ECOLOGICAL FARMING ASSOCIATION ANNUAL REPORT

FISCAL YEAR JULY 2008 – JUNE 2010

Hoes Down Harvest Festival: More than 4,500 people attended our 21st annual October harvest celebration held at Full Belly Farm in the scenic Capay Valley (Yolo County, California). The festival includes workshops for children and adults, farm tours, organic food, and live entertainment, and raises funds for both EcoFarm and a variety of Capay Valley community organizations that contribute to sustainable agriculture. In 2008, Hoes Down donated more than $20,000 to local community organizations.

Ecological Farming Conference: Our annual January event drew more than 1,400 participants and sold out of both food and lodging for the second year running. Plenary sessions featuring Stuffed and Starved author Raj Patel, luminary chefs Dan Barber, Annie Sommerville and Judy Wicks, and luminary farmers Paul Muller, Tom Willey, and Jim Riddle punctuated over 60 practical and visionary workshops on all aspects of ecological food, farming and advocacy.

Dirt to Dining: In early June, we inaugurated “Dirt to Dining”, an organic food and wine tasting event produced in partnership with EcoFarm board member Jesse Cool and her staff from CoolEatz Restaurants and Catering. More than 150 guests came to Jesse’s Palo Alto garden to enjoy delicious small plates cooked up by Jesse and her staff from produce provided by nine participating farms, paired with wines from nine wineries. The farmers and winemakers were on hand to mingle with guests. Live music, a tour of Jesse’s garden, and organic gardening workshops rounded out a beautiful day.

Heartland Project: June was also busy with several excellent Heartland events motored by a vibrant group of community volunteers whose dedication is helping to build a sustainable food and farm movement in the Central Valley. The second annual Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee, hosted by Slow Food Madera at the MOA farm in Clovis, featured tastings of high quality fruit grown in Fresno’s “Golden Triangle”. Word must be getting out about how great this event is because more than 800 people attended and we even got a write-up on a Los Angeles Time food blog. See EcoFarm’s website for profiles of these family fruit growers dedicated to building the market for locally grown organic fruit. We rounded out June with the 10th annual Heartland Festival, returned to Double T Acres and hosted by Carol and Tony Azevedo. This year’s event, attended by over 300 people, was entirely locally run and had more local community support than ever. These are great family events that educate people about sustainable farming first hand from the farmers while tempting them with delicious produce picked at the height of the season.

California Agricultural Water Stewardship Initiative (CAWSI): Since 2008, EcoFarm been working with CAWSI, which aims to help farmers manage water supply risks on-farm, while also working at a political level to promote fair solutions to the state’s water woes that include an adequate and secure supply for farming. In 2008, the coalition published a white paper, Water Stewardship: Ensuring a Secure Future for California Agriculture, which explores the practical and policy context for better agricultural water stewardship in California Agriculture. CAWSI partner California Institute for Rural Studies also published “California Water Stewards: Innovative On-Farm Water Management Practices.” The coalition also developed an online resource center, now available at agwaterstewards.org, which catalogues on-farm water management practices and provides resources for more information and technical support. In fall 2009 and spring 2010, in partnership with CAWSI, EcoFarm will be presenting several regional water stewardship forums for farmers.

California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN): In early 2009, EcoFarm became a founding member of CalCAN, a policy coalition that will engage in climate change policy at this critical time as the state moves forward to implement AB 32, including a cap-and-trade system, which could have far reaching consequences for California agriculture. The coalition is hosting an educational and outreach summit in early October and will be developing more programming soon.

Strategic Communications Initiative: In October of 2008 we launched a contemporary EcoFarm website with original design, navigation improvements, farmer and GE-news blogs and RSS feeds, news headlines and links, online donation capacity, audio player and site search capabilities. In November of 2008, Zeist Design, Inc. partnered with us to create a modern EcoFarm logo that was launched in March of 2009. Our extended reach through new media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube video has garnered more visibility and awareness of EcoFarm and in the last year our email subscriber list has grown substantially with approximately 10,000 people now receiving our monthly electronic newsletter and daily GE-News and Sustainable-Ag job notices. Press coverage of the 2008 EcoFarm Conference and other EcoFarm events and programs has resulted in over 50 significant news stories and media mentions since January 2008.

Board of Directors and Staff: Kristin Rosenow, EcoFarm executive director from 2001 – 2007, returned to the organization in 2008 and reassumed the directorship in January 2009. Long-time Ecological Farming Conference Coordinator, Zea Sonnabend, moved to consultant status in 2008 and began training her successor in event logistics coordination, event manager Peggy Dillon, who joined the organization in September 2008. Zea will continue to advise on logistical matters while helping to manage agenda development and workshop planning in coordination with the executive director. Kalita Todd, the founder and longtime manager of the Ecological Farming Conference food program, retired in 2008, leaving the reins to her assistant, Angela Karegeannes, now EcoFarm Food Coordinator and Chef. In addition, Rachel Goldwasser was hired in September 2008 to assist Angela as EcoFarm Food Donations Coordinator. Communications Specialist, Marcy Coburn, celebrated her second anniversary with EcoFarm in June 2009. The EcoFarm board of directors completed a strategic plan in the late 2008 that rephrased our mission, confirmed our vision, and set out guiding strategic goals for the next three years. We will be using “real-time” strategic planning methods over the next couple of years to reevaluate and update these strategic goals as needed. The board of directors added two new members for the 2009 – 2010 fiscal year: Debora Pinkas, Staff Attorney for the Public Health Institute (Debora previously served on the board from 2004 – 2007) and Lisa Bunin, Organic Policy Coordinator for the Center for Food Safety. 2009 – 2010 Board Officers are:

President: Arty Mangan
Vice President/Secretary: Ken Dickerson
Treasurer: Thomas Wittman
Executive Committee: Jeremiah Ridenour, Debora Pinkas

Coming in 2009 – 2010:
We are already working hard to produce a stellar 30th anniversary EcoFarm Conference under the theme, “EcoFarm: Where the Future is Planted.” New this year will be online registration, which will make registration and payment for the conference’s multi-faceted activities easier and more efficient. To celebrate our anniversary, we will feature a look at “Radical Agriculture” over the last 30 years and into the future. We will also take up the pressing issues of climate change, water, food safety, and the continuing debate on scale and sustainability. In honor of our theme, we will also take a look at the increasingly diverse and urban-based crop of up and coming food system leaders. Remember that the conference has sold out the last two years, so register early to get the food, lodging and activity options of your choice.

EcoFarm GenNext EcoFarm Generation Next, funded in partnership with California FarmLink, is a network that seeks to nurture and support California and the nation’s next generation of sustainable and organic farmers through technical training, mentorship, peer support and inspiration. Network activities include an EcoFarm Conference Beginning Farmer Track, field days and mentor meetings, and an EcoFarm GenNext Web Community with a beginning farmer blog and access to a panel of experienced farmers that will answer posted beginning farmer questions and engage with beginning farmer participants for sustained mentoring, support and inspiration.

Regional Water Forums California is suffering one of the most significant water crises in its history. Now in its third year and so severe that the governor has declared a statewide emergency, the drought threatens the viability of California agriculture, the largest human user of water in the state. EcoFarm and its partners in the California Agricultural Water Stewardship Initiative will be educating California farmers about water insecurity risks to their operations and providing practical strategies to manage these risks through regional forums. The forums will combine cutting-edge information and resources about smart agricultural water management, including presentations by farmers, technical experts, and resource agents, as well as farm tours and discussion of policy threats and opportunities.