Closing Circle with Stephen Markham and Meg Kennedy
Take a deep breath and gather one final time with the Provender Community for a closing circle to complete our time together. Led by past board member Stephen Markham, and present board secretary Meg Kennedy. Stephen Markham – A passionate spiritual seeker planting seeds for connection/collective consciousness for us ALL on the PATH to healing ourselves, our home, this Earth. Food is Unifying and our NW Natural Community is my soil. Stephen’s background includes a Master of [Read More]
Pathways to Ending Systemic Racism: Perceiving Culture – The Intercultural Approach to Diversity and Inclusion
This workshop includes a discussion of various approaches to Diversity & Inclusion work at both the board and operational levels. Amanda Grelock and Ryan Peters make the case for including intercultural development training in organizational D&I efforts, training, and communication as pathways to end systemic racism in a business. This will be a panel presentation with opportunities for questions and discussion. In 2017, the Community Food Co-op in Bellingham, WA, decided to analyze its blind spots and listen to [Read More]
Opening Reception: Flavor Foundations – Conference Kick-off event
Welcome to the 44th Annual Provender Educational Conference opening reception with the Flavor Foundations experience. Kick-off the conference with Mark Mulcahy and Samuel Vandegrift and a whole slew of your Provender friends on Wednesday night October 21st from 5;30pm -7:00 pm PST. Mark and Sam, co-creators of the Flavor Foundations series, will host this sensory evening of wine, food, and fellowship that is guaranteed to be engaging, participatory, and downright fun. See below for a list of things to gather [Read More]
Ethical Dairy: What Does it Really Mean?
The U.S. Dairy industry is in deep trouble. Family scale farmers are losing their farms at a record rate. Workers are underpaid, exploited, and face dangerous conditions. Animal welfare is often neglected. What are the solutions? This panel will lift up the groundbreaking work being done by the group Migrant Justice whose Milk with Dignity program is offering real, enforceable solutions. We’ll also talk about some of the pitfalls out there and address how to look out for corporate [Read More]
Independent Businesses: Tactics for Galvanizing Social & Environmental Change
This workshop features brands that leverage their business as a force for good in the broader community – whether localized efforts, national or global systems change. Workshop facilitators will briefly introduce an initiative their company recently pursued to support social and/or environmental change – sharing campaign structure, function, partners, and outcomes. After inspiring creative ideas from the facilitators’ shared campaign experiences, workshop attendees will have the opportunity to envision their own campaigns geared toward galvanizing social or environmental change. [Read More]
Retail Resilience: Disruption-Proof Management
Businesses are experiencing unprecedented levels of disruption with the potential for more to come. Now more than ever, it is imperative that Businesses cultivate a resilient leadership culture in order to recover from difficulties and enable your team to pivot and innovate under challenging conditions. Join a conversation with Mark Mulcahy and Brittany Baird to explore the pillars of Retail resilience and strategies for implementation in your organization. We will cover these core elements of disruption proof management: Transparency & [Read More]
The Regenerative Organic Momentum
There is a momentum building for a food system that is beyond simply “organic.” By adopting regenerative organic practices on more farms around the world, we can create long-term solutions to some of the biggest issues of our time, including the climate crisis, factory farming, and fractured rural economies. Envision a world free of poisonous chemicals, factory farming, exploitation and income inequality, soil degradation, habitat destruction, pollution, short-term thinking, corporate bullies, greenwashing, and fake food. Instead, imagine a [Read More]
Food & Social Justice: Farmworkers as Essential Workers
Join Rosalinda Guillen and Edgar Franks, two of the Pacific Northwest’s strongest voices for food and social justice for the people who grow our food, providing an update on the real impact of the current crises of our times. Their knowledge and expertise are based on real-life experience, in the fields and farms, organizing those who are some of America’s most “essential workers” of all. Bonus – Rosalinda Guillen, as the executive director of Community to Community (C2C) [Read More]
Mending the Loop: Accountability in the Workplace
Engaged staff members are more likely to stay over the long haul and less likely to burn out on the job. One crucial factor in employee engagement is a culture of accountability. You can create that culture by setting clear expectations and ensuring meaningful consequences for performance. Our interactive workshop will give you a tool for analyzing and improving accountability in your organization. BIOS: CAROLEE COLTER – Carolee has been consulting for co-ops and independents in the [Read More]
Brokers – Facilitating the Difference
Brokers play a variety of different roles in bringing products to market and helping them to succeed. In this panel discussion, you will meet brokers from around Provender’s broker network who each have different areas of focus, but have in common the skill of matching your products (if you’re a manufacturer) with the right distribution and retail partners, or matching your product assortment (if you’re a retailer) with the right new products. The best broker is a matchmaker between several [Read More]
Still Fighting for GMO Transparency: What’s behind the legal challenge to USDA’s “Bioengineering” labeling rule
Please join us for an informative session learning what’s behind the legal challenge to USDA’s “Bioengineering” labeling rule. After all these years, we still fighting for GMO transparency. In July of this year, the Center for Food Safety (CFS), along with PCC Community Markets, Good Earth Natural Foods, Natural Grocers, and others, have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Trump Administration’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) challenging USDA’s rules on labeling genetically engineered (GE) or GMO foods, [Read More]
CBD & Hemp Extract: Navigating the Legal & Regulatory Landscape for Your Business
Thanks to the revolutionary 2018 Farm Bill, the versatile and nutrient-dense hemp crop has reclaimed its place in the broad of light of day among America’s other agricultural commodities. But the FDA’s continued delay in creating a regulatory framework for ingestible CBD and hemp extract products is causing a spectrum of confusion and causing states to take matters into their own hands. Renowned international hemp law and policy expert Joy Beckerman will deliver an engaging overview of the federal [Read More]
Friday Keynote: Passion, Purpose,and Partnership
The environment that we find ourselves in 2020 is without a doubt dynamic, robust and volatile in ways that many of us have not experienced in our lifetime. How we show up, what we pay attention to and how we define our purpose has never been more important. Real and perceived barriers to success in the natural and organic space continue to shift and change. Passion alone is not enough, though keeping it close to enable pulling yourself up [Read More]
The Return of the Buffalo with TANKA Bison Bars
Native American Natural Foods, an innovative, Native American owned and operated company that produces the highly acclaimed TANKA Bar, recently announced the closing of a multi-million-dollar equity capital investment. This positive news stands in stark contrast to their position one year ago when Tanka was on the brink of losing everything due to larger competitors with deeper pockets squeezing them out of the market. The brand’s comeback and exciting trajectory are thanks to a diverse set of partners—including investigative food [Read More]
Hemp & CBD: From Food to Feelings; Sourcing to Selling
This workshop is designed to lead you through how to navigate the hemp & CBD products landscape, source responsibly, and communicate with integrity and confidence to your customers. Originally starting as a hemp processor,Tonia will share with you the nuances of hemp production, growing, processing, packaging and promotion best practices for both hemp seed-derived foods and CBD products, and the differences between the two. BIO: Tonia left her work in cancer survivorship programming to pursue the great health benefits of [Read More]