New Ruralism and Other Strategies for Sustainable Development - Agenda
Thursday, April 5th
8:00am - 9:00am Registration and continental breakfast.
9:00am - 9:15am Official Welcome. Dean Harrison Fraker, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
Introduction and Overview of Conference. Sibella Kraus, Director, Agriculture at the Metropolitan Edge, UC Berkeley
9:15am - 10:45am Opening plenary. Three speakers establish symposium purpose and vision and set urban and rural contexts of what we know and what we need to know.

Moderator: Elizabeth Deakin, Co-Director, Center for Global Metropolitan Studies, Professor UC Berkeley City & Regional Planning

  • Tom Tomich, Director, UC Davis Agriculture Sustainability Institute and Director, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Center (SAREP)
  • Gary Patton, Executive Director, The Planning and Conservation League
  • Carl Anthony, Ford Foundation Fellow, former Ford Foundation Program Officer and Director of the Foundation's Sustainable Metropolitan Communities Initiative
10:45am - 11:00am Break.
11:00am - 12:30pm Agriculture and Food Policies. An exploration of leading agriculture and food policies and programs with a focus on those most relevant to the urban-rural interface.

Moderator: Glenda Humiston, PhD candidate ESPM, formerly with USDA - An Overview of European Food and Agricultural Policies

  • Ed Thompson, Director, California Office, American Farmland Trust - U.S. Ag Policy: Challenges and Opportunities for Preserving Urban Edge Agriculture
  • Michael Dimock, Director, Roots of Change Fund - The New Mainstream Food and Farming System: A Vivid Picture of California's Food System in 2030
  • Andy Fisher, Director, Community Food Security Coalition - Community and Regional Food Policy Guide for the APA
12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch. Speaker - A.G. Kawamura, Secretary, CA Department of Food and Agriculture. Future of California Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities, Introduced by Susan Clark, Director Columbia Foundation
1:30pm - 1:45pm Break.
1:45pm - 3:15pm Environmental Services and Impacts of Urban Edge Agriculture. Approaches for assessing and monetizing environmental functions and impacts of ecological urban-edge agriculture.

Moderator: Lynn Huntsinger, Professor, Environmental Science, Policy & Management, UCB.

  • Claire Kremen, Assistant Professor, ESPM, UCB - Inter-relationship between land use practices, wild bee communities and pollination services that these bees provide to crops on farms and/or
  • David Zilberman, Professor, ARE, UCB - Markets for Environmental Services
  • Steve Shaffer, Director, CDFA Office of Agriculture and Environmental Policy - Emerging Trend of Certification of Sustainable Practices; Multiple Environmental Services of Farmland
  • Jo Ann Baumgartner, Executive Director WildFarm Alliance, Author Farming with the Wild - Models and resources to help farmers incorporate conservation practices in their farms and watersheds

 
3:15pm - 3:30pm Break.
3:30pm - 5:00pm Urban Edge Land Use Policies and Economics. Presentations on opportunities and challenges for continued agricultural activity at the metropolitan edge.

Moderator:  Dick Walker, UCB City & Regional Planning

  • John Landis, UCB City & Regional Planning
  • Tim Duane, UCB Landscape Architecture and City & Regional Planning - Maximizing the Public Benefits of Agricultural Conservation Easements
  • Andrea MacKenzie, Executive Director, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District - topic such as successes and challenges of state's only County tax-supported ag preservation district
  • Holly King, Director of Agricultural Programs; Great Valley Center - topic such as perspective from the Central Valley
 
5:30pm - 7:00pm Bay Area Buy Fresh, Buy Local & Slow Food Reception. Poster Session featuring work from academics, design professionals, and activists.
7:00pm - 9:00pm Public lecture. Yolo County Case Study - The Making of an Urban-Rural Place.

Moderator: Donlyn Lyndon, UCB Architecture, Editor, Places Journal

  • Richard Rominger, Yolo County farmer, former Secretary, CDFA, former Undersecretary, USDA
  • Mike McKeever, Executive Director, Sacramento Council of Governments (SACOG)
  • Paul Muller , co-owner, Full Belly Farm
  • Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor, City of West Sacramento
  • Rick Landon, Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner
Friday, April 6th
8:00am - 9:00am Registration and continental breakfast.
9:00am - 10:45am Private Sector Roles. Opportunities and challenges for private landowners to advance sustainable land-use and include sustainable agriculture on working landscapes at the urban-rural interface.

Moderator: David Dowall, Director, Institute of Urban and Regional Development, UCB

  • Randall Arendt, planner, landscape architect, author
  • Al Medvitz, rancher and UC Davis Public Policy Specialist - Multifunctionality of Farms as public benefits
  • Judy Corbett, Executive Director, Local Government Commission
  • Steven Frisch, Vice President of Programs, Sierra Business Council
10:45am - 11:00am Break.
11:15am - 12:45pm Vitality of Rural Communities in Metropolitan-influenced Regions. An investigation of social issues at the urban edge.

Moderator: Sally Fairfax, Associate Dean, College of Natural Resources

  • Brownwynne Wilton, University of Guelph - Understanding the Role of the Non-Farm Landowner
  • Constance Washburn, Education Director, Marin Agricultural Land Trust - Cooperative and Diverse Approaches to Preserving and Supporting Agriculture at the Urban Edge
  • Rex Laird, Director, Ventura County Farm Bureau
  • Martha Guzman, Legislative Advocate for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation - Farm Labor Issues
12:45pm - 1:30pm Lunch.
1:45pm - 3:30pm Emerging Urban-Rural Initiatives. Presentation of social factors underlying local food and agriculture movements: access to fresh food, urban agriculture, and cultural traditions in food and farming.

Moderator: Susan Roberts, Kellogg Foundation Fellowship

  • Richard Jackson, Adjunct Professor, UCB, School of Public Health, City & Regional Planning - Overview of Public Health Impacts and Implications of Urban Edge Agriculture
  • Gail Feenstra, Community Food Systems/Nutrition Program, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program - Overview of the Local Food Systems Movement
  • Margaret Crawford, Professor, Harvard University, Urban Planning and Design with Takako Tajima, landscape architect - Capturing Suburban Land for Agriculture Through Social Decommodification
  • Nevin Cohen, Visiting Assistant Professor, The New School, Eugene Lang College, Towards a More 'Civic' Civic Agriculture
3:30pm - 4:00pm Wrap-up and synthesis. Elizabeth Deakin, Michael Dimock. Synthesis of ideas and directions for new and strengthened alliances, policies and strategies, entrepreneurial opportunities, and research and demonstration projects that will can help bridge smart growth and sustainable agriculture at the metropolitan edge in California and elsewhere.
All sessions take place in the Lipman Room, Barrows Hall. The reception, poster session, and lecture take place in Wurster Hall, College of Environmental Design.