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ThinkFOOD Conference

Saturday, November 16

Food is Health

Location: Fisher Science Center at Simon’s Rock.

Thank you to all who attended! Find the recordings of each session below.

The Center for Food Studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock presents our 11th annual ThinkFOOD conference on Saturday, November 16. ThinkFOOD will give you new perspectives on food as part of a healthy community and world. We’ll offer interactive sessions with practical takeaways and new ideas from experts in the Berkshires and beyond.

Marion Nestle, award-winning author and professor emerita of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, will give the keynote address.

The conference is free for all students. Tickets are $25 for access to all sessions, $15 for half day, or $10 for keynote only; lunch tickets are $12. Discount tickets available; please email for details.

email thinkfood@simons-rock.edu

View recordings below

thinkfood

thinkfood panel

Panel discussion on “Farmers Making It Work” at ThinkFOOD 2023

Soul Fire Farm and Greenagers panelists

Speakers from Soul Fire Farm and Greenagers at lunch at the 2018 Conference

 

Program and Schedule

Speaker Bios and Panel Descriptions here

Saturday, November 16

Registration: 9:00 am – 2:00 pm

Registration desk open at the Fisher Science Center

Panel 1: 9:30 – 10:45 am

Healthy Production

  • Jamie Nadler (co-founder and farmer) and Madison Warren (co-founder and chef), Dancing Greens Farm in Monterey, MA
  • Dan Carr from Beavertides Farm (Falls Village, CT)
  • Rose Arruda, Urban Agriculture Program Director at Massachusetts Dept. of Agricultural Resources

Clark Auditorium [in-person/Zoom]

View recording

Panel 2: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Healthy Communities

Clark Auditorium [In-person/Zoom] 
 

Lunch: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

Conference Lunch provided by Simon’s Rock Dining Services

Panel 3: 1:00 – 2:15 pm

Healthy Bodies

  • Deb Phillips, nutritionist, Director of the Southern Berkshire Rural Health Network (Great Barrington)
  • Joshua Faller, Program Director at Just Roots (Greenfield)
  • Steve Browning, chef/entrepreneur (Great Barrington)

Clark Auditorium [in-person/Zoom]

View recording

Tom Seeley at ThinkFOOD 2019

Keynote Speaker Tom Seeley of Cornell University at ThinkFOOD 2019

Zoom Session at ThinkFOOD 2020

Panelists at ThinkFOOD 2020’s Virtual Conference

ThinkFOOD 2022

Session on fair land access at ThinkFOOD 2022

Keynote Address: 2:30 – 3:30 pm

Marion Nestle, award-winning author and professor emerita of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. 

Food Politics 2024: From Agriculture to Public Health

(Dr. Nestle will join us via Zoom.)

Clark Auditorium [In-person/Zoom]

View recording

 

 

Thanks to all who attended!

For more information, contact Maryann Tebben, Faculty and Director of the Center for Food Studies and the Center for Food and Resilience, at mtebben@simons-rock.edu.

Healthy food impacts everyone. Our region is full of examples of how to make healthy eating a part of life for more people and how these efforts can create healthier communities.

— Professor Maryann Tebben,
Center for Food and Resilience at Simon’s Rock

Conference Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors!

Funding provided by:

Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, Berkshire Grown

Berkshire Agricultural Ventures
Berkshire Grown
 
 
 

Promotional partners:

Guido’s Fresh Marketplace

Guidos
 
 
 
 

 

From the 2023 conference:

Making Local Farming Work, November 2023

Session 1: Land Access for Farmers

Jamie Pottern, American Farmland Trust; Kali Lucey, Land For Good; Lily Massee, Community Land Trust; Mackenzie Greer, Berkshire Natural Resources Council

View Recording

Session 2A: State and Federal Initiatives for Local Farmers

Tricia Wancko, Massachusetts Agriculture Innovation Center (MAIC) at the Franklin County CDC; Faith Shaeffer, National Young Farmer's Coalition; Kelly Coleman, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture

Session 2B: Local Meat Processing

Katie Adkins, Plymouth Meats, Terryville, CT; Jake Levin, Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, Great Barrington, MA; Dan Carr, Berkshire Agricultural Ventures

View Recording

Session 3: Farmers Making it Work

Elizabeth Keen, Indian Line Farm in Egremont, MA; Jen Salinetti, Woven Roots Farm in Tyringham, MA; Sarah Chase, Chaseholm Dairy Farm in Pine Plains, NY; Sunder Ashni, Mumbet's Freedom Farm in Sheffield, MA; Maeve Wilber, Greenagers/April Hill in S. Egremont, MA

View Recording

Keynote Address: Massachusetts Agriculture: Building a Resilient Future

Ashley Randle, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources View Recording

Additional Resources

ThinkFOOD 2019 Devan Arnold

Devan Arnold from Sassafras Landcare helps attendees design a pollinator garden outside the Fisher Science Center at ThinkFOOD 2019

ThinkFOOD 2019 student

Student participant at ThinkFOOD 2019 workshop