A 14-member committee made up of NE-SARE staff and
other stakeholders from 7 states planned the conference program and logistics
over a 2-year period. The conference was widely promoted via e-mail, brochures,
SARE and SAN web sites, press releases and articles and advertisements
in sustainable agriculture publications. Response was excellent and the
conference was full to capacity; several dozen people were turned away
and many more may have learned from the web site that the conference sold
out about 3 weeks before it took place.
Six hundred and two people from 39 states and provinces
registered for the conference.Over half had some affiliation with the SARE
program, as past or present committee members, staff, or grant recipients.
The first day of the conference featured 5 separate
bus tours attended by 260 people, followed by an evening reception attended
by over 400 people. About 600 people attended the next day and a half that
featured 25 separate educational sessions. Each session generally featured
2 speakers with different perspectives on an issue. The sessions were held
in 5 concurrent ‘tracks’ of 90 minutes each that focused on: marketing,
production, policy, communications, and exemplary farmers. Over 5 hours
were also allotted for participants to visit posters that described projects
conducted by 36 farmer-grower and 40 research and education grant recipients.
At the same time, 20 non-profits staffed display tables with products and
publications, including SARE, SAN and other state, federal and private
agencies.
The conference registration fee was $125 with a $25
discount for early registration. Bus tours were an additional $20. Lodging
and travel were not included. Scholarships were advertised, and $4,710
in registration waivers was awarded. Registration was also waived for speakers,
moderators, bus tour guides and members of the NE-SARE Administrative Council
and Technical Committee, as well as SARE committee alumni. As a result,
about half of the attendees paid little or no registration fee.
A total of 602 people registered for the conference,
and 24 press passes were also supplied to members of the media. Seating
for meals was limited to 500 so some people were registered at a discount,
without meals. There was a dinner banquet featuring a keynote address and
announcement of the Madden awards. The conference ended with a luncheon
closing address.
The conference was heavily subsidized with NE-SARE
funding (see budget report.) The cost of meals and receptions was about
$70,000 plus $7,500 additional fees for audio visuals, poster board and
table rentals. Presenter travel, lodging expense, and stipends (for farmers
and non-profit folks) totaled about $37,000. Brochures, advertising, and
mailing cost another $10,800. Conference personnel costs for management,
registration, and local food menu and procurement were about $18,000. There
was no charge for the hotel facility since the conference sold 670 room
nights (plus an additional 80 in nearby hotels). The total expenses for
the conference came to about $163,000. Registration fees brought in about
$40,000. Total expenses were about $123,000. This was provided by NE-SARE
funds to keep down the cost of attending the conference. In order
for the conference to have broken even, the fee for the 300 attendees
that paid registration would have increased by almost $500.
Over half of the food served was sourced from local
farms (produce, meats) and food processors (bread, yogurt, cider, cheese)
in Vermont. A local food coordinator was hired for $2,000 to work with
suppliers and the hotel to accomplish this, and an extra $4,000 above the
quoted hotel meal charges was allocated to cover extra costs associated
with procuring more expensive local products such as meats and ice cream.
A one-page evaluation
was distributed to all participants at the conference and 203 were returned
(34% response). Of these, 28% identified themselves as farmers, 25% as
working for Extension, 11% with NGOs, 9% with state agencies, 9% as researchers,
5% as administrators, 4% from the media and 4% as University personnel.
Almost all attended the 2-day conference and half also took part in the
tours. For details see the full evaluation
report.
As a result of attending the conference, 96% of the
people completing the evaluation said they got information or contacts
they would use in their job; 93% said they were made aware of a new source
of useful information; 88% said the conference will help them promote sustainable
agriculture to others; 87% said they got some new ideas about sustainable
agriculture; 84% said their knowledge of SARE programs and projects was
increased and 80% said their understanding of sustainable agriculture was
enhanced.
Sixty-six percent of respondents said the conference
would lead them to do something new or different in the coming year. Written
comments described these actions, including:
“pursue follow up to SARE project with farmers in
another state”
“new research ideas/extension information to convey
to farmers”
“change some of my practice to no-till”
“more rotational grazing”
“perhaps develop a research plan to study cultivation
effects on soil quality”
“work with folks who want to produce value-added on
farm cheese”
“different approach to my clients about sustainability”
“contact some people in my home town who are interested
in farm-to-school”
“encouraging additional SARE participation in my home
state”
“better able to communicate the science of sustainability”
“buy more locally produced products”
While there were many suggestions for improvement,
other comments were largely positive, and exemplified by:“We go home today
with a wealth of new information…We go home excited to move forward and
continue to grow…”