UPCOMING EVENTS
NAFSN promotes its own events as well as those hosted by our collaborator organizations (denoted by a *). We welcome the opportunity to attend, cross-promote, and help create accessibility to events with collaborating organizations that share our values and vision to build a more inclusive and informed workforce for local and regional food systems development.
Finding Your Future In Food Systems
THIS SERIES OCCURS SEASONALLY
ALWAYS FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC
Spring 2025 speakers will be announced soon!
Please save these dates:
Feb 19, 2025
Feb 26, 2025
Mar 19, 2025
Mar 26, 2025
Register to win a free NAFSN membership; one will be randomly chosen each episode!!!!
ACRE Information Sessions
Are you interested in becoming a trained food systems facilitator?
Or, are you looking for an affordable & practical professional development opportunity for your staff with lasting impact?
Join us for a free Information Session on ACRE.
AgriCluster Resilience and Expansion - or ACRE for short - is a professionally-facilitated strategic planning process to help groups of farmers, especially those in value-chains, work together and compete more effectively.
The ACRE Facilitator Training program provides instruction specifically designed for food and agriculture systems professionals to facilitate and guide the ACRE Process with farmers and other community stakeholders in the values-based development of more resilient food value chains.
In the ACRE Information Session, you'll learn about the training course, and the community of practice employing ACRE in their food/ag communities.
Community Food Systems Consultants Forum
We are building a collaborative network of Community Food Systems Consultants.
In support of this network, NAFSN hosts a quarterly Forum featuring experts with insights for consultants working with community-based food & ag groups.
Sign up for the next forum featuring Sagdrina Jalal of SageD Consulting in Atlanta, GA.
As a service to this network, we also curate Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for community food systems development work throughout North America.
NEW EVENTS COMING SOON.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
DESIGNED FOR COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS CONSULTANTS
CARAT Information Session
The North American Food Systems Network has released CARAT as a free, open-access resource.
The Community & Agriculture Resilience Audit Tool (CARAT) helps community stakeholders assess how they currently utilize the assets of their local food system to achieve a substantial level of community resilience.
CARAT measures the resources within a food system via 101 indicators to determine possible next steps to increase community resiliency and food sovereignty.
To learn more, please consider attending one of our CARAT Informational Sessions.
ACRE Community of Practice Gathering
AgriCluster Resilience and Expansion - or ACRE for short - is a professionally-facilitated strategic planning process to help groups of farmers, especially those in value-chains, work together and compete more effectively in an increasingly complex world.
This event will gather together those who have completed certification in ACRE Facilitator Training as well as those currently enrolled.
THIS EVENT IS QUARTERLY
REGISTER:
OPEN TO MEMBERS OF THE ACRE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE ONLY
NAFSN Book Club
As we launch NAFSN'S new book club we are honored to start with "Feeding Each Other: Shaping Change in Food Systems through Relationship" by change-making authors Nicole Civita and Michelle Auerbach.
Host Lin Diaz Maceo of NAFSN will bring this book club to life in three parts:
Sat Dec 2, 12p-2pm ET - Come meet authors Nicole and Michelle as they guide us through the ethics of "agrelational" thinking, doing and being as proffered in "Feeding Each Other."
Dec-Jan - Make time to read the book, cuddled up at home this winter.
Sat, Jan 27, 12pm-1:30pm ET - Attend the book club to discuss your reading of "Feeding Each Others" and the powerful ideas within.
Purchase the book here. What a great gift for yourself and for your colleagues!
Many thanks to The Foodshed Network for joining us in the cross-promotion of this event.
UPCOMING DATES:
THIS EVENT HAS CONCLUDED; THE NEXT BOOK CLUB EVENT WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON
MEET NAFSN AT THESE EVENTS IN 2024
Look for NAFSN's booth, presentation, or other engagement at our collaborators' events this year!
National Farm Viability Conference 2024*
This year’s theme, Mountains of Excellence - Growing Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability, invites participants to imagine how we move farm viability efforts forward given the lessons learned over the past few years, especially around the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice issues.
This conference is open to all agricultural and business technical assistance stakeholders, held in Charleston, West Virginia.
Look for NAFSN Leadership member Debbie Tropp sharing news of CARAT at this event.
*COLLABORATOR EVENT
21-day Racial equity Habit Building Challenge*
THIS 10TH ANNUAL EVENT IS HOSTED BY FOOD SOLUTIONS NEW ENGLAND
The virtual challenge will be held Apr 1-21, 2024. Each year, thousands of individuals and hundreds of officially participating organizations join in a shared journey of learning and charting a course of action to dismantle racism in our food system and our world.
NAFSN is honored to promote and engage as a participating organization for 2024.
*COLLABORATOR EVENT
Chicago Food Justice Summit*
THIS 19TH ANNUAL EVENT IS HOSTED BY THE CHICAGO FOOD POLICY ACTION COUNCIL (CFPAC)
CFPAC and its summit planning team celebrate 19 years of leveraging collective power to policy. The summit will be held Mar 6-7, 2024, virtually, and Mar 8, 2024, in-person at South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago, IL.
NAFSN members Kim Hines and Joyce Tian will speak virtually at this event on "How Resilient is YOUR Community from a Food/Ag Perspective?" by providing an interactive virtual session of the CARAT tool on Thur Mar 7 at 5pm CT.
*COLLABORATOR EVENT
farm stop conference 2024*
With about one dozen farm stops now successfully up and running, and several more approaching launch, this conference is the time to gather, learn from one another, share best practices, and envision the role we’d like to see farm stops play in our local food ecosystems.
"Farm Stops are year-round, every-day markets that support small-scale farmers and strengthen local and regional food systems. They do so most often by operating on a consignment model, which gives producers a fair price, flexibility with their time and products, and provides more direct connections with consumers.
- Kathryn Barr, author of How to Start a Farm Stop
NAFSN will be tabling at this member event; come meet us there!!
*COLLABORATOR EVENT