From February 4-6, the SOWTH 2025 Convention welcomed over 1000 meals system producers and advocates and leaders from throughout the Southern United States and territories had been introduced collectively for the primary of its form assembly! Representatives from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands gathered on the Georgia World Congress Heart in Atlanta to advance sustainable agriculture and strengthen the native meals motion throughout the area. With a deal with “small farms, large group,” SOWTH 2025 was the ag occasion of the season, providing members instruments, assets, and group to sort out the challenges going through at the moment’s Southern meals programs.
In whole, 1,326 individuals attended the convention with 444 (33%) being producers (farmers, growers, graziers, bee raisers, pastoralists, fishers, oyster farmers, and all the pieces in between). Moreover, 153 regional scholarships had been awarded, offering extra alternatives for meals system group members to profit from the convention. The Georgia Organics group and our organizing companions had been grateful to obtain form phrases from many SOWTH attendees—Heather “H” Nieto-Friga, CEO of SupplyChange shared, “I had such an unbelievable time on the convention, and was astounded by how your group made it a comfy and energizing expertise at each flip. Severely the most effective conferences I’ve been to. And an enormous shoutout to Ever, they had been so supportive and useful to me and everybody else on the Procurement observe in a approach I have not skilled with convention assist within the previous.” Danielle Adamson of HealthMPowers additionally shared, “It was nice to see everybody in individual and to witness firsthand the dedication and exhausting work that went into making this convention an unforgettable expertise. The periods had been insightful, the networking alternatives had been invaluable, and the general expertise was extremely rewarding!”
The primary day of convention noticed attendees journey to varied small farms in Georgia, together with Patchwork Metropolis Farms, International Growers Community, Rodgers Greens and Roots Love is Love Cooperative Farm, Decimal Place Farm, Snapfinger Farm, Chattahoochee Queen & Floribunda Flower Farm, Excessive Hog Farm, Develop The place You Are, and Fort Valley State College. Tour-goers acquired up-close explorations of natural livestock manufacturing, scaling small farms for wholesale markets and studying how cooperative farm fashions work. Along with Farm Excursions, different excursions took members to area people meals organizations, additional highlighting the collective efforts of sustainable agriculture and the way everybody, from native communities to company companions, has a stake in the way forward for our meals system.
