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Newly Added GrowRIVERSIDE Keynotes to Address Climate Smart Urban Agriculture and Regional Food Systems
April 1, 2015 | seedstockGrowRIVERSIDE today announced that A.G. Kawamura, former Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (2003-2010) and Leah Di Bernardo, slow food visionary and award-winning Chef and founder of E.A.T Marketplace, a Cultivating Good partnership, have been added as keynotes to the upcoming “2nd Annual GrowRIVERSIDE: Future of Local Food” Conference. At the conference, which will take place on June 11 – 12 at The Riverside Convention Center (with Community Day on June 13), A.G. will give an address on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) for Urban Farms, while Leah will discuss the importance of linking city and county local food efforts toward the end of strengthening community, economic and environment and creating a robust regional food system. Read More
Second GrowRIVERSIDE “Dinner in the Grove” set for Saturday, May 16; to Deliver Farm-to-School Twist
March 30, 2015 | seedstock
The Nutrition Services team at Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) works tirelessly on a daily basis to provide healthy farm-to-school options to the approximately 43,000 students spread across 31 schools located in the district. But, on Saturday, May 16, under the stars and amidst the groves and fruit trees at Fox Farm / Hapeman Ranch in the City of Riverside, RUSD’s culinary brain trust will focus their attention on just 60 diners lucky enough to claim tickets for the 2nd GrowRIVERSIDE “Dinner in the Grove”.
Bringing the same enthusiasm that they usually reserve for farm-to-school lunches, RUSD’s Nutrition Services team will prepare a farm-to-table meal utilizing locally sourced food from growers across the county as well as from the farm of host and sponsor, Fox Farm / Hapeman Ranch. Sponsor, Torch Coffee, a Riverside roaster will offer coffee sourced from farmers who are sustainable financially, environmentally, and socially.
Fox Farm / Hapeman Ranch, situated in the City of Riverside, is a unique 2.5-acres farm with a stocked fish pond, corrals, chicken coop and a 65 tree orchard.
The dinner will support the upcoming 2nd Annual GrowRIVERSIDE Conference, celebrate Riverside’s citrus heritage and local produce and the efforts of RUSD Nutrition Services to serve health farm fresh meals to the children of Riverside.
Rodney Taylor and members of the RUSD Nutrition Services team will speak on the importance of local food and farmers to RUSD while Scott Berndt of Fox Farm and Lana Hapeman of Hapeman Ranch will discuss urban farming as well as the importance of preserving farmland in the City of Riverside.
Reserve your seats now for the 2nd GrowRIVERSIDE “Dinner in the Grove”!
UC Riverside Spring Science Lecture Series to Focus on Food Security and Nutrition
March 25, 2015 | seedstockUC Riverside’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in partnership with the UC Global
Food Initiative and California Agriculture and Food Enterprise (CAFÉ) present the Spring 2015 Science Lecture Series:
Location:
UC Riverside Extension Center
Conference Rooms D&E
1200 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92507
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
All lectures are free and open to the public (no charge for parking). For more information, visit http://cnas.ucr.edu/sciencelectures/.
April 9 – Feeding Botswana: From Field to Lab to Vaccine
Larry Grill (’79 Ph.D. Plant Pathology), Dean of Research, and Director, Vaccine Research Center, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA Read More
97 Percent of All U.S. Farms are Family-Owned, USDA Reports
March 20, 2015 | seedstock
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reports that family-owned farms remain the backbone of the agriculture industry. The latest data come from the Census of Agriculture farm typology report and help shine light on the question, “What is a family farm?”
“As we wrap up mining the 6 million data points from the latest Census of Agriculture, we used typology to further explore the demographics of who is farming and ranching today,” said NASS Statistics Division Director Hubert Hamer. “What we found is that family-owned businesses, while very diverse, are at the core of the U.S. agriculture industry. In fact, 97 percent of all U.S. farms are family-owned.” Read More
City of Riverside Displays Local Food Chops at Inaugural GrowRIVERSIDE “Dinner in the Grove”
March 16, 2015 | seedstockThe City of Riverside’s local food bounty was on full display at the inaugural GrowRIVERSIDE “Dinner in the Grove”, which took place on Saturday, March 14. The over 70 people in attendance at the dinner from the Mayor of the City of Riverside to local businessmen, school teachers and administrators, growers and more were treated to a dinner created by The Salted Pig along with a desert featuring swiss chard and other locally sourced ingredients from à la minute, an ice cream parlor that used liquid nitrogen to freeze very small batches of ice cream right before attendees’ eyes. Additional sponsors of the dinner included beer sponsor Packinghouse Brewing Co., coffee sponsor Torch Coffee, wine sponsor Ponte Winery and Fairlawn Farm.
Almost all of the food was sourced from within 40 miles of the City of Riverside and the bulk of the ingredients from wild nettle and pea shoots to lemons, oranges, fennel and chard were sourced directly from Fairlawn Farm, the farm at which the dinner took place.
The menu was as follows:
– Roasted New Potatoes
– Braised Nettle (sourced directly from Fairlawn Farm)
– Gonestraw Farms Chicken
– Cook’s Ranch Pork Shoulder
– Sauteed Pea Greens (sourced directly from Fairlawn Farm)
– Shaved Fennel (sourced directly from Fairlawn Farm)
– Strawberry Swiss Chard Sorbet (Swiss Chard sourced directly from
Fairlawn Farm)
GrowRIVERSIDE Announces Community Food Systems Expert, Mark Winne, as Opening Day Keynote
March 12, 2015 | seedstock
Community Food Systems Expert and Former Executive Director of the Hartford Food System, Mark Winne.
GrowRIVERSIDE organizers, Seedstock and the City of Riverside, are pleased to announced that Mark Winne, former executive director of the Hartford Food System and co-founder of the Connecticut Food Policy Council and Community Food Security Coalition among others, will deliver the opening keynote address at the GrowRIVERSIDE Conference on June 11.
From 1979 to 2003, Mark Winne was the Executive Director of the Hartford Food System, a private non-profit agency that works on food and hunger issues in the Hartford, Connecticut area. During his tenure with HFS, Mark organized community self-help food projects that assisted the city’s lower income and elderly residents. Mark’s work with the Food System included the development of commercial food businesses, Connecticut’s Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, farmers’ markets, a 25-acre community supported agriculture farm, a food bank, food and nutrition education programs, and a neighborhood supermarket. Read More
“GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gathering” to Explore Upcoming Conference and Local Food Entrepreneurs
March 1, 2015 | seedstock
Interested in learning more about the upcoming GrowRIVERSIDE and networking with local food entrepreneurs, growers and community advocates? Then you won’t want to miss the first in a series of “GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gatherings” on Thursday, March 26 at The Boathouse at Fairmont Park from 5:30pm – 8:30pm come where you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the upcoming 2nd Annual GrowRIVERSIDE Conference (June 11 – 13) and how you can participate in and help to develop a vibrant local food system in the City of Riverside.
“GrowRIVERSIDE Community Gatherings” will function as nexuses for networking, community building and solution development around the core local food system issues in the City from growing new food businesses and farmers to resident concerns and food access. Read More
Experts in Local Food System Development, Urban Agriculture to Highlight “GrowRIVERSIDE” Conference in June
February 26, 2015 | seedstock
RIVERSIDE, Calif., Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — A stellar roster of sustainable urban agriculture experts is slated to impart insight and ingenuity at the 2nd Annual GrowRIVERSIDE Conference: The Future of Local Food.
Presented by Seedstock in partnership with the City of Riverside, the event, scheduled for June 11-13, fosters the growth of a sustainable local food and agriculture system that benefits communities, environments and economies in Riverside and in cities supporting these endeavors.
“This year, GrowRIVERSIDE will dive deeply into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to develop and strengthen a city’s urban agriculture and local food infrastructure,” said Robert Puro, Seedstock co-founder and GrowRIVERSIDE conference organizer. “Experts in farming small plots, new business creation, local food marketplace development and community food access will come together to offer solutions on how Riverside can become a model for other cities to follow.” Read More
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