Family Farmed Expo U of I Forum [Past Event]

LTH,

I'm involved in the Family Farmed Expo this year chairing the committee for the "Localicious" party on 3/12 featuring 20 restaurants and bars that embrace the local sustainable movement. Early participants include Pasticceria Natalina, Mana Food Bar, NIghtwood/Lula, Signature Room, Lao Sze Chuan, Bar De Ville and Death's Door. Numerous others are considering involvement but are not yet confirmed. I'll keep you posted.

The Expo itself is "a three day gathering of Chicago-area fans of locally grown and responsibly produced food and artisanal goods. Thursday and Friday feature business-to-business connections. Saturday features cooking demos (Bayless, Gand, Virant), interactive seminars and a busy Kids Corner. There will also be over 120 exhibitors offering a wide selection of local food, gifts and lots of useful information that will help you eat healthy year-round, while supporting local, family-run businesses."

Some of the panels will be of interest to the LTH community such as: Farm to fork and Farm to glass discussions with Brad Bolt and Adam Seger, Financing Farms, Farmers and Farmland, Helping farmers secure land, financing, grants, and technical assistance, Building Food Access- An overview of food access issues and innovative ways to create more access to fresh food in food deserts. My dear friend and colleague Chef Michel Nischan from Wholesome Wave Foundation will be a panelist on this one. Author Woody Tasch of the Slow Money Institute will be speaking @ the expo as well.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. For more information contact me or please see:

http://www.Familyfarmedexpo.com

As I've mentioned, I'm involved in the Family Farmed Expo taking place @ the UIC Forum March 12-14. Besides the "LOCALICIOUS" party Friday March 12th with 20 vendors including LTH favorites like Pasticceria Natalina, Nightwood, Lao Sze Chuan, Province and Bar De Ville, we will also be hosting a series of panels that are sure to interest the LTH community.

The FamilyFarmed.org Financing Farm to Fork Conference supports the local food movement by encouraging investment in farm and food production, processing, and distribution businesses. The event is being produced by FamilyFarmed.org and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business is a primary sponsor.

A primary objective of the Financing Farm to Fork Conference is to educate regional farmers and food processors about various financing strategies and then link them with individuals who represent a variety of financing options that may help them grow their businesses. Business education and training will be essential to the success of the conference and breakout sessions will help inform food producers and financiers about the opportunities and needs in this sector. The conference will conclude with a Financing Fair and Reception where farmers and food producers can meet one-on-one with different types of investors and economic development specialists.

Attendees will include farmers and food producers, bankers, angel investors, venture capitalists, economic development professionals, grant managers, and agricultural specialists at the city, state, and federal levels; private foundation officers; community agriculture project representatives; traditional farm/food producer financiers, and loan officers; urban and community planners; and, the general public.

Conference Speakers
The FamilyFarmed Financing Farm to Fork Conference includes national and regional experts and investors speaking about food businesses, farm financing, food access, value added businesses, and more. Confirmed speakers include Slow Money Author Woody Tasch, Rancher and television personality Bill Kurtis, Eli’s Cheescake CEO Marc Schulman, James Beard Award winning Chef Michel Nischan, Financier Andy Whitman, Urban Farmer Erika Allen, University of Chicago’s Linda Darragh, Homemade Pizza co-founder Mattew Weintein, Financier David Wilhelm, FamilyFarmed.org President Jim Slama and many more.

Financing Fair and Reception
The Financing Fair and Reception is intended to spark new relationships between farmers, food manufacturers, and other businesses in the burgeoning local food movement and financiers including investors, public and private grantors, banks, and economic development specialists.

If you’re looking to start, expand, or grow your business and already have a well-defined business plan and/or executive summary but lack financing for your project, you’ll want to attend the Financing Fair and Reception at the close of the conference. We invite you to submit an application to join us as a presenter and get valuable exposure to financiers. A team of farm and food experts will review the applications received and select a group of qualified farms and businesses to have a table at the Fair.

Hope to see you there.

This sounds like a great event. Given the recent controversy over the City's Health Department and small local businesses, I'd suggest getting a health department representative on one of the "starting a food business" panels to clarify exactly what the requirements are.

I want to give this a bump as, along with Alan, I've been involved with this gala, and I also want to add that the Expo actually starts a day earlier, March 11, 2010. More specifically, I have been involved with a part of the Expo called Financing Farm to Fork that will occur on March 11. The event is geared toward food businesses and those who invest in food businesses. It covers a wide array of topics from farms looking to offer value-added products to multi-million dollar growth companies. I know many people on this Forum have ties to the food industry, and this day will provide a wealth of contacts, resources, networking opportunities and education. You can read more here.

FINANCING FARM TO FORK CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

March 11, 2010

The FamilyFarmed.org Financing Farm to Fork Conference supports the local food movement by encouraging investment in farm and food production, processing, and distribution businesses. The event is being produced by FamilyFarmed.org and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business is a primary sponsor.

A primary objective of the Financing Farm to Fork Conference is to educate regional farmers and food processors about various financing strategies and then link them with individuals who represent a variety of financing options that may help them grow their businesses. Business education and training will be essential to the success of the conference and breakout sessions will help inform food producers and financiers about the opportunities and needs in this sector. The conference will conclude with a Financing Fair and Reception where farmers and food producers can meet one-on-one with different types of investors and economic development specialists.

Attendees will include farmers and food producers, bankers, angel investors, venture capitalists, economic development professionals, grant managers, and agricultural specialists at the city, state, and federal levels; private foundation officers; community agriculture project representatives; traditional farm/food producer financiers, and loan officers; urban and community planners; and, the general public.


Conference Speakers
The FamilyFarmed Financing Farm to Fork Conference includes national and regional experts and investors speaking about food businesses, farm financing, food access, value added businesses, and more. Confirmed speakers include Slow Money Author Woody Tasch, Rancher and television personality Bill Kurtis, Eli’s Cheescake CEO Marc Schulman, James Beard Award winning Chef Michel Nichan, Financier Andy Whitman, Urban Farmer Erika Allen, University of Chicago’s Linda Darragh, Homemade Pizza CEO Eric Fosse, Financier David Wilhelm, FamilyFarmed.org President Jim Slama and many more.

Financing Fair and Reception
The Financing Fair and Reception is intended to spark new relationships between farmers, food manufacturers, and other businesses in the burgeoning local food movement and financiers including investors, public and private grantors, banks, and economic development specialists.

If you’re looking to start, expand, or grow your business and already have a well-defined business plan and/or executive summary but lack financing for your project, you’ll want to attend the Financing Fair and Reception at the close of the conference. We invite you to submit an application to join us as a presenter and get valuable exposure to financiers. A team of farm and food experts will review the applications received and select a group of qualified farms and businesses to have a table at the Fair.

Thanks for the info, sounds like a great event. I'm looking at the schedule now; could you provide some guidance in terms of which days/events would be of most interest to the general public, i.e. regular consumers who neither produce food nor work in a food-related business? People like me who would just be interested in talking to local farmers about products they offer (at the consumer level), meeting chefs and watching demos, and hopefully trying some tasty food/drink?

As jazfood said:

Besides the "LOCALICIOUS" party Friday March 12th with 20 vendors including LTH favorites like Pasticceria Natalina, Nightwood, Lao Sze Chuan, Province and Bar De Ville, we will also be hosting a series of panels that are sure to interest the LTH community.

I'm very interested in attending the Localicious event if anyone out there wants to join me! Just PM and let me know.

thanks!

Jen

trianero wrote:Thanks for the info, sounds like a great event. I'm looking at the schedule now; could you provide some guidance in terms of which days/events would be of most interest to the general public, i.e. regular consumers who neither produce food nor work in a food-related business? People like me who would just be interested in talking to local farmers about products they offer (at the consumer level), meeting chefs and watching demos, and hopefully trying some tasty food/drink?

The FamilyFarmed.org Expo runs three days, and each day focuses on a different crowd. Day 1, the Farm to Fork day focuses on investment opportunities, both from the perspective of those looking to grow their businesses and those looking to invest in food businesses. As I noted above, this day covers an array of companies and opportunities from community oriented operations, to companies looking for substantial private equity investment. A high ranking member of the USDA is also speaking. Day 2 focuses on what I would call the processes of the food business; it is geared towards those running restaurants, food service operations and food retail. It's B2B to use old jargon. There is a trade show that day with vendors who sell to food service. So......Day 3:

Day 3 is the one focused on the consumer. The day offers three things for consumers. First, there are chef demo's. These are worth the price alone, featuring such notables as Paul Kahn, Rick Bayless and Paul Virant. Second, there are workshops on issues related to gardening, shopping, and local foods. Presenters at the workshops include myself and Melissa Graham (MAG). Of special interest to our crowd, Rob Levitt of Mado, Mike Sula of the Reader and a few others are talking about whole animal eating. Another hot topic covered is backyard henning, with my friend Helen Standen "Oak Park's Chicken Lady." Third, there is a trade floor with vendors interested in selling to consumers. There will also be activities aimed for children with the aforementioned Melissa Graham leading the way.

Beyond those three days, there are other items of note. Of course there is the Localicious party already covered, on Friday, a chance to mingle and sample. Also on Friday at the UIC Forum where the even is, is the Chicago Food Policy Summit. If you are interested in food policy, all that is problematic with our current food systems and in ways to make things improved, this event is for you. You know, the other day, Cathy2 made an excellent post about different food communities and interacting with them. The Chicago Food Policy Summit is one of the best ways to meet and network with a variety of leaders in the community. Of course, the whole Expo, each day, is a great way to meet and network with leaders in the food world. There is something there for you.

In the past, the Expo had its trade day and its consumer day. This is the first year of the investor conference. The folks behind this conference, including people at the University of Chicago Business school, are especially excited about this new aspect of the Expo. Find the day that fits you, but we especially want to get the message across for the newest day.

The web site for the Expo provides a very complete guide to all activities, speakers, demo's, the food policy summit, etc. I'd be happy to address any other questions.

I just got my tickets for the Food Policy Summit, Localicious, and the Saturday event. I'm very excited about this and looking forward to seeing other LTHers there.

Hi all-I'm new to the forum but I'm looking forward to hopefully meeting some folks at the Localiscious party tomorrow night for the Family Farmed Expo. I'm currently working on a documentary called From Grass to Cheese about a family farm in Ohio that's starting artisanal cheese production and I'd love to chat about it and the family farming movement in general with anybody that's interested. I'll be the tall fellow with the beard and glasses (if that narrows it down). I'm including the link to the short version of the doc if anybody's interested.
Cheers,
Todd Tue

todd: i really enjoyed the clip you included in your post. it really helps us, the consumer, to make healthier choices for ourselves, the animals who provide us with food/milk/cheese, and the earth, when we can see where our food comes from. it's shocking to hear that the dairy farmer makes only about 82 cents on a gallon of milk, which sells for $4. alas, i will not be attending the friday night party, but will be at the saturday events. good luck with your doc. i hope to see the full movie in the future. justjoan

Here are some images from "Day 3" of the Family Farmed Expo

Rick Bayless Delights the Crowd


A Few of the Vendors at the Expo

great pics stevez , looks like this was a event i should have made it to
maybe the next one