Food, Fuel & The Future of Farming

“Food, Fuel, & the Future of Farming” Conference At Vermont Law School July 24–25

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT – Against the backdrop of soaring food and gas prices, Vermont Law School will host “Food, Fuel, & the Future of Farming,” a two-day conference on sustainable agriculture to be held July 24–25, 2008 in the law school’s Chase Community Center.
The keynote speaker for the conference will be Anna Lappé, national best-selling author who with her mother, Frances Moore Lappé, leads the Small Planet Institute based in Cambridge, Mass. She will deliver her address on July 24 at 5 p.m., following a reception that will feature local and organically grown food.

The first day of the conference will explore problems related to the industrial agriculture approach and offer ideas for a better model. It will also examine how farm policy relates to industrial crop culture, and the impacts of agricultural policy on the environment and global hunger. Day two will analyze biofuels and the relationship between agriculture and climate change. The conference will close with a look at the successes and challenges of creating a model of sustainable agriculture, based on Vermont experiences.

Marc Mihaly, director of the Environmental Law Center at VLS, said the conference will offer promising alternatives to the failed policies and approaches of an industrial-based agricultural system. “We need a more sustainable economic model for modern agriculture, one that will revive the American farming sector, protect the environment and the rural landscape, and provide quality food at acceptable prices,” said Mihaly. “This conference will bring together the experts—the farmers—who will help us move us closer to that goal.”

The conference is free and open to the public, although registration is required. Vermont Bar Association CLE credit is available for this event at $125 per day. For more information on the schedule, participants, and registration, visit the conference website.