NOFA-NY Conference in Sarartoga Jan 21-23

If you've got an interest in growing food, or have ever thought about starting a farm, check out the Northeast Organic Farmer's Association-New York (NOFA-NY) Annual Conference, being held this weekend (Jan 21-23), right here in downtown Saratoga Springs, at the Saratoga Convention Center.

The list of workshops and presenters looks really interesting. Here's a link to the conference brochure (note: it's a big file so takes a while to load.)

I personally am interested in hearing Malik Yakini speak. Mr. Yakini is the Chairperson of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), he will speak on Saturday at 11am. According to the NOFA-NY conference brochure, Mr. Yakini is a longtime Detroit activist who has played a critical role in raising awareness about environmental and food justice issues in the city of Detroit for nearly a decade. Along with the DBCFS, Mr. Yakini maintains an organic farm in a cityowned park, created and maintains a food buying cooperative, and has been instrumental in creating food policy for the City of Detroit (which I've written about in an earlier post - Detroit is considered a 'food desert', as the City lacks any major grocery stores, so communities and neighborhoods have responded by developing a broad network of community gardens!)