23
Mar
Just Over a Month until Healthy Hives, Healthy Lives, Healthy Land Conference in Minneapolis!
(Beyond Pesticides, March 23, 2017) We’re just over a month away from Beyond Pesticides’ 35th National Pesticide Forum! Join us for Healthy Hives, Healthy Lives, Healthy Land: Ecological and Organic Strategies for Regeneration, at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 28-29, 2017. Click here to register now!
Register Today:
Get the Early Bird Discount (available until March 28)! As an Early Bird buyer, you can get a general rate for $40, a student rate for $20, or a business rate for $170. Scholarships are also available. All ticket price rates include organic meals: on Friday, organic beer, wine, and hors d’oeuvre; on Saturday, organic breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus organic beer and wine at the evening reception. For more details about registration, click here.
Forum Overview:
The national forum highlights nationally renowned scientists, including professor emeritus of plant pathology at Purdue University, Don Huber, Ph.D., whose agricultural research has focused on the epidemiology and control of soil borne plant pathogens with emphasis on microbial ecology, cultural and biological controls, and physiology of host-parasite relationships; Vera Krischik, Ph.D., a tenured faculty in the Entomology Department at the University of Minnesota whose lab does research on insect exposure to various insecticides, most recently imidacloprid and clothianidin; and many other researchers, legal experts, and land management practitioners.
The forum brings together speakers on the latest science on pesticides, from bee-toxic neonicotinoids to glyphosate, contrasted with practitioners utilizing organic management practices in agriculture and parks, and on athletic fields and rangeland. In sum, the forum seeks to help hone public understanding of the hazards of pesticides and the emerging science on adverse effects, while delving into local policy changes that are driving pesticide bans and incentivizing ecological and regenerative practices.
Program Highlights:
On Saturday morning, Macarthur Fellow, David R. Montgomery, Ph.D., will speak about his new book, Growing a Revolution, which “introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity’s ailing soil back to life remarkably fast. Combining ancient wisdom with modern science, Growing a Revolution lays out a solid case for an inspiring vision where agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems, helping feed us all, cool the planet, and restore life to the land.” Mr. Montgomery is an internationally recognized geologist who studies landscape evolution and the effects of geological processes on ecological systems and human societies. An author of award-winning popular-science books, he has been featured in documentary films, network and cable news, and on a wide variety of TV and radio programs.
Forum attendees have the opportunity to join us for a tour on Friday, April 28 from 11:30am to 4:30pm. Tentative tour options include an immersive beehive tour and an educational walkthrough of a student-run organic farm. Spots on the tour are limited, so register today to reserve your place.
We will be hosting workshops on the second day of the Forum that will touch on a variety of topics, including environmental health and pesticides, pollinator protection, protecting Midwest watersheds, organic management, seed sovereignty and organic seed availability, soil health, local organizing, and litigation successes to protect human health and the environment.
Workshop Speaker Highlights:
- William Arnold, PhD is a Distinguished McKnight Professor and the Joseph T. and Rose S. Ling Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on the fate of organic chemicals in natural and engineered aquatic systems. He has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yale University, and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University.
- Jack Kloppenburg, PhD is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research has involved study of the social impacts of biotechnology, the emergence of managed grazing networks in Wisconsin’s dairy industry, and the re-valuation of local and indigenous knowledge systems. In his work on the “foodshed,” he has envisioned the emergence of a sustainable food system founded on local/regional food production, regional reinvestment of capital, local job creation, the strength of community institutions, and direct democratic participation in the local food economy. An organizer as well as an academic, he is a founder of the REAP Food Group, a non-profit organization working for a just and sustainable food system.
- Michelle Hladik, PhD is a research chemist at USGS California Water Science Center in Sacramento. Her research focuses on the fate and transport of current-use pesticides and other organic contaminants in aquatic and terrestrial environments. She leads an analytical laboratory that develops new methods to measure pesticides and their degradates in water, sediment, and biota. She has a B.A. in chemistry from Vassar College and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
- Laurie Schneider is the Co-Executive Director, Pollinator Friendly Alliance, based in the St. Croix River Valley, Minnesota. The Alliance protect pollinators through public education programs, awareness events, community engagement, habitat restoration and reducing pesticides. She is a devout environmentalist and bringer together of people. She’s been a volunteer for conservation and animal rescue efforts since she can remember, and most recently, founder of the Pollinator Friendly Alliance.
Stay Tuned:
Check back as we add information about speakers and sessions for the upcoming forum.
If you would like more information about the forum, please email info@beyondpesticides, or call 202-543-5450.
Organizers:
The 35th National Pesticide Forum is convened by Beyond Pesticides, UMN Institute on the Environment and Organic Consumers Association. Co-sponsors include Pollinator Friendly Alliance, Giving Tree Gardens, Humming for Bees, Kids for Saving Earth, Blue Fruit Farm, Students for Sustainability, Birchwood Cafe, Seward Community Co-op, The Beez Kneez, Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services (MOSES), Beyond Pesticides Minnesota, Clean Up the River Environment (CURE), Minnesota Food Association, White Earth Land Recovery Project, Midwest Pesticide Action Center, Pollinate Minnesota, and Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA).
