Friday, January 30, 2015

Healthy Farms Conference Breakout Sessions II

Biofuels: Clean, Renewable, and Local. Scott Williams

An overview of the cooperative organization, oil collection and processing, fuel partnership programs, & the science surrounding biofuels will be presented. Biofuels offer a clean, renewable, & locally produced way to improve sustainability & decrease carbon dioxide pollution, while ending the dependence on foreign fossil fuels. 


About: Scott Williams, Ph.D., is the Managing Director of the Omaha Biofuels Cooperative.  Scott has had an appointment as a Graduate Researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Helmholtz Center Berlin, and then at Johns Hopkins University studying advanced biofuels made from algae.  He currently also works part-time as an Academic Advisor at NorthStar Foundation's after school program.  infoOmahaBiofuelsCoop.org, www.omahabiofuelscoop.org,


Urban Community Garden Initiatives: City of Omaha, Adams Park & NOIHC

The Adams Park Community Garden Program is a garden program developed on public land.  The program teaches community residents how to grow, cook, and preserve seasonally healthy nutrient food.  This session will share information about the program and what they plan for 2015. The Prospect Village Community Garden Program is a City of Omaha – Planning Department initiative that has put into production eight underutilized lots owned by the city.  This session will share information about project development and next steps.

About: Orentheian Everett, Recreational Supervisor, Adams Park Community Center for City of Omaha.  He is also a member of the Nebraska Recreation & Parks Association. Previously, he served as the Teen Program Director for Omaha Metro YMCA in Valley.

About: Bill Lukash works for the City of Omaha Planning Department as a City Planner.  His responsibilities include NEPA compliance, healthy housing, and the Omaha Lead Registry.


A discussion between a chef and a farmer. Rebecca Bloom & Clayton Chapman

Experiences of a farmer/chef relationship growing specialty produce for upscale restaurants

About:  For the past 14 years Rebecca Bloom has been owner of Bloomsorganic, a small diversified farm outside Crescent, Iowa.   She starts the season by providing plants for the public & the farms needs--growing herbs, veggies & flower starts inside a large greenhouse.  These plant starts & all the food grown are certified organic.  In the high tunnel & two acres of crop land, a wide variety of food crops are grown throughout the season.  She & her employees sell to restaurants, grocery stores & plants at the Benson Farmer's market & other local retailers.


How to Educate Farmers to Advocate. Kevin Fulton & Joe Maxwell

About:  Kevin Fulton (Fulton Farms is a full-time farmer with a 2,800-acre organic grass-fed beef operation near Litchfield in Sherman County. He has been passionately promoting sustainable agriculture for the last eight years after converting his land base from a conventional crop farm to an organic grass-based operation. Kevin also serves on the board of Director of NSAS.


About:  Joe Maxwell grew up on a family farm in the small town of Rush Hill, Missouri, the son of a hard-working family farmer. Today, as Vice President of Outreach & Engagement for The HSUS, Maxwell works directly with family farmers, helping them organize into producer groups to open direct markets for their own products. Maxwell is a former president of the Association of Family Farmers, an organization associated with the Agriculture of the Middle Project, and is a member of the Organization for Competitive Markets and the Missouri Farmers Union.


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