Events and Speakers
Below is a list of upcoming and recent events that are either directly or indirectly related to the work being done by the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation.
If you would like to share related events, please send an email including the event title; dates; a short summary; and any flyers, attachments, or hotlinks to Katie Trozzo.
Upcoming Events
Recent Events
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Preserving and Reviving Yesá Culture through Food, Language, and Sacred Places , articleThe presentation will discuss how a movement of cultural revitalization began with ancestral seeds and evolved to bring about a resurgence of traditional food practices and lifeways that have fostered Yesá community identity and belonging through language and cultural learning. Yesá refers to “the people” of Eastern Siouan communities descended from the Monacan Alliance, whose ancestral territories spanned throughout the Appalachian piedmont, ridge and valley, and mountains from the falls lines in Richmond, Virginia, west into West Virginia and south into North Carolina. The talk will provide both a historical perspective of Yesá food practices and how they shaped the landscapes of this region as well as examine the current experiences of Yesá communities that are fighting to reclaim and protect sacred places, seeds, and the traditions that connect them to their ancestral homelands for future generations.
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Responsible Innovation for Climate-Smart Agriculture: Cases from the U.S. and South Asia , articleResponsible innovation can be helpful in the realm of developing climate-smart farming tools. However, to achieve the benefits of these innovations for the public interest and for scaling up, it is imperative to cultivate trust among a range of actors and organizations across the food system value chain. This trust-building process necessitates the development of transparent pathways for converting raw data into actionable insights, a task that involves farmers, technology providers, and policymakers navigating complex and often competing policy landscapes. This presentation presents methods and ideas for co-designing innovative smart farming tools, including artificial intelligence-based decision support systems and sensor-driven performance-based incentives designed to govern the environment and promote sustainable farming practices.
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Storytelling, Food Systems, and Networks: Reflections on Growing a Region , articleStorytelling inspires many creative possibilities for collective learning and reflection. In this session, we'll be joined by Center Fellow, Maureen (Mo) McGonagle, with the Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP), in collaboration with Justice Madden and Kim Niewolny to discuss the Roanoke Foodshed Network (RFN) and the public launch of "Stories of Community Food Work,” a participatory narrative inquiry and photo essay initiative uplifting stories from Roanoke region food system organizers, practitioners, art makers, farmers, and more. This form of community-based research offers an approach to understand how the ways we share knowledge shapes the food system we aim to create and sustain. From a regional food system and network perspective, we also explore how these stories provide a vision for building community capacity, cultural understanding, and organizational cohesion. Be part of this enriching conversation, as we celebrate the possibilities of individual narratives in building a more equitable and resilient food system in the Roanoke region.
Events Archive
Virginia Cooperative Extension is a partnership of Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments. Its programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, military status, or any other basis protected by law.