Producer Rights & Fair Trade Featured at
Local Foods Forum & Expo March 7 in Winona

CONTACT: Linda Grover, 507-457-6483; lgrover@co.winona.mn.us

2/18/08
WINONA, Minn.— Producer rights and such seasonal delights as apple cobbler with raspberry sauce join forces March 7 for the annual Local Foods Forum and Expo at Signatures Restaurant in Winona. Tickets for the event, billed as “Luscious and Local! How and Why,” are $18 for the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. full-day session, or $15 for the morning only or afternoon only. Students can attend for $12.50. A limited number of scholarships for students and producers are available, thanks to a contribution by the University of Minnesota’s Experiment in Rural Cooperation (ERC). All tickets include lunch. Exhibitors are invited to apply for limited space: the $30 fee includes one registration. For information and to register or reserve exhibit space, contact Linda Grover at 507-457-6483 or lgrover@co.winona.mn.us.

The 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. morning program will be dedicated to grocery shoppers and cooks. Speakers include Erik Esse of the Local Fair Trade Network and Liz Haywood, general manager of Winona’s Bluff Country Co-op, who will explain what Fair Trade principles are.

Chef Monique Hooker will offer a sneak peek into the noon meal, with a cooking demonstration of just how scrumptious a seasonally-appropriate, locally-sourced meal can be, even on a Minnesota winter’s day. Hooker is the resident chef for Organic Valley Farms, which is a major sponsor of the day. The full meal will be presented by Signatures chef Doug Dahlgren.

During the afternoon, feedlot inspections, pasteurization and disaster response highlight an address on producer rights by Jennifer Jambor of the Farmers’ Legal Action Group. She will be followed by short presentations on “What next after harvest/butcher day?,” including transportation, Community Supported Agriculture share shipping, Fair Trade on the farm and restaurant needs.

This is the third year that the Local Foods Sub-committee of the Winona County Economic Development Authority (EDA) has offered the Local Foods Forum and Expo. The sub-committee’s mission is to facilitate an increase in the production and consumption of foods grown in the Winona Region. In addition to the ERC and Organic Valley Farms, financial and organizational support is being provided by the University of Minnesota’s Organic Agroecology Program and the Land Stewardship Project, in cooperation with the EDA.

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