Theme: Food and Farming
Thursday, April 6th
Food can be grown and gleaned in some very unexpected places: People are harvesting wild foods in urban and rural locales, transforming commercial building rooftops into living ecosystems, and making the desert bloom with regenerative and traditional Indigenous practices. Come learn about cutting-edge diverse, innovative, local and rejuvenating food security strategies. With: urban farmer Benjamin Fahrer; Navajo (Diné) farmer James Skeet; Mia Andler, founder and Executive Director of Vilda. Moderated by Arty Mangan, Bioneers’ Director of Restorative Food Systems.
April 6th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
James Skeet
Co-Founder | Covenant Pathways
James Skeet (Navajo), co-founder of the non-profit, Covenant Pathways, and co-proprietor (with his wife, Joyce) of Spirit Farm, on ancestral land in Vanderwagen, New Mexico, draws from ancient Native wisdom, including traditional farming and spiritual practices, to create a regenerative haven where soil vitality, nutrient rich foods, human health and free markets can prosper for another 10,000 years.
Mia Andler
Founder and Executive Director | Vilda
Mia Andler, author of The Sierra Forager and co-author of The Bay Area Forager, is the founder and Executive Director of Vilda, a non-profit that runs nature connection programs for children in Tahoe, Truckee and the San Francisco Bay Area. Mia, who has been foraging since she was a little girl and has studied the regenerative practices of earth-based cultures around the world, has made frequent media appearances highlighting her work.
Benjamin Fahrer
Director of Agroecology and Land Stewardship | Deep Medicine Circle
Benjamin Fahrer is the Director of Agroecology and Land Stewardship for the Deep Medicine Circle (DMC) and the owner of Top Leaf Farms, a design/build company focused on innovative ecological rooftop farming systems. Over the last 25 years Fahrer has played key roles with bio-intensive land projects that have helped define regenerative practices and showcased scalable and easily replicated climate solutions.
Arty Mangan
Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers
Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.
Friday, April 7th
Introduction by DJ Cavem, Rapper, Educator and Vegan Chef
In this multimedia presentation, chef, author, publisher, and artist Bryant Terry will talk about the arc of his work over more than two decades, all centered on his tireless efforts to create a much healthier and far more equitable and sustainable food system. Through performance, slides, and music, Bryant will share the multiple ways in which he has approached systems change—engaging in grassroots activism, authoring six books, making media appearances, curating programming at the Museum of the African Diaspora, running a publishing imprint, and creating studio art as a Fellow and MFA student in the Art Practice Program at UC Berkeley.
April 7th | 9:30 am to 10:50 am | Zellerbach Hall
Introduced by
DJ Cavem
Rapper, Educator and Vegan Chef
DJ Cavem, raised in Denver’s Five Points district (aka the "Harlem of the West”), a rapper who coined the term “eco-hip hop” in 2007, is also an educator and vegan chef on a mission to raise consciousness about climate change, food justice and plant-based foods far and wide. His albums and EPs include: The Teacher’s Lounge; The Produce Section; and, most recently the BIOMIMICZ project. Cavem has performed and spoken widely, nationally and internationally, collaborating with many artists and sharing the stage with such luminaries as Nick Jonas, Public Enemy, 2 Chains, Questlove and Wyclef Jean. He and his wife and collaborator, Arasia “Alkemia” Earth, founded and run the Vita Earth Foundation, which hosts health and wellness summer camps, “culinary concerts" and "Recipes for Resistance" workshops, which focus on culinary climate action.
Keynote
Bryant Terry
Chef, Educator & Author
Bryant Terry, an award-winning chef, educator and author renowned for his activism to create a healthy, just, and sustainable food system, is: Editor-in-Chief of 4 Color Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House and Ten-Speed Press); Co-Principal and Innovation Director of the Zenmi creative studio; and Chef-in-Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. His most recent (2021) and 6th book, Black Food, was among the most widely critically acclaimed food-related books of recent years. His other books include: Vegetable Kingdom, Afro-Vegan, and Vegan Soul Kitchen. For the 2022-2023 academic year Bryant is also an Artist Fellow at UC Berkeley as a member of the second cohort of Abolition Democracy Fellows, working between the Black Studies and Art Practice Departments.
Nothing is more central and visceral to the human experience than eating. Recent decades have seen a sea change in awareness about the crucial importance of what we eat, how and where our food is grown, and by whom. Making radical changes to our entire system of agriculture and to societal attitudes toward plants, animals and the entirety of the natural world will give us the chance of emerging from our current crises and ushering in the birth of a life-affirming civilization. With: Alice Waters, legendary, highly influential chef who has been a leader in radically improving American cuisine’s social and ecological impacts, as well of course as its gustatory and nutritional qualities; in conversation with Nikki Silvestri, Founder and CEO of Soil and Shadow, former ED of Green for All and the People’s Grocery, recipient of numerous awards, including ELLE Magazine’s Gold Award and OxFam America’s Act Local, Think Global Award.
April 7th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Freight & Salvage
Panelists
Alice Waters
Chef, Restaurateur and Author | Chez Panisse
Alice Waters is a chef, author, food activist, and the founder of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley (est. 1971). She has been a champion of local sustainable agriculture for over four decades. In 1995 she founded the Edible Schoolyard Project, which advocates for a free regenerative organic school lunch for all children and a sustainable food curriculum in every public school. In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, proving that eating is a political act. In 2021, she was awarded the inaugural Carver Carson Award for American innovation in environmental protection and agriculture from the Henry Ford Museum. Alice is the author of sixteen books including her most recent We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto.
Nikki Silvestri
Founder and CEO | Soil and Shadow, LLC
Nikki Silvestri, the founder and CEO of Soil and Shadow, LLC., has had a wide-ranging career that has taken her from presentations at the White House and negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency to intimate workshops with local businesses and small retail organizing. The recipient of numerous awards, including ELLE Magazine’s Gold Award and OxFam America’s Act Local, Think Global Award, she was named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans. Her unique approach to inclusion, leadership, and organizational development takes cues from nature and seeks to build models of “social fertility” to weave them into a Joy and Impact™ framework while attempting to balance the triple bottom line (ecology, economy, and equity).
Saturday, April 8th
Regenerative agricultural practices have shown great promise as potentially significant contributors to helping address the climate crisis and eliminate toxic agricultural chemicals from the environment. New research is showing remarkable results that could have profound implications for food security, soil health, water availability, and biodiversity. Yet still the challenge is how to transition from the massively destructive current “degenerative” faming system to a regenerative one. Leading experts will share their perspectives on how to make that transition. With: Dr. Cynthia Daley, founder/Director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems (CRA) at California State University Chico; and Tim LaSalle, co-founder of CRA. Moderated by Arty Mangan, Bioneers Director of Restorative Food Systems.
April 8th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Magnes Museum
Panelists
Arty Mangan
Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers
Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.
Cynthia Daley
Founder and Director | Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University Chico
Cynthia Daley, Ph.D., born into a four-generation Midwestern farming family, is a professor within the College of Agriculture at Cal State Chico and currently serves there as both the Rawlins Endowed Professor for Environmental Literacy and the Director for the Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems (a consortium of interdisciplinary faculty and farmers who recognize the ecological benefits of regenerative farming practices including water conservation, soil fertility, and carbon sequestration).
Tim LaSalle
Co-Founder | Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University Chico
Tim LaSalle, co-founder of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at Cal State Chico, previously served as: first CEO of the Rodale Institute; Executive Director of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management; and as Research Coordinator for the Howard G. Buffett Foundation in Africa on soils and food security for smallholder farmers. A Professor Emeritus, California Polytechnic State University, Tim also served as President and CEO of the California Agriculture Leadership Program.
4:45 pm: Solving the Climate Crisis in One Generation
Presented in collaboration with One Earth
According to the groundbreaking, highly influential organization, One Earth, the solutions to the climate crisis already exist, and there are three pillars of collective action we need to embrace to implement them: a just transition to 100% renewable energy; protection and restoration of half the world’s lands and oceans; and a shift to regenerative food and fiber systems. These goals are daunting, but the good news is that millions of people and organizations around the world are already driving this transformation. How are all these movements connected? How does work in each area grow and thrive with a coherent understanding of the larger systems of change? Join leaders in the three key fields outlined above in a vibrant conversation to explore how both big-picture thinking and slews of on-the-ground practical projects can play a role in solving the climate crisis in time. Hosted by: Justin Winters, co-founder and Executive Director of One Earth. With: Samuel Gensaw III (Yurok) Director of the Ancestral Guard; Cynthia Daley, Ph.D., founder/Director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at Cal State Chico; and Danny Kennedy, entrepreneur and founder of New Energy Nexus.
April 8th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Freight & Salvage
Panelists
Samuel Gensaw
Founding Director | Ancestral Guard
Sammy Gensaw, III, (Yurok) is the Founding Director of the Ancestral Guard, Artist, Yurok Language Speaker, Singer, Writer, Cultural/Political/Environmental Activist, Regalia Maker, Mediator, Youth Leader & Fisherman.
Cynthia Daley
Founder and Director | Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University Chico
Cynthia Daley, Ph.D., born into a four-generation Midwestern farming family, is a professor within the College of Agriculture at Cal State Chico and currently serves there as both the Rawlins Endowed Professor for Environmental Literacy and the Director for the Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems (a consortium of interdisciplinary faculty and farmers who recognize the ecological benefits of regenerative farming practices including water conservation, soil fertility, and carbon sequestration).
Danny Kennedy
CEO | New Energy Nexus
Danny Kennedy, with a long background in eco activism, has become one of the nation’s leading figures in clean-technology entrepreneurship and the capitalization of the transition to a “green” economy. Co-founder of the solar energy company, Sungevity, and the clean energy incubator Powerhouse, Kennedy supports the clean technology and energy fields in myriad ways. In addition to leading roles with Third Derivative (a joint venture with the Rocky Mountain Institute) and the California Clean Energy Fund, Kennedy is currently CEO of New Energy Nexus, a global nonprofit providing funds, accelerators, and networks to drive clean energy innovation and adoption.
Justin Winters
One Earth | Co-Founder and Executive Director
Justin Winters, the co-founder and Executive Director of One Earth, a philanthropic organization working to galvanize science, advocacy and philanthropy to drive collective action on climate change, is focused on creating a vision for the world in which humanity and nature coexist and thrive together, based on three pillars: 100% renewable energy; protection and restoration of 50% of the world’s lands and oceans; and a transition to regenerative, carbon-negative agriculture. Prior to One Earth, Justin served as Executive Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for 13 years, where she awarded over $100 million in grants across 60 countries.
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