The Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, or TOFGA, will hold a conference from Jan. 29-31 at the Hilton San Antonio Airport.
The hotel is located at 611 N.W. Loop 410 in San Antonio.
According to conference materials, “a wide range of Texans and neighbors of many ages, backgrounds and experiences will gather at the city once called ‘the crossroads of the nation’ to exchange ideas and knowledge in order to reclaim our Texas food system and garden and farm communities.”
“AgriLife Extension will provide a number of speakers and subject matter experts for some of the track programs at the conference,” Rodriguez said. “Our participation will be mostly in the gardening and research tracks.”
He said gardening track program topics to be presented by Texas A&M AgriLife will include bee basics, good and bad bugs in the vegetable garden, backyard citrus, compost tea, organic and Earth Kind fruit-growing, soil testing, water conservation and plant nutrition, and rainwater harvesting. Research program topics presented by Texas A&M AgriLife will include organic seed, fruit and vegetable varieties, and Texas A&M University specialty crop research on heirloom tomatoes and strawberries.
Additional track program presentations will address basic organics, advanced production, marketing and distribution, and Texas food systems and policy.
Conference registration begins at 7:30 a.m. each day. On Jan. 29, participants can attend one of the pre-conference workshops or the Farm Aid Texas Drought Summit.
Jan. 30 conference activities will begin with an opening plenary session by Edwin Marty, city of Austin food policy manager, followed by presentations from 8:15 a.m.-4 p.m. There will be a member meeting from 4:30–5:45 p.m. and a banquet at 6:30 p.m., during which Tom Philpott will be the keynote speaker.
Philpott is the co-founder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. He has been was a columnist and and editor for the online environmental site Grist, as well as a frequent contributor to Mother Jones magazine.
Jan. 31 track sessions will be from 8:15 a.m.-5:45 p.m., with lunch and regional meetings from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Conference costs vary for association members, non-members and students. For information on costs and to register, go to www.tofga.org/2015tofgaconference.