Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon has made financial success for farmers a top priority during his time in office.
Early in his tenure, he helped start Focus on Farming, an annual conference to connect with and support farmers.
This year Focus on Farming, set for Nov. 29, will be the fourth such conference with a theme of “From Soils to Sales.”
Though the event is geared toward farmers, growers, retailers, chefs and public policy makers, fans of local food may also enjoy the event.
Lunch, included as part of the $30 advance admission, is a locally grown feast prepared by local chefs, including Russell Lowell with Russell’s Restaurant and Bar in Bothell, Martin Misich with Sebastian’s in Snohomish, Larry Fontaine with the Everett Events Center, Michael Felsenstein with the Lynnwood Convention Center, Seth Caswell of The Stumbling Goat in Seattle and Autumn Martin of Theo Chocolates in Seattle.
Snohomish County ag project coordinator and farmer Linda Neunzig will provide ethically raised veal for the event, which Russell plans to use in a local veal and sausage lasagna with a white sauce made with local cheese and cream.
I attended Focus on Farming last year and learned loads. I enjoyed the wonderful food, too, including muffins in the morning, the luxurious local-food lunch and a local wine and cheese reception at the end of the conference.
While the average person may not be able to break away from work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on a Thursday, Neunzig hopes anyone plugged into farming or decision-making that affects local agriculture can attend.
“It’s open to anybody. We want to fill that place up,” Neunzig said of the Lynnwood Convention Center. “Last year, in a snow storm, we had 400 people. We want to see the cities there. We want to see local government there. We want politicians. We want decision makers.”
Chad Kruger, BIOAg Educator with Washington State University, will give a talk titled “Climate Change Impacts on Regional Agriculture” during a morning keynote. Fred Kirschenmann, with Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, will speak over lunch on farming in a rapidly changing world. And U.S. Rep. Rick Larson will talk about the latest farm bill’s effect on the Northwest.
In addition to those key speeches, numerous workshops throughout the day will be open to anyone ready to learn about business, sales and marketing strategies, how to manage water and climate change, trends in nursery, greenhouse, organics and local-market farming, livestock and bio-energy trends and risk management.
Registration costs $30 if you sign up for before Nov. 15. It’s $40 at the door. Read all about it here.
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