Food,  Farms and the Future in the Monadnock Region

How do we assure the long-term sustainability of local food and farming in the Monadnock region? Where are we and where are we going?

Local food and farming matter to the Monadnock region. But how do we assure their long-term sustainability here? Where are we, and where are we going? What are the barriers to buying and selling local food, and how might they be overcome?

These question will be the topic of discussion at this Community Conversation.

Ruth Holmes is one of the principal farmers at Sunnyfield Farm since 2004, a nonprofit community farm in Peterborough. She is a former teacher who previously managed farm programs at The Meeting School in Rindge where she helped reestablish a livestock program with dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, and also expanded the vegetable production, and taught agricultural history and farm science. She is the past master of the Peterborough Grange No. 35.

Karen Fitzgerald of Francestown is a landscape architect and chair of the Cornucopia Project Board of Trustees. She is a professional consultant in community planning, focusing on sustainable planning and design practices. She is also involved with agricultural planning and land conservation.

Amanda Littleton is the District Manager of the Cheshire County Conservation District. She currently sits on the Hannah Grimes Center, Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition, and Monadnock Sustainability Network Boards.  She also chairs the Localvore Project in the Monadnock region.  Amanda has great interest in supporting the region’s working landscape for the value that it contributes to the local economy, the good stewardship it provides for our natural resources, and the benefits it brings to our rural communities.

Dan Kittredge is the Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association and Real Food Campaign, Dan is the son of prominent leaders in the organic movement, and has been an organic farmer since childhood. His experience managing organic farms and developing sustainable agriculture techniques has connected him to farmers in Central America, Russia, India and the United States.

Following a short presentation from each panelist there will be moderated conversation, and widespread participation is encouraged.