Conference highlights organic foods

Despite Americans' continued primary reliance on a well-traveled, highly processed, fast-food diet, the organic/sustainable/local food movement has made great headway into the mainstream in recent years.

Thanks to best-selling books including Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" and Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," as well as the award-winning documentaries "Super Size Me" and "Food, Inc.," along with efforts of renowned chefs such as Alice Waters and Jamie Oliver, we are beginning to reconnect with the origins of our food.

Some attribute it to Carlo Petrini's mid-1980s fight to keep fast-food chains from usurping the traditional cuisine of his native Italy. Petrini initiated the "Slow Food Movement," which has spread to more than 100 countries worldwide, and his passionate quest to protect the cherished food and farming traditions of his homeland has spread far beyond his home shores. Petrini will be in Athens on Saturday night to deliver the keynote address at the 13th annual Georgia Organics Conference and Expo at the Classic Center.

Georgia Organics has been delivering the message about organic food since the 1970s, when it started as a small group of organic farmers simply sharing information amongst themselves. The member-supported nonprofit has grown tremendously, now boasting 1,400 members and includes gardeners, chefs, health advocates and consumers - "a real community" says Alice Rolls, executive director of Georgia Organics.

"We all eat every day; this impacts everyone," Rolls says.

The group's mission is to integrate healthy, sustainable and locally grown food into the lives of all Georgians. It "addresses a cross-section of issues: climate change, health, obesity, jobs - agriculture touches all of these," Rolls says. The group also has been involved in a number of initiatives, among them Farm-to-School food projects, farmer workshops and collaboration with Cooperative Extension Services and the USDA.

At this weekend's conference, more than 1,000 attendees will enjoy two jam-packed days of workshops, educational sessions, entertainment, farm tours and plenty of feasting. These events are sold out, but there still is availability for Friday's expo, featuring tastings and cooking demonstrations, a seed swap and more than 70 exhibitors. This year's theme is "Reclaiming Agriculture," with a focus on culture.

"Eating is a convivial experience, we need to grow together and think about food and where it comes from," Rolls says. To that end, she calls for a "shift from a commodity system to a community-based system to reconnect the dots from farm to fork."

Plowing the Way

Planning for the conference included input from an Athens host committee, which coordinated Friday night's opening reception featuring music from Athens' band Hope For Agoldensummer and Mellow Mushroom pizza loaded with toppings provided by growers from the Athens-based online farmers market, Athens Locally Grown.

The open-to-the-public event offers "an opportunity to get a sense of the movement, the community, the businesses and the farmers in the expo," Rolls says.

"Georgia Organics embraces the place that they are and has a lasting impact," says Eric Wagoner, market manager of Athens Locally Grown. "They utilize local talents and expertise as much as possible."

Athens Locally Grown has more than 100 growers and more than 2,300 members and saw transactions of more than $360,000 last year - food dollars that remained in the community. Wagoner, who developed the software in 2002, is a full-time computer programmer and a part-time farmer. The program has since expanded to more than 100 other communities, and Wagoner will be presenting an educational session about the online market during the conference.

"Athens has been a major player and contributor to the whole organic and sustainable farm movement in Georgia,&qu

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