Program at-a-glance


Click to download the printable program.

Friday, February 18, 2011 (Pre-Conference Events)
1:00-4:00 pm
Gerlinger Lounge
Graduate Student Symposium

5:00-6:30 pm
Many Nations Longhouse

Staged Reading: Salmon is Everything
Composed by Professor Theresa J. May in collaboration with The Klamath Theater Project

Saturday, February 19, 2011

4:00-6:00 pm
Knight Law Center,
Room 175

Overflow Room:
Knight Law Center,
Room 110

Opening Plenary: Frederick L. Kirschenmann
(Click to watch video.)

Conference welcome
  • Allison Carruth & Margaret Hallock, Conference Conveners
    (Click to watch video.)
  • Rob Handy, Lane County Commissioner
  • Pete Sorenson, Lane County Commissioner
Plenary address
  • Frederick L. Kirschenmann, “Food security in a changing world: Expanding the vision of sustainable agriculture”
  • Introduction: Ed King, CEO & Founder, King Estate Winery
  • Respondent: Anita Azarenko, Head of Horticulture Department, OSU
Sunday, February 20, 2011
9:00 am-3:00 pm
LaVerne Krause Gallery
FOOD: An Art Exhibition

9:00-10:30 am
Knight Law Center,
Room 175
Keynote Dialogue: Food System Futures
  • Timothy S. Griffin, Associate Professor & Director of Agriculture, Food & the Environment, Tufts University
  • Amy Bentley, Associate Professor of Food Studies, New York University
  • Moderator: Lindsay Naylor, University of Oregon
10:45 am-12:15 pm
Knight Law Center,
Room 175
Session A: Food Justice in Theory & Practice (part one)
  • Christopher Bacon, "Food sovereignty, fair trade & food justice"
  • Megan Carney, "Food empowerment: Latin citizenship & the lack of food sovereignty in Santa Barbara"
  • David Goldstein, "Eating right in the age of relation"
  • Moderator: Alexander B. Murphy, University of Oregon
  • Respondent: Jessica Chanay, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon
10:45 am-12:15 pm
Knight Law Center,
Room 110
Session B: Local Agriculture / Food Community
  • Patricia Allen, “Locating justice: The role of localization in sustainable food systems”
  • Gail Feenstra, “Farm to school: Connecting local agriculture to community food security”
  • Janet Fiskio, “The new agrarianism: Rethinking place, migration and citizenship”
  • Moderator: Dalton Hobbs, Oregon Department of Agriculture
  • Respondent: Geraldine Moreno, University of Oregon & Oregon Research Institute
12:30-2:00 pm
Lunch Break & Open House at the UO Urban Farm

2:00-3:30 pm
Knight Law Center,
Room 175
Session C: Food Justice in Theory & Practice (part two)
  • Sarah Cantril, Jorge Navarro & Margarito Palacios,"The justice of eating" (Translator: Analisa Taylor, University of Oregon)
  • Stephen Wooten & Emily Smith, “Gardening for one and all: From Mali to Idaho to Oregon"
  • Moderator: Ted Toadvine, University of Oregon
  • Respondent: Tom Lively, Organically Grown Company
2:00-3:30 pm
Knight Law Center,
Room 110
Session D: GMOs—Perspectives from Law & Literature
  • Keith Aoki, “Pastures of peonage, or paying for poor people’s knowledge?”
  • Anne-Lise François, “ 'Had we world enough, and time' ”: Diurnal rhythms, off-beats & terminator genes"
  • Louise Westling, “Two visions of food security & justice in Octavia Butler’s fiction”
  • Moderator: Mary Jaeger, University of Oregon
  • Respondent: Debra Lippoldt, Growing Gardens

4:00-5:30 pm
Knight Law Center,
Room 175

Overflow Room:
Knight Law Center,
Room 110

Keynote Panel: Sustainable Agriculture & Emerging Research in Plant Genetics
(Click to watch video.)
  • Charles Benbrook, "True progress and false promises: Separating the wheat from the biotech chaff"
  • Ignacio Chapela, “Genetic engineering’s new clothes: Can we coexist with ‘synthetic biology’?”
  • Stephen S. Jones, "Kicking the commodity habit: The re-decentralization of grain growing"
  • David Cleveland, "Transgenic crop varieties: Eliminating hunger...or eliminating farmers?"
  • Moderator: Alan Dickman, University of Oregon
Monday, February 21, 2011
9:00 am-3:00 pm
EMU, 1st Floor Lobby
Food Fair & Conference Exhibition Hall


9:00 am-3:00 pm
LaVerne Krause Gallery
FOOD: An Art Exhibition

9:00-10:00 am
EMU, Ballroom
Keynote Discussion: Gastronomica at Ten Years
(Click to watch video.)
  • Darra Goldstein, Founding Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food & Culture and Professor of Russian, Williams College
  • Moderator: Amy L. Tigner, University of Texas, Arlington
10:15–11:45 am
EMU, Ballroom
Keynote Roundtable: Food Justice & Farm Advocacy in the U.S.
(Click to watch video.)
  • Rachel Bristol, Chief Executive Officer, Oregon Food Bank
  • Deb Johnson-Shelton, President, Lane County Food Policy Council
  • Young Kim, Executive Director, Fondy Food Center, Milwaukee
  • Tammy Morales, Principal,Urban Food Link
  • Chris Schreiner, Executive Director, Oregon Tilth
  • Cynthia Torres, Director, Colorado Farmers Market Association
  • Moderator: Naomi Starkman, Co-Founder & Editor, CivilEats.com
12:00-1:00 pm
Lunch Break
1:15-2:45 pm
EMU, Fir Room
Session E: First Foods & Tribal Fisheries
  • Judy BlueHorse Skelton, "Re-indigenizing the urban landscape"
  • Les Brown & Jon Matthews, "Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit, or ‘Spirit of the salmon’"
  • Teara Farrow Ferman and Wenix Red Elk, "CTUIR: First Foods and the Importance of Place in Indigenous Food Culture"
  • Moderator: Theresa J. May, University of Oregon
1:15-2:45 pm
EMU, Gumwood Room
Session F: New Media & Food Activism
  • Leslie Hatfield & Naomi Starkman, "Digitally cultivating food justice"
  • Megan Ferhman, "The role of social networking and online tools in statewide organizing"
  • Moderator: Michelle Branch, University of California, Berkeley
1:15-2:45 pm
EMU, Ben Linder Room
Session G: Cultivating Oregon's Agriculture
  • Lynne Fessenden & Dan Armstrong, “Ten Rivers Foodweb and the Southern Willamette Valley Bean & Grain Project”
  • Anthony Boutard, "Reintegrating grain, legume & sugar production into the market farm"
  • Will Newman II, “Rebuilding agriculture from the ground up: Sustainable agriculture in theory & practice”
  • Moderator: Jennifer Burns Levin, University of Oregon
  • Respondent: Joe Softich, Catholic Community Services of Lane County
3:00-4:30 pm
EMU, Ben Linder Room
Session H: Urban Farms, Micro-Ranches & Greenhorns
  • Sarah Brown & Conner Voss, “Working to farm: Our path of enriching resistance”
  • Mary Wood, "Micro-livestock and the urban homestead:  Bringing meat and dairy to the neighborhood."
  • Severine von Tscharner Fleming, “Greenhorns”
  • Moderator: Galen Martin, University of Oregon
  • Respondent: Jennifer Burns Levin, University of Oregon
3:00-4:30 pm
EMU, Gumwood Room
Session I: Global Food Routes—Past & Present
  • Amy L. Tigner, “From cacao to chocolate: History, culture, & ethics”
  • Susan Stonich & Sara E. Alexander, “Maya, buccaneers & tourists: Challenges to food security & food sovereignty in Belize"
  • Daniel Buck, "Rising China: Restructuring Asian and Global Foodways"
  • Moderator: Claire Bowen, Dickinson College
3:00-4:30 pm
EMU, Fir Room
Session J: Eugene's Food & Agriculture Future
  • Bob Parker (UO Community Service Center), Mike McKenzie-Bahr or Sarah Mizejewski (Lane County), Ethan Nelson (City of Eugene), Nancy Toth (EWEB) “Scoping Eugene’s Food Security”
  • Kara Smith, FOOD for Lane County, "Addressing Food Access"
  • Moderator: Beth Naylor, Lane County Community College
  • Respondent: Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy
5:30-7:00 pm
(Doors open at 5 pm)

EMU, Ballroom

Closing Plenary: Vandana Shiva
(Click to watch video.)
  • Introduction: University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere
  • Dr. Vandana Shiva,"Food & seed sovereignty: Creating a people’s food system"
  • Respondent: Andy Fisher, Community Food Security Coalition

“This is an opportunity to think about where we want to go with agriculture in the future, and for many farmers, we don't have a lot of time left. The principles of sustainability must become actualized in a way that will really work for farms and farm families. There are no easy answers.”

– Plenary Speaker Frederick L. Kirschenmann, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture