ERS Conference Center

USDA Organic Farming Systems Research Conference

Conference Homepage | Agenda | Registration Is Closed | Lodging | Contact Us

Three-day event:

Wednesday, March 16, Thursday, March 17, and Friday, March 18, 2011
George Washington University, Jack Morton Auditorium
805 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20052 (Directions)

USDA sponsored a conference on March 16-18, 2011 in Washington DC to examine findings from research on organic farming systems, including many longstanding projects. The audience included researchers, policymakers, farmers, ranchers and others who are interested in exploring the implications of organic farming systems research.

Conference objectives:

To examine findings from U.S. research on organic farming systems, including two key types of research—long-term farming experiments and nationwide economic producer surveys.

To explore the implications of these findings for U.S. agricultural productivity, economic viability, environmental stewardship, and quality of life goals.

To facilitate dialogue among the various disciplines, farm groups and other stakeholders involved in organic farming systems research, and to generate recommendations for improving the way this research is conducted.

To create new ideas for future research in organic farming systems.

An agenda of the conference is available for reference; webinars of the sessions will also be made available on extension.org.

PLANNING COMMITTEE

USDA Staff

Catherine Greene—Conference Coordinator
Senior Economist
Economic Research Service, USDA
cgreene@ers.usda.gov

Jill Auburn
Senior Advisor for Sustainability
Office of the Chief Scientist and
REE Under Secretary, USDA
Jill.Auburn@osec.usda.gov

Mark Lipson
Organic & Sustainable Agriculture Policy Advisor
Office of the Secretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs, USDA
Mark.Lipson@osec.usda.gov

Megan O'Reilly
Program Specialist
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA
moreilly@nifa.usda.gov

Craig Osteen
Senior Economist
Economic Research Service, USDA
costeen@ers.usda.gov

Colleen Rossier
Program Assistant
Office of the Chief Scientist, USDA
Colleen.Rossier@osec.usda.gov

Mary Peet
National Program Leader, Organic Agriculture/Horticulture
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA
mpeet@nifa.usda.gov

Matt C. Smith
National Program Leader, Soil Management
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
matt.smith@ars.usda.gov

Utpal Vasavada
Chief, Production Economics & Technology Branch
Economic Research Service, USDA
VASAVADA@ers.usda.gov

USDA Conference Partner

Neilson C. Conklin
President
Farm Foundation
Neil@farmfoundation.org

USDA Stakeholder Participants

Laura Batcha
Chief of Policy & External Relations
Organic Trade Association
lbatcha@ota.com

Tom Hutcheson
Regulatory Analyst
Organic Trade Association
THutcheson@ota.com

Angela Jagiello
Associate Director, Conference & Product Development
Organic Trade Association
ajagiello@ota.com

Ariane Lotti
Senior Policy Analyst
Organic Farming Research Foundation
ariane@ofrf.org

Jane Sooby
Grants Program Director
Organic Farming Research Foundation
jane@ofrf.org

For more information, contact: Catherine Greene

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Updated date: March 22, 2011