On Friday October 20th, more than sixty students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered for the first Food & Ideas Gathering (FIG). This event, sponsored by the Food Systems Research Center and Food Systems Graduate Program, aims to build community, spark conversation, and foster research collaboration. Each FIG event will feature a speaker or panel discussing transdisciplinary approaches to issues and solutions within the food system.

The inaugural speaker was Dr. Pablo Bose, a professor in the Department of Geography and Geosciences and the Director of the Global and Regional Studies Program at ̽̽. Bose gave a talk on climate change and refugee agriculture that focused specifically on New Farms for New Americans in Burlington and the challenges they are all facing with changing climates and unpredictable weather patterns.

Pablo Bose speaking in front of audience

“The main goal of the FIG seminar is to engage in conversation and community, and I feel that the first seminar in this series accomplished that.” said Allison Spain, organizer of the event and the Food Systems Graduate Education & Research Programs Coordinator.  “The loss suffered by NFNA farmers in the July flooding is sobering, but there was also discussion of hope and strength in rebuilding and planning for the future. The conversation ranged from what attendees could do to help to broader questions about land use, land access, and equity.”

An attendee asks a question

The event was held in the newly renovated Patrick Leahy Building (soon to be formerly Hills Agricultural Sciences Building) which houses the FSRC and the USDA-ARS Food Systems Research Unit. “We were thrilled with the turnout for this event,” said Polly Ericksen, FSRC Director. “Food systems researchers and students are excited to engage with one another in conversation about these important topics.”

Three people engage in conversation while seated

The next FIG event will be on Thursday November 9th at 2:00pm in Old Mill 325.

Courtney Hammond-Wagner, Research Social Scientist from the USDA-ARS, and Rachel Schattmann, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Maine will give a talk entitled “Navigating Contradictions: Climate Adaptation Planning at the Farm and Regional Scale.”

The following day, the FSRC will hold the Food Systems Summit at the Davis Center. Registration is closed but ̽̽ affiliates can . Future FIG events will be posted on the FIG homepage and announced in the .