The Beacon Sloop Club will present Models for Sustainable Agriculture: Farming and Transport, with organic farmer and author Keith Stewart and Vermont Sail Freight Project founder Erik Andrus at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 20.
Today’s small farmer has to compete in a market dominated by large agribusinesses, government subsidies, and petro-chemicals.
Stewart will discuss how small organic farmers offer a high quality alternative to the large-scale, chemical-intensive, monoculture of the corporate dominated food chain.
Andrus will show how his sailing barge Ceres offers a model for an efficient regional food distributor connecting farmers with markets on the Champlain-Hudson Waterway.
Stewart was born and grew up in New Zealand. He holds a masters degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He turned to organic farming at age 42, and never looked back. He is the author of It’s a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life and Storey’s Guide to Growing Organic Vegetables and Herbs for Market.
Andrus, a farmer in Ferrisburgh, Vt., is interested in low-tech approaches to food and energy issues. The Vermont Sail Freight Project originated out of his farm’s commitment to resilient food systems and grew into the idea of a small, producer-owned craft sailing goods to market.
This free event will be held at the Beacon Sloop Club, 2 Flynn Dr., Beacon, (adjacent to the harbor). In the event of inclement weather check the website at beaconsloopclub.org. Call 845-463-4660 or 914-879-1082.
