Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Taylor in Beginning Farmers, Events, Farming Resources, Urban Farming and Gardening, Workshops // 0 Comments

For the first time, Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners (BUGS) will hold its annual gathering in the Southern US, as Atlanta will be the host city for the 2017 national conference, November 10-12. Over five hundred attendees from across the country will arrive in Atlanta to network, share ideas and harness the power of black urban and rural farmers.

“Rooted and Rising: Black Southern Legacies of Resistance and Resilience”, the 7th annual BUGS Conference, is a homecoming for US-based black farmers and gardeners to think expansively about reconnecting communities through growing food, and to recollect on a shared legacy that is grounded in persistence, innovation, and imagination. For more information including press release, please send an email to Regina Ginyard, BUGS National Coordinator at info@blackfarmersconf.org

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The conference will feature workshops, panels and skillshares within five conference tracks including:

Rooted (history and traditions)
Rising (in) (trans local connections)
Reimagine (Afro-futurism in food)
Relationships (nurturing bonds)
Resiliency (sustainable strategies)

Solidarity housing for the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference is available. Fill out a homestay form for true southern hospitality. Click here.

BLACK FARMERS AND URBAN GARDENERS CONFERENCE KEYNOTES

In Southern style, the conference keynotes include Virginia-based culinary historian, Leni Sorensen; Georgia centennial farmer and chef, Matthew Raiford; renown Georgia-bred farmer and organizer, Shirley Sherrod; and Mississippi-glazed activist/advocate, Rukia Lumumba.

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Black Urban Growers (BUGS) is an organization committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, we nurture collective Black leadership to ensure we have a seat at the table.

In November of 2009, Black Urban Growers began organizing and hosting a series of community events with the purpose of starting a conversation around food: Where does it come from? Who is providing it? Why don’t we see more Black farmers at the farmer’s markets? What is the relationship between our individual health and the health of our communities, and why does it matter?

Since 2010, we’ve convened the Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference, a national conference bringing together Black farmers, food justice advocates, educators, chefs and concerned members of Black communities from across the country to share best practices and build a stronger network of Black leadership in the movement for food justice and food sovereignty.