Urban Agriculture Summit set for October in Richmond

Registration is open for Virginia’s third Urban Agriculture Summit, which will be held Oct. 22 and 23 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Richmond.

Summit speakers will address the current state and the future of urban agriculture in the United States.

Speakers include Ben Greene from The Farmery in Raleigh, N.C.; Ben Flanner of Brooklyn Grange Farm in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Margaret Morgan, CEO of Eco City Farms in Riverdale, Md.

Participants may take two separate guided tours. On the morning of Oct. 22, a group will visit the Harding Street Community Agriculture Center in Petersburg. Following presentations at the conference in the afternoon, a group will visit Richmond’s Tricycle Gardens and Jerusalem Connection.

Registration is $75, and participants can register online or print a form to mail atevents.SignUp4.com/UrbanAgSummit2015. An agenda and hotel information also are available on the website, along with information on sponsorship and vendor opportunities.

Organizers of the summit are the Virginia Department of Health; the Federation of Virginia Food Banks; Shalom Farms; the Society of St. Andrew; Virginia State University; Virginia Tech; Virginia Cooperative Extension; the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation; the Virginia Food System Council; the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture Innovation & Rural Sustainability; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development agency.