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market-farming - ACRES USA Conference 2000 Speaker Line Up, Minneapolis, Dec 7-9

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  • From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
  • To: bdnow AT envirolink.org
  • Cc: OGL AT LSV.UKY.EDU, seedsofchange AT egroups.com, market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>, graze-l AT taranaki.ac.nz, PasturePoultry AT onelist.com
  • Subject: ACRES USA Conference 2000 Speaker Line Up, Minneapolis, Dec 7-9
  • Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 23:59:14 -0500


This is one of the most important annual conferences in eco-agriculture. This information is apparently NOT on the web currently. I chose to go to Acres this year because Jerry Brunetti, Elaine Ingham and Kenny Ausubel are speaking (as well as Phil Callahan!) Information on dates and costs are at the ACRES page at http://www.acresusa.com Hope to see you there! -Allan Balliett

Acres U.S.A. Conference 2000 Speaker Lineup

7:30-8:30 p.m.
Wherefore the Dash?
Charles Walters
We are all familiar with the vital statistics on a tombstone or at the top of an encyclopedia entry: the date of birth, a dash, then another date signaling the end of the event, be it the life of a human being, the rise and fall of an empire, or the history of a business. We tend to focus on the two dates, but it is the "dash" that really matters, a mute punctuation mark standing in for all the years when the main action occurred the years when a fortune was made, a government fell, or a breakthrough accomplished. The entry for Acres U.S.A. would read, 1971-, including a story with many years left in it. It is the story of a small, iconoclastic journal. It was a process of learning as we went, assembling what was already known but lost in university files or government archives, and trying to figure out what we will know in the future. Acres U.S.A. founder Charles Walters delivers a sweeping yet incisive assessment of eco-farming past, present and future as seen through the prism of his own experience.

8:30-9:30 p.m.
What Really Happens in Food "Processing"?
Sally Fallon
If conventional agricultural practices haven't bereaved our foods of critical, life-serving vitamins and minerals, the act of churning food items into bars and patties has sealed the nail on the coffin. Food processing seriously depletes food of the few remaining vitamins, minerals, oils and enzymes, replacing them with metals and harmful chemicals that result in increased incidences of allergies, illnesses, and general malnutrition. Educating yourself about the dangers posed by processed "convenience foods" is the first step to saving your health and the health of those you love.

7:30-8:30 p.m.
When Healing Becomes a Crime
Kenny Ausubel
A great narrator and visionary, Kenny Ausubel tells the story of one of the most revealing clashes between a maverick healer and the medical establishment that fought tooth and nail to alienate him from modern medicine. Harry Hoxsey learned the secrets of healing from nature, and he logged a dizzying record of success as he used his knowledge to treat cancer. Sadly, his efforts brought nothing but scorn from the practitioners of conventional medicine. The story of Harry Hoxsey is one to live by; he was a dreamer, a fighter and above all, a follower of truth who believed in his work. Kenny Ausubel exposes the failure of the AMA's War on Cancer, revealing how yesterday's unorthodox treatments are emerging as tomorrow's medicine.

8:30-9:30 p.m.
Driving Genetically Modified Foods from the Marketplace & Building Farmer-Consumer Links
Ronnie Cummins
Stormy debates about genetically engineered food raged through Asia, South America and Europe in the late '90s, particularly in the UK, where the 1995 outbreak of Mad Cow disease ignited a groundswell of activism and outrage over food safety. Now, as the GE food debate gains momentum in the United States, Ronnie Cummins, a leading consumer advocate, gives us an up-to-date account of the dangers posed by GE foods and what you can do to rid your pantry of them. Cummins explains some of the risks posed by genetically modified foods, identifying where the major food producers stand on the issue. Whether you're a farmer or an ordinary grocery shopper, he'll tell what you can do to take a stand against the growing biotech industry.

7:30-8:30 p.m.
Healing with Nature What is Possible?
Arden Andersen, Ph.D., D.O.
Nature provides every organism the internal tools needed to heal itself, particularly if aided by medicines that work in harmony with nature. Physician and agricultural consultant Arden Andersen will relate how the body heals itself, and will share specific case reports from his preventive health care clinic illustrating both what is possible and what has been actually achieved for a variety of serious maladies. Conference attendees will walk away with a better understanding of their treatment options.

8:30-9:30 p.m.
Farming & Healing With Paramagnetism
Phil Callahan, Ph.D.
Paramagnetism is a physical force found in many rocks, the oxygen we breathe, and in healthy, productive soil. Callahan will explain how it is the missing ingredient from many farms. He takes the discussion further to explain the healing powers of this force as well. Drawing on examples from his extensive travels and his studies of ancient peoples, he will show you how to create a healing vest, similar to the one he used to cure his own lung cancer. Author of Paramagnetism, Exploring the Spectrum and many other books on physics in nature, Dr. Callahan will present his latest research. Callahan will detail the role of low-level forces in nature, specifically the ELF (extremely low frequency) range of the spectrum and paramagnetic forces. He will also show how to harness these physical forces for the benefit of the soil and plants, and the resultant boost in growth.

10-11 a.m.
Basics of Eco-Farming
Crow Miller
Like all living creatures, your crop has needs. This introductory session by one of the nation's leading organic growing authorities will give you invaluable information on your crops' nutrient requirements and how to supply them naturally. Crow Miller will outline the major nutrient delivery systems soil fertility, supplementation, or foliar feeding he'll discuss major nutrients, specific pest problems and techniques for boosting yields. A refresher course for advanced growers, or starting point for beginners.

11 a.m.-noon
Basics of Eco-Livestock Production
Jerry Brunetti
Wholesome, chemical-free meat is the wave of the future, as food consumers all over the world insist on animal products untainted by hormones, pesticides, bizarre growth serums, and diseases that fester in factory growing conditions. Here is a quick tour of livestock and dairy for the non-toxic farmer, and an introduction to the tools and techniques available to the eco-farmer grass-based diets, herbs and nutraceuticals, homeopathy, and natural husbandry methods.

2-3 p.m.
Eco-Products Understanding the Tools of the Trade
Graeme Sait
A farmer must understand the interplay between raw materials and natural processes, and nobody explains it better than Graeme Sait. He can help you make better decisions about which products will work for your particular situation, with an eye to controlling input costs. Learn the ins and outs of such raw materials as seaweeds, herbs, enzymes, probiotics, chelated minerals, so-called rare earth minerals, and vitamins. Understand the role various inputs play and how to be a smarter purchaser.

2-3 p.m.
Soil, Grass & Cancer
Doug Gunnink
Management-intensive grazing a.k.a. rotational grazing produces stellar results in both beef and dairy production, especially livestock health. Here is grazing consultant Doug Gunnink's answer to the clarion call raised by Andre Voisin's seminal work on the links between soil chemistry and human health. Gunnink will focus on elements associated with forage quality and their effect on livestock health.

3-4 p.m.
Compost Utilization & Value
Edwin Blosser
Composting systems are essential parts of many sustainable farming operations, whether for waste management or maintaining a supply of great soil fertilizer. Let Edwin Blosser give you the keys to maintaining a healthy, profitable composting system. He'll introduce you to composting fundamentals how to supply humus and feedstocks, control odor and runoff, understand siting regulations, determine the right turning frequency and he'll explain how applying compost affects soil fertility. After hearing him you'll be able to establish a grading system for evaluating the quality of your compost, and you'll know the four cardinal principles of compost: proper tilth, residue management, nutrient content, and nutrient balance.

3-4 p.m.
The Organic Greenhouse
Crow Miller
Here's how to make those idle winters busy again with a thriving greenhouse. Crow Miller brings a lifetime of indoor growing to his lecture on the many facets of greenhouse gardening. Greenhouses can increase seasonal profits, and they're the ideal environment for the most fickle specialty crops. From salad greens to vine-ripened tomatoes, cukes to west African river fish, Miller has raised almost everything that can be raised in a greenhouse. He'll address the mechanics of getting started, including ventilation, light and soil issues, and precision soil management.

4-5 p.m.
Top 10 Herbs for Farm & Stable
Will Winter, D.V.M.
Herbs should be an essential part of any holistic farm animal care program. In this fact-intensive session Will Winter, a recognized authority on holistic animal healing, will discuss the 10 most important medicinal herbs for your farm. He'll clarify many of the classic techniques described by Juliette de Bairacli Levy in her classic book The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm & Stable, and he'll discuss treatments for common farm maladies such as worms, colic, parasites, and flies. If you're tired of doping your animals or interested in honing your herbal skills, this talk is not to be missed.

4-5:30 p.m.
Battling Nutrient Excesses in Your Soil
Neal Kinsey
Proper soil management can put a farm on a rising curve of improving yields and soil tilth season after season, as weed and insect pressures decrease and the crucial elements of good soil fall into balance. Neal Kinsey, the dean of soil management, will focus in this advanced workshop on the five most common excesses calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and phosphorous addressing cause, correction, and accompanying deficiencies. Kinsey will illustrate his presentation with actual soil tests. See if your soil suffers from one of the "big five" and hear what you can do about it.

9-11 a.m.
Pastured Poultry Production & Marketing
Herman Beck-Chenoweth
In this practical, idea-packed two-part lecture on pastured poultry, you'll get a close look at one of the most successful value-added sustainable enterprises of the last decade. Suitable for large or small farmers, the poultry system explained here differs substantially from the highly successful Salatin model by cutting down on labor and still being able to handle large numbers of birds. In the first part of the lecture, learn how Beck-Chenoweth's minimal-maintenance operation addresses issues of feeding and watering, waste management, marketing and other topics of vital importance to budding poultry farmers. Consumers across the country are waking to the superior quality of range-raised birds, the second half of the presentation will tell how to tap those growing markets.

11 a.m.-noon.
The Successful Small Farm Production vs. Value-Added
Doug Gunnink
Molding a small farm into a viable, profit-making enterprise often ultimately comes down to making the right decisions for your farm. Longtime farmer/consultant Doug Gunnink brings a wealth of experience and plenty of stories to learn from as he relates choices other farmers have made regarding the goals and methods that have made them successful or shut them down. Discover what kinds of options are available to the small, sustainable farm and how you can benefit from the experiences of others.

9 a.m.-noon
Why Butter is Better & Other Facts About Nourishing Traditional Diets
Sally Fallon
In this in-depth workshop, Sally Fallon will explain the underlying characteristics of healthy traditional diets and how to implement them in the modern kitchen. Her presentation will include a discussion of the pioneering work and unforgettable photographs of Dr. Weston Price. This workshop will call into question the now-popular politically correct school of nutrition and will most likely change your life. She will explain why animal fats and cholesterol are not villains, but are vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease, and for optimum energy levels.

2-3:30 p.m.
High-Forage Dairy Farming
Gary Zimmer
Poor-quality feed is the single largest contributor to failing health, milk yields and the overall well-being of most high-forage dairies. In this extended lecture on dairy nutrition, Zimmer teaches the importance of correct, suitable feeds for milking heifers, young stock and dry cows. Don't let your herd and your pocketbook suffer for your ignorance.

2-3 p.m.
Understanding the Soil Foodweb
Elaine Ingham, Ph.D.
In a teaspoon of healthy soil, there are hundreds of millions living organisms. Where many scientists quickly bog down in a sea of classifications, Dr. Elaine Ingham makes new sense of this staggering diversity. Putting aside the old genus and species groups, she groups these life forms according to their role in the soil, showing how they form not a food chain, but an intricate web of life with one type processing food, another releasing it, and so on. It's a whole new way of thinking about the ground below your feet.

3-4 p.m.
Interactions of Ammonia & Calcium
Julian Suurd
The tremendous importance of calcium for crop health and production has been emphasized by William Albrecht and others. Less well known is the interaction between ammonia and calcium. Julian Suurd picks up where others leave off. Suurd stresses the importance of establishing a base saturation benchmark and focusing on available calcium to tap into the crop's potential. Take a close look at chemical interactions in the soil and learn how some forms of nitrogen actually create make calcium more available for crops.

3:30-5 p.m.
On-Farm Dairy Processing
Jack Lazor
Learn the real nuts and bolts of adding on-farm processing to your dairy. Jack Lazor, founder of the first organic dairy in the Northeast, devoted years to honing techniques for creating a role in a niche market and capitalizing on it. Processing cultured products on-farm isn't for everyone, but it has its rewards Lazor milks 45 cows on 340 acres and sees $500,000 in annual sales. He remains independent, defying the get-bigger production paradigm, and is here to share his success. Show up for this short course on on-farm dairy processing and see if it's right for your farm.

3:30-5 p.m.
Raw Materials Economics Interactive Panel Discussion
Randy Cook, Tom Asbridge, Thayne Cozart, Ray Dykeman & Ed Petrowsky
This question and answer session covers a vast range or topics, including parity, agricultural policy, economics, and social justice. Understand how crop prices are controlled by internationalists and the source of the true wealth of an economy. The presenters are officers and board members of NORM, the National Organization for Raw Materials, an economic thinktank dedicated to the creation of a sound base for the economy.

4-5 p.m.
Eco-Turf Fairway Lanes to Pasture Grass
Crow Miller & Neil Stagner
Consultants Crow Miller and Neil Stagner apply the principles of eco-agriculture to golf course and turf management with amazing results. In terms of both quality and costs, organic and sustainable agriculture has much to offer the turf-care discipline. Learn how to balance soils, feed the grass, and minimize or eliminate poisonous inputs. The principles they'll outline work equally well for crop production.

9-10 a.m.
Composting for Maximum Quality
Edwin Blosser
High-quality compost is as good as greenbacks in the field of sustainable agriculture. In this follow-up segment on large-scale composting and waste management, master composter Edwin Blosser returns to address some of the advanced techniques that distinguish the truly high-quality compost material that is rich in nutrients and beneficial microorganisms and is free of pathogens, phytotoxins and viable seeds. This session will cover everything you need to know to be able to maximize your current composting systems or put you on the road to establishing your own programs. Some specific issues he will address are, how different composting methods affect quality, how nutrients are captured from raw materials, how to control nutrient leaching, how to eliminate odor problems, and more. For anyone who is considering setting up their own controlled composting process, this is the place to be.

9-10 a.m.
Feeding Sprouted Grains, Herbs & Weeds
Jerry Brunetti
Healthy forage is about more than just grass. Veteran eco-farmers know that diversity is the cornerstone of a responsible feedstock profile. Farmers have a host of valuable alternative feeds at their disposal that surpass the standard rations. Jerry Brunetti shows how to "short-circuit the feed trucks" by creating your own premium feedstocks. Knowledge about feeding sprouts, long forgotten or dismissed by industrial agriculture, is resurrected and edified in this eye-opening discussion of forages and feed supplements. Explore the possibility of integrating herbs and weeds, some which post higher nutritional values than many barn staples, into the ration for better nutrition and medicine.

10-11 a.m.
Eco-Growing of Quality Alfalfa
Bob Yanda
In this crop-specific session, farmers will get practical, hands-on advice from this longtime eco-consultant. Topics will focus on fertility programs in forage production for one of the staple crops of the Midwest. The overall emphasis of Yanda's advice is not only on yields, but on boosting plant nutrients and overall crop quality, a particular concern in high-forage ration dairies.

10-11 a.m.
Crop Sugars & Animal Health
Dan Skow, D.V.M.
Veteran educator and consultant Dan Skow will discuss the relation between crop maturity, as measured by plant sugars, and animal health. Using the Reams method of soil and crop management as a foundation, Skow explains how inefficient production and transfer of enzymes in the plant result in poor nutrition for your cows, hogs, and other farm animals. Knowing first how to feed your plants and when a harvest will yield maximum nutrition is a little-studied area that few farm consultants understand.

11 a.m.-noon
Conventional Fertilizers & Soil Aging
Philip Barak, Ph.D.
Years of excess fertilizer take their toll on soils sometimes doing irreparable harm. Overuse of nitrogen is the king of abuses, resulting in gradual acidification of the soil, destroying its vital ability to retain the calcium, magnesium and potassium necessary for good crop growth. And with a 50 percent applied nitrogen efficiency rate for U.S. farmers, that means it's also money down the drain. Soils researcher Philip Barak exposes some of the dangers of these kinds of chemical abuses, and drawing from landmark, multi-decade research, explains why the damage done over the last 50 years equates to perhaps thousands of years of normal "aging."

11 a.m.-noon
New Developments in Energetics & Plant Response
Phil Wheeler
Many eco-farmers are finding success through tapping into the subtle energies of nature to affect soil fertility and crop growth. Author, lecturer, and veteran consultant Phil Wheeler explains the latest advances in this often hard to grasp area of knowledge which includes radionics, paramagnetism, field broadcasting towers, electronic seed and water treatments, and more. Cutting-edge knowledge.

2-3 p.m.
Bioneers Environmental Restoration & the Future of Organic Farmers
Kenny Ausubel
The environment is firmly advanced toward center stage in the context of our lives, our businesses and our politics in this new century. This is good news for organic farmers. Learn leading-edge developments relating to true biotechnologies with great potential for organic farming, from fungi to rangeland restoration and organic seeds. Explore innovative economic strategies that can assist organic farmers to resist the commodification of organics.

2-3 p.m.
Chemistry & Physics Supporting the Soil Foodweb
Arden Andersen, Ph.D., D.O.
Elaine Ingham changed our understanding of soil life with her concept of a soil foodweb. Arden Andersen will explain how to create the correct physical and chemical environment in your soil for optimum support of soil life, as needed for your particular crop. Beyond understanding the importance of soil life, this seminar will instruct you in techniques to enhance and alter the balance of life beneath our feet.

3-5 p.m.
Compost & Compost Teas
Elaine Ingham, Ph.D.
The benefits of healthy soil biota are well known among sustainable farmers. For growers interested in sharpening their understanding of the composting process, as well as gaining new insight on the practice of using compost teas, this fact-filled two-part lecture is sure to please. Soil foodweb researcher Elaine Ingham defines what a good compost is, she discusses how to obtain composting's greatest benefits and gives pointers on how to get started making good compost. Ingham will cover all the details of compost maintenance, including ensuring the healthy biological activity of compost, evaluating the quality of the material, and sampling compost to determine the organisms present. The second part of the lecture discusses the optimal use of compost teas. Here, Dr. Ingham will take a comprehensive look at the use of creating composting brews to help restore or augment the biological life in the soil. She will discuss the purpose of compost tea, factors affecting tea quality, options of aerobic versus anaerobic teas, beneficial organisms, and compost tea recipes.

3-4 p.m.
Marketing Organic & Sustainable Production
William R. Jackson, Ph.D.
Small farm entrepreneurs who are having trouble peddling their wares or who feel they haven't maximized their sales potential should check in to this discussion on how to find direction in your marketing tactics. Sustainable farming sage William Jackson addresses some fundamental issues farm food sellers face, including planning strategy and timing, pricing, personal investment and specific problems. Sometimes boosting the bottom line can be as easy as re-evaluating the product you sell, focusing on the intangible side of business, and projecting confidence and authority in the marketplace.

4-5 p.m.
Understanding Soil Tests
Richard Goff
Lapses in your understanding of soil analyses could mean poor soil management in the future and lost profits. Soil specialist Richard Goff breaks down the soil test, explaining how each facet of the test translates into the overall health, or sickness, of your soil. The interpretation of the soil's physical condition is covered in this lecture, and Goff takes the analysis a step further to discuss how certain elements that report imbalances on a soil test can affect plant quality, weed pressures, and any number of other common crop maladies.

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  • ACRES USA Conference 2000 Speaker Line Up, Minneapolis, Dec 7-9, Allan Balliett, 11/08/2000

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