races a wage that ensures that they can buy what they help produce, no matter their race.”

The CEFS Sustainable Agriculture Lecture series has traditionally featured dynamic and world-renowned thinkers and doers including Carlo Petrini, founder of the international Slow Food organization; Judy Wicks, co-founder of Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE); Will Allen, MacArthur Genius Award recipient and founder of Growing Power, Inc.; and USDA Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Kathleen Merrigan.

Admission to the lecture is free. Seats will be available the night of the event on a first-come, first-served basis. Arrive early to guarantee your seats!

In the world of urban “food deserts”—areas with limited access to fresh, affordable foods—convenience stores, fast-food chains and liquor stores reign supreme. The two-acre Growing Power farm in downtown Milwaukee is truly an oasis. In the early 1990s, Allen envisioned a farm using low-input, sustainable practices and staffed by area teens who needed a place to work. Through the years, this community partnership has grown to include the young, the elderly, farmers, producers and other professionals ranging from USDA personnel to urban planners. Today, Growing Power raises 159 varieties of food, including fruits, vegetables, animal forages, goats, ducks, bees, turkeys and—in an aquaponic system designed and built by Allen—tilapia and Great Lakes perch.

In 2008, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recognized Allen for his work, naming him a 2008 MacArthur Fellow and describing him as an urban farmer “transforming the cultivation, production, and delivery of healthy foods to underserved urban populations through a novel synthesis of low-cost farming technologies” (“Meet the 2008 Fellows“). The MacArthur Fellowships are often referred to as “Genius Grants.” Allen was featured in a July 2009 New York Times Magazine article, “Street Farmer” and in a February 2009 YES! Magazine article, “Growing Power in an Urban Food Desert.”

Don’t miss these two unique conversations. Visit our Friends of CEFS Membership Benefits Web page or call (919) 513-3924 for information on reserved lecture seating or attending a “meet the speaker” reception prior to the evening lecture.

Schedule of Events for Monday, November 9, 2009

Urban Community Lecture
“Big Change in Small Spaces: Growing Food Security, Food Justice and Future Leaders”

10:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Wayne School of Engineering at Goldsboro High School (auditorium), 700 N. Herman St., Goldsboro, NC 27530

Sustainable Agriculture Reception

5:30 to 6:45 p.m.
E. Carroll Joyner Visitor Center, NCSU, 1210 Varsity Drive, Raleigh, NC 27695
As an expression of our gratitude, Friends of CEFS members who have joined at the Guardian Level and higher will receive an invitation (for the member plus one guest) to attend a special reception honoring Will Allen. The Sustainable Agriculture Lecture will be held immediately following the reception (see below for lecture details). The reception will be catered by Chef Sarig Agasi of Zely & Ritz. CEFS is very appreciative of our Reception Supporter: NC A&T State University Cooperative Extension Program.

Sustainable Agriculture Lecture
“Steps to Successful Urban Farming”
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
McKimmon Center, NCSU, 1101 Gorman St., Raleigh, NC 27695
This event is free and open to the public, but open seating will be limited. Reserved seating is available to all Friends of CEFS members. To learn how to become a Friends of CEFS please visit the Friends of CEFS Web page at http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu/friends.htm.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available for these events. Please contact Nancy Creamer at nancy_creamer@ncsu.edu or (919) 515-9447.

Growing Power, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach, and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner. http://www.growingpower.org

The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) was established in 1994 by North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. These partners work closely with state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, farmers and citizens to provide agricultural research, extension, and education for North Carolina and beyond. The development of CEFS is a national model for partnership, innovation, and interdisciplinary cooperation. http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu

CEFS would like to thank Burt’s Bees, our Lead Sponsor for the Will Allen events.