Regenerative Farming Webinar Monday
Plus, get your tickets for Green City Market's April 27 dinner
In This Issue
• Naturally Chicago’s Regenerative Farming Webinar (free) on Monday
• Get tickets for Green City Market’s April 27 dinner at Cultivate by Forbidden Root
Regenerative Ag is Focus of Monday Webinar
Simple Mills has soared to prominence with its clean-label, gluten-free cookies, crackers and baking mixes. Applegate is a major national producer of cold cuts and other meat products. Farmer Focus sells organic chicken while prioritizing animal welfare and fairness to farmers.
What do these producers have in common? They are among the rising number of companies that are now prioritizing regenerative agriculture — and the need to build and protect our nation's soil health — in their food production.
They are also the focus of a free Naturally Chicago webinar, Regenerative Farming and the CPG Companies Embracing It, that will take place Monday (April 18) at 3 p.m. central. (In case you’re not an acronym person, CPG means Consumer Packaged Goods.)
Katlin Smith of Simple Mills, Gina Asoudegan of Applegate and Corwin Heatwole of Farmer Focus will be joined on the panel by Elizabeth Candelario of Mad Agriculture — a company that helps farmers transition to regenerative agriculture — and Kellee James of Mercaris, an organic ag data service.
Jim Slama, Naturally Chicago’s Managing Director, will moderate the webinar, which is sponsored by The Food Institute. The webinar is also part of Naturally Network’s EARTH WEEK 2022 programming.
Decades of conventional farming practices have drained much of the nation’s farmland of its natural vitality, while erosion has claimed too much of our fertile topsoil. This webinar will explain how regenerative agriculture aims to reverse this damage and highlight some of the companies that are at the cutting edge of going regenerative.
Click the button below to register.
TRANSPARENCY DISCLAIMER: I perform communications contract work for Naturally Chicago and am a member of its Board of Directors. Previously, I helped launch and manage the program during my employment with FamilyFarmed and re-joined last August after Naturally Chicago became an independent, stand-alone organization.
I also am on the Leadership Council of the ReGenerate Illinois non-profit organization, so I am all in on this topic.
Green City’s New Sustainable Supper is April 27
Green City Market has announced the second in its series of Sustainable Suppers, which will take place Wednesday, April 27 at Cultivate by Forbidden Root, the gastro-brewpub in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood. As the press release below explains, these dinners feature panel discussions highlighting hyper-local farms that work to expand urban agriculture.
I first met the Forbidden Root folks in 2013 at the Oak Park Craft Brew Review when the brewery was a startup, have enjoyed their original brick and mortar location in the Ukrainian Village/West Town area, and had the pleasure of visiting and writing about Cultivate shortly after it opened last December. The Green City dinner sounds like a delicious and inspiring night out.
Read more below and click the button to buy tickets.
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April 8, 2022 (Chicago) — Green City Market (GCM), the nonprofit organization behind Lincoln Park’s flagship farmers’ market, is hosting a delicious dining experience this spring centered on local, sustainable food and the farmers who grow it.
The dinner will feature a panel discussion highlighting hyper-local farms working to expand urban agriculture.
“Hearing directly from the folks who grow the food that nourishes us is a profound experience,” shared Mandy Moody, executive director of Green City Market. “Through these dinners, we hope to lift up our local growers, to give them a voice and communicate the critical importance of supporting small-scale, sustainable farmers.”
GCM’s Sustainable Supper Series launched in March at Big Delicious Planet, a West Town farm-to-table catering company sourcing ingredients from their on-site urban farm. The event series continues this month on Wednesday, April 27 at Cultivate by Forbidden Root (4710 N Ravenswood Ave). Cultivate by Forbidden Root opened in late 2021 in the former Band of Bohemia space after more than a year of renovations.
Tickets are $90 per person and include a locally-sourced, three-course meal, craft beer courtesy of Forbidden Root — featuring a beer brewed especially for this event — and gratuity for service staff. The food served at the event will be sourced using ingredients from Green City Market's local, sustainable farmers and food producers.
Proceeds from this event series will support Green City Market's 501c3 nonprofit mission to support local, sustainable farmers, educate our community about where food comes from and why this knowledge matters, and expand food access in Chicago.
Tickets can be purchased via Tock at www.greencitymarket.org/SustainableSupper. GCM’s Sustainable Supper Series is generously sponsored by Tock.