Registration for our 25th annual conference is open!
The 2024 event theme will be “Nourish & Flourish: From the Ground Up.” We’ll have one day of pre-conference sessions and two main conference days.
- Keynote Speakers and Special Sessions
- Kevin Atticks, Maryland Secretary of Agriculture
- Erika Allen, Urban Growers Collective
- Julia Shanks, The Farmer’s Edge
- Events
- One pre-conference day with intensive half- and full- day sessions
- Facilitated farmer-to-farmer meetups and caucus chats
- Trade show and networking
- Delicious farm-fresh meals
- Seed, book, t-shirt and gear swap
- Farm BINGO with prizes
TICKETING INFORMATION
Thursday Pre-Conference: $25 – 35
Please note that if you are a conference speaker, sponsor or exhibitor – or a participant in the 2024 class of our Beginner Farmer Training Program or Agricultural Leadership Development Initiative, you will receive a code to access your complimentary ticket.
We also have scholarship and work trade opportunities available. Please visit Scholarships & Work Trades for more information.
Check out what we have lined up for the 2024 conference
SEVEN TRACKS designed to meet multiple experience levels and a diversity in scale and products
- Beginner Farmer
- Crop Production
- Soil Health / Regenerative
- Business & Marketing
- Wellbeing, Environment, & Community
- Livestock
- Farmer to Farmer
- ++ Sessions for Urban Farmers
OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Kevin Atticks, Maryland Secretary of Agriculture
Agriculture as the Solution
Future Harvest farmers are at the forefront of finding solutions to bay pollution, climate change, energy and food security. Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks and a panel of farmers from across the Chesapeake watershed will have a lively conversation about what’s needed to effectively tackle these most dire challenges.
Prior to being sworn in as Maryland Secretary of Agriculture on March 2, 2023, Kevin Atticks was the CEO (and founder) of Grow & Fortify, supporting value-added agricultural organizations and the businesses they represent. Grow & Fortify published the first assessment of the state’s value-added agricultural industry, illustrating the expansive impact generated by this sector, which includes wineries, creameries, meat processing, agritourism, equine and dozens of other industry segments. Atticks was also the Executive Director of the Maryland Wineries Association, Brewers Association of Maryland and the Maryland Distillers Guild, and served as the President of the Maryland Agricultural Resource Council, and the Chair of the WineAmerica State & Regional Associations Advisory Council. Atticks formerly served on the University of Maryland College of Agriculture’s Global Leadership Council, the board of Future Harvest and the board of the Maryland Tourism Coalition. Originally from Bowie, Maryland, Atticks graduated with a journalism degree from Loyola University Maryland, and shortly thereafter, received a master’s degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. He later earned his doctorate in communications design from University of Baltimore. He holds a faculty position at Loyola University Maryland.
Erika Allen, Urban Growers Collective
Health & Healing in Chicago: Urban Growers Collective
Erika Allen of Urban Growers Collective in Chicago, Illinois will address the inequities and structural racism that exist in the food system and in communities of color. Rooted in growing culturally-affirming, and nutritionally-dense food, Urban Growers Collective provides hands-on job training and creates economic opportunities for youth and beginner BIPOC farmers through the management of eight urban farms mostly on the South Side.
Erika Allen (she/her) is the Co-Founder and CEO – Strategic Development and Programs for Urban Growers Collective and the President of Green ERA Educational NFP and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners. Previously, Allen founded and was the Director of Growing Power – Chicago for 15 years from 2002 to 2017. Allen is the co-founder of the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, serves on the board of Grow Greater Englewood and Leadership Council for Growing Home, and is an advisor for the Community Food Navigator project. Allen has been appointed by IL Governor J.B. Pritzker for the IL Leadership Council for Agricultural Education (ICAE) for a 3 Year term (2022-2024). Allen was recently appointed by the Biden Administration to join the Farm Service Agency Committee for Illinois. She is also a Co-Chair of the Food Equity Council for the City of Chicago. Allen received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MA in Art Psychotherapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She uses her experience as a visual artist to consult with individuals and organizations to support their visioning of social and economic changes. She is passionate about social justice and working with multicultural groups in the elimination of racism, related oppressions, and the root causes of poverty by integrating creative and therapeutic techniques alongside food security and community development.
25th ANNIVERSARY: CONFERENCE T-SHIRTS
We are thrilled to announce a new, limited edition t-shirt has been added to our online store, celebrating the 25th anniversary of our annual winter conference. Premium Unisex Tee. Standard fit crewneck t-shirt with 60/40 blend of combed cotton and poly and ringspun. Light weight, super soft. The shirts are $29.99, available in the two colors above, sizes XS – 3XL
We will printing and sending two batches of these t-shirts and they will not be available for purchase at the event. Order by November 1st to receive your t-shirt by the end of November, or by December 1st for end of year delivery.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR 2024 SPONSORS
Become a Conference Sponsor
For more information about conference sponsorship packages or to arrange alternative methods of payment, please contact conference@futureharvest.org