Professional Networking Sessions

GREEN TEAM SYMPOSIUM
Friday, April 11, 2008
8:00AM - 1:00PM
Join us for a Green Team Symposium (GTS) in conjunction with the Illinois Sustainable Living & Wellness Expo at Illinois Wesleyan University. The GTS is a follow-up to the "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in Your Organization" conference held in April 2007.

At the GTS on April 11th, we will address common issues that all green teams are facing regardless of their structure. This GTS will enable organizations to network and share what they have learned through their own sustainability initiatives.

Topics include:

-Environmental Policy and Action Plans

-Energy and Resource Management

-Purchasing Sustainable Products and Services

-Operations and Procedures

-Assessments and Reporting

-Awareness and Education

If you are interested in speaking about any of these topics or sharing your organization's experiences, both the difficulties and successes, please contact Julie Elzanati by February 8th at julie.elzanati@heartland.edu or 309-268-8166.

More details about the GTS will be available in February.

BUILDING AN ILLINOIS-BASED FOOD SYSTEM -- What's In It For You?
Friday, April 11, 2008

Shirk South Classroom
Registration: 7:30 a.m.
Session: 8:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m.

APPLICATION FORM

If Illinois residents spent just 5% more of their food budget on locally grown products, we could boost the state economy by $2.3 billion annually.

It may surprise you to learn that while 76.8% of Illinois' land area is farmland, 90% of our food is imported fromoutside the state. Based on 2006 USDA statistics, thatmeans we are sending approximately $47 billion out of the state annually to pay for our food when we could be growingmuch of it ourselvesand
keepingmore of our dollars working for us here at home.

What's more, local and organic food is the hottest trend in the food industry. The National Restaurant Association's latest industry forecast ranked "locally grown produce" at #2, right before organic produce, on its list of top 20 hot food items. An Iowa Sate University study showed 75% of consumers would
choose products labeled "grown locally by family farmers" as their first choice for produce ormeat products.

In 2007, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Illinois Food, Farms, and Jobs Act, authorizing the Governor to appoint a task force to study andmake recommendations for building an Illinois-based food system.

This Act represents a tremendous opportunity for our local economy. The goals of this working session are to:

• Identify actions we can take locally to putmore of our food dollars back to work in the Central Illinois economy.
  
• Provide input to the Governor's task force so we can ensure Central Illinois interests are fairly represented.

PANELISTS:

Carrie Edgar, University of Illinois County Extension Director for the Adams/Brown Unit in Quincy: Ms. Edgar will share her experiences starting up and managing Quincy's innovative Locally Grown program. She will explain the economic and environmental impact of buying locally grown foods and provide insight into how we can build a similar program in our community.

Terra Brockman, Founder of The Land Connection: Ms. Brockman will address local food systems from the producer's perspective- including the benefits and challenges related to farmland preservation, organic transitioning, farmer training, local food infrastructure, and market linking.

Ann Dougherty, Founder, Learn Great Foods: Ms. Dougherty will share her business expertise related to agri-tourism and marketing local foods, including the benefits and challenges of a local food system from the perspective of consumers, retailers, and restaurants.

If you are interested in taking an active role in the local food movement in Central Illinois, please consider attending our panel discussion, “Building an Illinois-Based Food System: What’s in It for You?” This will give you the opportunity to work with a panel of local food experts and business leaders from across the food system value chain to determine next steps for building a stronger local food system here in Central Illinois.

We are looking for consumers who are passionate about local food and are willing to take an active role in making this happen. If you are interested in joining our local food team, please complete the APPLICATION FORM by March 28. Unfortunately, we have limited space for the panel discussion and will have to be selective in choosing participants for this session. We will, however, be looking for a larger group to participate in the effort which grows out of this meeting.

We contact you by April 4 to let you know whether we were able to make space for everyone who expressed an interest in attending. THANK YOU for your support of local food in Central Illinois!

For more information contact Elaine Sebald at bloomington_farmersmarket@yahoo.com.

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