Reconnecting Hands, Mouth & Mind through Food Systems Education

Posted by on March 05, 2012

Reconnecting Hands, Mouth & Mind through Food Systems Education

Conference April 20-22, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine

Many colleges and universities now have their own farms, where students can learn about food production.  But learning about the rest of the food system—food packaging, processing, distribution, sales, consumption and waste and the policies and institutions that govern these—is still fragmented and not integrated with surrounding farms or the community where higher education occurs.  Reconnecting Hands, Mouth & Mind is about food systems education:  WHAT people need to learn to engage in transforming food systems, and HOW these subjects can best be learned.  It will culminate a four-year partnership among College of the Atlantic, Elm Farm Organic Research Centre in England, and the Faculty of Organic Sciences at the University of Kassel in Germany.

College of the Atlantic is a unique liberal arts college that emphasizes interdisciplinary, self-directed learning about human ecology.  It is located on Mount Desert Island in Downeast Maine, on the grounds of a former monastery between Acadia National Park and Frenchman’s Bay. The conference will be based at College of the Atlantic and include field trips to Beech Hill Farm, our organic farm that supplies a significant proportion of food to college dining services, our new Peggy Rockefeller Farms, other local farms and fishery operations, and Acadia National Park.

Come join us in April on Mount Desert Island to learn about food systems education from some of the people who are forging paths in new distribution methods, policy that favors small organic farms, getting more sustainable food to campuses, cultural connections with foodways, and advocacy for food justice and sovereignty.

Keynote speakers:

·         Eric Holt-Giménez, Executive Director, Food First/Institute for Food & Development Policy
·         Gary Paul Nabhan, author and Research Scientist, Southwest Center, University of Arizona

Workshops on Intersections between Farming & Fishing Policy, How Can Colleges Help Move State & Regional Food Plans, Examining & Improving College Food Systems, Students Organizing for Social Justice in the Food System and more!

For more information, contact Matthew Doyle Olson, Sustainable Food Systems Coordinator (mdoyleolson@coa.edu or 207.801.5688).