Meet Lauren and Paul Brenner in our recent Food and Farm Feature of Rainbow Farm in Sandstone, West Virginia. We had the incredible opportunity of visiting Rainbow Farm and listening to the inspiring story of the young couple who continue to build a small, diversified farm business in Summers County, West Virginia.

Enjoy the video and happy reading,

West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition

Meet Our New Staff!
Feature Headline




Brandon joins the Coalition as the Director of Development and Programs. Get to know our newest staff member here!


Cody joins the Coalition as the New River Gorge Foodshed Development AmeriCorps VISTA. Get to know our newest AmeriCorps VISTA here!
FOOD AND FARM EVENTS
Visit our events calendar: http://wvfoodandfarm.org/news-media/events
Canning and Food Preservation Workshop on June 28th at 6PM in Wayne, West Virginia

More information here.
Real Food Real Local Conference in The Plains, Ohio on Monday, July 18th to Wednesday, July 20th

The conference will include panel discussions, engaging workshops, tours, and structured networking opportunities focused on the issue of local and regional food systems, the development of distribution hubs, retail markets, and shared-use facilities. To learn more and to register, click here.
Chesapeake Foodshed Network Hosts Webinar, "Regional Farm to Institution Insights: Learnings from Stakeholders Across the Value Chain" on June 22nd

On June 22nd from 1PM - 2PM EST, hear from the Chesapeake Foodshed Network, Food Works Group and FoodSource about Farm to Institution in the Chesapeake Bay foodshed and their recommendations for local, state or regional efforts elsewhere. For more information and to register click here. 

NESAWG is Accepting Session Proposals for the Annual Regional Conference on November 11th - 12th in Hartford, Connecticut 

The conference, Tackling Wicked Problems in Food Systems, invites food and farm systems practitioners from across the 12-state Northeast region to learn, debate, collaborate, and innovate solutions to critical food systems issues. NESAWG conference offers in-depth working sessions that address food systems issues and how to strengthen the food system using the collective wisdom and expertise of conference attendees. Read the RFP and register for the event here.
Soil Health Using Sustainable Practices and Farm Tour at Backbone Food Farms in Oakland, MD on June 30th at 3:30PM

The Dubanskys have been growing chemical-free produce for over 19 years. Their multi-enterprise farm is uniquely self-sustaining, with soil inputs and farm certification coming from within the farm and the local farm community. Come out to see how their sustainable growing practices nurture the soil that nourishes their pastured meats and vegetables. Learn more from additional speakers about compost tea and application and the CNG certification process. The field day will end with a potluck from 6:30PM to 8:00PM. Register here.
J.Q. Dickinson Salt Works Farm-to-Table Event on August 16th in Malden, West Virginia

Attend the Farm-to-Table event on August 16th and 10% of your ticket price will be donated to the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition. Seats fill up quickly, so RSVP here.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
No Deadline
Deadline: June 24, 2016 
Deadline: June 30, 2016


Deadline: July 3, 2016
Deadline: July 3, 2016
Deadline: July 6, 2016

Deadline: October 15, 2016
JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS


Start Date: July 1, 2016

Start Date: July 1, 2016

Deadline: June 22, 2016
 Ohio Valley Environment Coalition (OVEC) is Hiring an Executive Director

Deadline: June 30, 2016
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) Seeks a Grassroots Advocacy Coordinator


No Deadline

No Deadline
FOOD AND FARM RESOURCES
Visit our free library: http://wvfoodandfarm.org/resources/
Feature Headline

"The New Food Economy Grows Up": The New Food Economy creates an illustrated timeline of the food movement over the past sixteen years. View the timeline here.
Were you not able to attend the National Farm to School Conference earlier this month in Wisconsin? Check out the National Farm to School Network's daily recaps and photos here.    
"The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently released 
Bon Appétit Appalachia!, the largest searchable online map of local food businesses and entrepreneurs operating in Appalachia. Bon Appétit Appalachia! currently includes more than 830 local farms, restaurants, bakeries, breweries, wineries, and festivals operating in the 13 Appalachian states, and continues to expand." View the map here.

BillyOh: A Comprehensive Guide to Gardening. The online resource tackles ideas and topics like starting a garden, planning, soil preparation and nourishing, tools in the garden, seeds, transplanting, basic vegetable and fruit gardening and more. Visit the resource here.
    
FOOD AND FARM POLICY CORNER
State and National Policy Page: http://wvfoodandfarm.org/initiatives/policy/
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) announces that the USDA FINI Program awards $16.8 million in grants to organizations that increase healthy food access for low-income Americans. Read the full blog post here.
"The True Extent of Hunger: What the FAO Isn't Telling You" Read Food First's backgrounder on the issue of calculating and measuring world hunger here.
Are you a farmer in West Virginia? Are you selling value-added products with ingredients sourced from local, sustainable producers? Want to list your farm or food business in the Directory? Click the image below. 
If you have any questions or want to learn more about the Directory, 
contact Evelyn Hartman at ehartman@wvfoodandfarm.org OR (304) 877-7920. 
Support the WV Food & Farm Coalition!
Your support will further our work to make local food more viable in West Virginia.