Next Week You'll Wish There Were Two of You
Fill up your calendar with Soil Health Week and Food Justice Summit programming
Two Events Make Next Week Virtually Awesome
Illinois Stewardship Alliance’s Soil Health Week and Chicago Food Policy Action Council’s 18th annual Food Justice Summit could fill up your calendar even if they were held on separate weeks. The fact that they overlap next week may leave you with some tough choices about which sessions to attend live.
Soil Health Week kicks off next Monday (March 4) and runs through Saturday, March 10, though there is one additional event taking place on Wednesday, March 13.
The impactful programming features farmers, organizations, agronomists, ecologists, nutritionists and others discussing the urgent need to protect and improve the health of our soils to ensure a sustainable food supply, as well as soil health’s benefits to human health and the environment.
Most of the programming takes place during the weekdays, and most of it is virtual (see the graphic above). But there are several in-person gatherings, including the Soil Health Lobby Day at the Illinois Capitol in Springfield on Wednesday, March 6, and the 2nd annual Southern Illinois Soil Health Symposium to be held in Marion on Thursday, March 7.
Click the button below to view and register for Soil Health Week sessions, including Soil Health Lobby Day.
The Chicago Food Justice Summit runs Wednesday, March 6 (10 a.m. to 6:45 p.m.); Thursday, March 7 (10 a.m. to 6:45 p.m.); and Friday, March 8 (10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) The first two days are entirely virtual; the final day is an in-person event at South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. in Chicago. Participation is free but registration is required.
The virtual programming covers a wide range of topics relating to climate resilience. According to the organizers:
This theme will remind attendees of how intrinsically tied the environmental justice movement is with the food justice movement. This Summit will also honor indigenous communities as the primary caretakers of Earth’s biodiversity (85%!) as well as a wealth of knowledge and resources as to how we could shift agricultural practices to be less taxing on the environment. Summit programming will emphasize the potential within the food system to address climate change.
The in-person event on March 8 is described as follows:
The Unconference (also known as Open Space) is a more democratic approach to conventional conferences, allowing the participants to set the agenda and find the right discussions for themselves. An Unconference is for gathering, facilitating, learning, exploring, developing and connecting. This time during the Summit will be led by you, the attendees, and the interests, experiences, questions, and ideas you bring to the event.
Click the next button to view the whole program schedule.
Click the next button to register for the Summit.
Reader Says Food Waste’s Only Part of the Problem
On Saturday, I published tips from University of Illinois Extension and UI Health on how to reduce food waste. I asked for readers to share their own thoughts on the issue, and the first comment comes from Tim Magner, director of Nature’s Farm Camp, a summer camping experience in which children connect with where food comes from and how we use it.
Tim’s opinion is that food waste is only part of our food system’s problems. He says conventional agriculture’s focus on crops (such as field corn and soybeans) that are primarily converted to biofuel and animal feed is another big challenge. The solution is to grow more food.
There seems to be far more press on reducing consumer waste, than on the waste that happens before it gets to us.
We grow 94,000,000 acres of corn in the U.S. Nearly half of that is burned in our cars. Yes, we burn food, as ethanol. And the majority of the rest of the corn grown goes to feed animals, so maybe 75 percent of that ends up as manure.
Most of the corn (and soybeans) that doesn’t end up as exhaust and manure is ultra-processed junk food.
This is the ’system’ (i.e. huge surplus of commodities) that has been supported through rules, incentives and research (our tax dollars).
So, rather than focus on consumers making better individual choices, what if we looked at it from a wider lens?
Thanks to Tim (who happens to be a longtime friend). Please let me know if you have thoughts about food waste or, like Tim, want to have a broader discussion on food systems issues. I haven’t given up hope on using Local Food Forum as a platform for a true forum where we discuss how to achieve a better food system.
Bob’s World, and Welcome to It
Sky show sunset, Thursday, February 22.
I am really looking forward to soil health week! ISA delivers another spectacular year of events! Will you be at Lobby Day, Bob?