Urban Foods Systems Symposium sessions will be online Wednesdays in October

Community engagement, food production, distribution and security among highlights

OLATHE, Kan. – An educational opportunity focused on growing food for and in urban areas will be held Wednesdays in October this year.Urban Food Systems Symposium

The 2020 Urban Food Systems Symposium will be online, with sessions planned from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT every Wednesday in October. The event typically draws community leaders, urban planners and growers, not-for-profit administrators and educators, researchers, students and anyone interested in urban food systems and the role they play in global food security.

This year’s symposium is hosted by Kansas State University and K-State Research and Extension.

Each Wednesday in October, different keynote speakers will give presentations, all accompanied by breakout discussions and poster sessions.

The early bird general registration is $100; $50 for students, to be paid by Sept. 18. After that date the fee is $125 and $75. Registered attendees will have access to the presentations starting in September, to all live and breakout sessions as they occur live, and to recordings of all presentations through April 2021.

Keynote dates, speakers and topics include:

  • Oct. 7 – Jess Halliday, associate of RUAF Global Partnership on Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Food Systems – Building Climate-Resilient Urban and Regional Food Systems.
  • Oct. 14 – Chuck Rice, Kansas State University Distinguished Professor of Soil Microbiology – Urban Agriculture, Climate Change and Food Security: Potential Solutions and Synergies.
  • Oct. 21 – Elizabeth Mitcham, director of the Horticulture Innovation Lab, University of California-Davis – The Role of Urban Farming in Nutrition Security.
  • Oct. 21 – Karen Washington, farmer and activist with Rise & Root Farm and Black Urban Growers – Food Justice is More than Growing Food and Feeding People.
  • Oct. 28 – Jill Clark, associate professor, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University and Jennifer King, assistant director of training and community education, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University – Fixes That Fail: Using Community-Based Systems Modeling to Diagnose Injustice in the Food System.
  • Oct. 28 – Mark Winne, food policy expert, former executive of the Hartford Food System – The Hydra-Headed Food System: Imagining the Whole and Connecting the Dots.

Online registration and more information about featured speakers and breakout topics are available on the Urban Food Systems Symposium website. Additional questions may be directed to the organizing committee at ufss@ksu.edu.