Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Ohio Farmer, Shoshanah Inwood, Presents her Winning Entry at the SARE 2008 National Conference


Ohio farmer Shoshanah Inwood of Colombus was the winner of the SARE 2008 New Voices Contest. - photo by Martha Nieset






Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program. In support of SARE’s mission to advance sustainable practices and innovations to the whole of American agriculture, SARE's 2008 New Voices Contest called for written, audio, and or video submissions that articulated new perspectives and illustrated an inspirational and pioneering vision for the advancement of sustainable agriculture over the next 20 years.


Contestants were asked to address the entrant’s vision of how truly sustainable production and marketing systems would improve profitability, stewardship of the land and water, and quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities. Applicants were asked to highlight practical strategies for evoking deeply held and/or broadly shared values to advance sustainable agriculture on a wider scale.


Inwood presented her contest entry at the closing plenary session at SARE’s 20th Anniversary New American Farm Conference, held March 25-27, 2008 in Kansas City, Missouri.


In 2000, Inwood co-founded Silver Tale Organic Farm in Lucas, Ohio. She has collaborated on projects with local farmers, Innovative Farmers of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Central-Ohio Chef Grower Network.


Inwood's dissertation work, examining farm succession at the rural-urban interface, was funded by NCR-SARE (GNC06-0070). She served on the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association (OEFFA) board for four years.


Inwood's 2007 annual report for "Sustaining the Family Farm at the Rural Urban Interface: Farm Succession Processes of Alternative Food and Agricultural Enterprises and Traditional Commodity Farmers" (GNC06-070) is available online here.

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