Sustainable Agriculture Conference Experience

SDI Gardening Intern Lloyd Friesen and SDI Multimedia Specialist Patrick Waukau attended a Green Bay Sustainable Agriculture Conference August 6-8. This is what Lloyd had to say about the experience:

"The Oneida Nation of Green Bay, WI hosted a conference for sustainable agriculture to many tribes that were present. To name some were the Osage from Oklahoma, Cheyenne from Montana, Ojibiwe from Minnesota, Kul Wicasa from Nebraska and Lakota Sioux from South Dakota. There were also some department heads like Susan Ratcliff from IPM, which is a branch of the EPA. We started with introductions followed by the breakdown of the conference by Jeff Metoxen, Director of the Oneida farm and livestock department. One by one we explained what we were expecting to learn from this conference and as one of the young ladies from Minnesota exclaimed that she did not wish to be "power-pointed to death". That was a really good ice breaker and many of the people agreed. 

The conference was mainly hands-on and the people liked it. We discussed how to start green houses and hoop houses. We also talked about what was the best time of year to start plants and how long can we grow crops. I was asked this question as it was directed towards what we were doing at the college and I explained to the group that I believed we were going to have a season longer than the trusty old farmer’s almanac was implying. I explained how the seasons are changing and that the old way will have to adapt to the new way the world is today with global warming and climate change. Seed harvest was also another popular topic that many had questions and some of the group members had answers that very easy to implement. This was a very good conference and I hope to be at next year’s event."