Local Foods is pleased to announce that early this month two of of our nominees, Bethany Bender, Local Foods VISTA, and Jason Grimm, Food System Planner for the Amana Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development, were accepted as delegates to this October’s fourth annual Terra Madre Conference in Torino, Italy! You can help send these passionate, involved delegates to Torino by attending our first benefit dinner at Devotay in Iowa City on Sunday, August 8th! Proceeds from the benefit will go directly to the delegates’ airfare costs for which they are held responsible.

Bethany Bender of Kalona is a ‘09 UI Graduate with a BA in English whose passion for sustainable agriculture and slow food began in 2006 during her year-long work exchange on a small family farm and organic bakery and produce store in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Bender is currently serving her first of two terms with AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. As Food System Planner, Jason Grimm coordinates a Local Food Task Force which has established a strategic local food system plan for Linn and Johnson Counties. In addition to his work, Grimm is in active member in the Iowa City/Coralville community as a teacher for Backyard Abundance, a speaker for urban agriculture and also a beginning farmer working actively with his wife on their family farm near Williamsburg.

Terra Madre is a global project based in the Philosophy of Slow Food, one that supports the production and consumption of food that is good, clean and fair. This global and grassroots movement honors a way of eating and living with food that is both enjoyable and based in responsible production that is harmless to the environment, animal welfare and human health. Terra Madre brings together active members of “food communities,” like Local Foods Connection, from across the globe to collaborate and strengthen their work to keep small-scale agriculture and sustainable food production alive and well.  Individuals in “food communities” fall under a system of classification created by Slow Food to recognize the efforts of people in the sustainable agriculture movement. Whereas a traditionally-understood community is defined by streets and roads, these communities are defined by the work done by individuals. Together these communities stand at the forefront of  a new agriculture and a new food production philosophy based on taste quality, sustainability and social justice. This conference also coincides with the International Slow Food Fair, Salone del Gusto, the world’s largest artisanal food marketplace which gives delegates an opportunity to learn about and enjoy the color and variety of our planet’s produce and producers.
Terra Madre delegates, hailing from over 150 countries, are selected through an application process intended to bring together passionate and qualified sustainable food producers, cooks, farmers, educators and activists. As one of the multiple aspects of the conference, delegates at Terra Madre will examine eight vital issues in the future of agriculture and the planet earth from biodiversity, to renewable energy and education to indigenous knowledge. With the support of donations from fundraisers this summer and fall, Ms. Bender and Mr. Grimm will join over 5,000 other representatives to discuss innovative solutions for a sustainable future.
Learn more about Terra Madre here!