April 30 Lecture: "Rebuilding the Foodshed"

Lecture: "Rebuildingthe Foodshed: Remapping Expectations for the Food We Share"

Location: Luther College, Valders Hall of Science 206

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 30 @ 7pm (book signing tofollow)

It's not enough to say "local food" and declare victory. We need toinvest in thoughtful planning, not just local foods--and we have to beginthinking about local food systems as citizens, not just consumers. We must alsobring more diverse representation to the table and stretch our thinking fromlocal realities to regional possibilities.

Rebuilding the foodshed brings democracy back to the table through a focus oncommunity-based food systems, food systems that are just and resilient. Modelsabound for re-envisioning how local food systems can transform how we eat,shop, grow, connect, and plan for the future. Farmer, professor, and authorPhilip Ackerman-Leist explores local scale from a national perspective andproposes strategies for creating more democratic and secure food systems.

Philip Ackerman-Leist, author of Rebuilding the Foodshed and Up Tunket Road, isa professor at Green Mountain College, where he established the college's farm andsustainable agriculture curriculum and is director of the Green MountainCollege Farm & Food Project. He also founded and directs the college'sMasters in Sustainable Food Systems (MSFS), the nation's first online graduateprogram in food systems, featuring applied comparative research of students'home bioregions. He and his wife, Erin, farmed in the South Tirol region of theAlps and North Carolina before beginning their sixteen-year homesteading andfarming venture in Pawlet, Vermont. With more than two decades of "fieldexperience" working on farms, in the classroom, and with regional food systemscollaborators, Philip's work is focused on examining and reshaping local andregional food systems from the ground up.