Mid-New England Grain Conference to Be Held at UMass Farm

July 8, 2011

Contact:

Joe Shoenfeld 413/545-5309

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

DATE: Thursday, July 14

TIME: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

PLACE: UMass Crops, Research and Education Farm, 89-91 River Rd., South Deerfield

Join us at a conference on growing, breeding and marketing organic wheat, little-known ancient grains emmer and einkorn, purple wheat and more. The goal of the conference is to establish regional working groups to restore landrace grain biodiversity, organic grain production and breeding methods for varieties well-adapted to New England organic farming conditions, and with greater resilience to the unprecedented weather extremes of climate change.

Experts from the University of Vermont, University of Maine, University of Alberta, British Columbia, New York City Green Market and the U.S. Department of Agriculture work with local researchers, growers, bakers and seed-savers to advance a local wheat-to-bread system across the mid-New England region.

The conference is a collaborative effort between Northeast Organic Wheat and UMass Extension, with funding from USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Northeast and the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. For more information, go to www.growseed.org and www.umassvegetable.org.

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