FAMU’s Statewide Small Farm Program is an active participatory sustainable development program that provides relevant education, technical assistance and hands-on training to small farmers, underserved farming populations, and their communities.
This two-day, three-part series will kick off today, on Sunday, February 17, at 2:30 p.m., with “Reclaiming the Roots of Organics” at the FAMU Viticulture and Small Fruit Research Center.
The final sessions will occur on Monday, February 18, from 10:30 a.m. – noon focusing on “The Future of Local Foods and Small Farms” at the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences and from 1:15 – 2:30 p.m., the “Agroecology: Science, Farming System and Social Movement” located in the School of the Environment.
This series will feature John Ikerd, Ph.D., an internationally and nationally recognized visionary, advocate for small farmers and the right to grow healthy food and sustain healthy communities. Ikerd will provide exciting dialog and an understanding on issues related to building sustainability with a motivational emphasis on agriculture and the economy during the “Reclaiming the Roots of Organics” section of the series.
Ikerd is also a professor emeritus of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri and is the author of six books, including the critically acclaimed “Small Farms are Real Farms Sustaining People Through Agriculture.”
In 2014, Ikerd was commissioned by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to write the regional report, “Family Farms of North America” in recognition of the International Year of the Family Farming.
This capacity building session will be in collaboration with the FAMU Statewide Small Farm Program, School of the Environment, the Tallahassee Food System Organization, and local small farmers.