Book of Proceedings

In January 2023, a group of farmer leaders and agricultural educators joined me for a training on dialogue-based, learner-centered approaches to farmer education. This training foreshadowed a vision of the Open Space method coming to life at the annual Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference. Titled a “convergence,” this time at the conference would be the culmination and demonstration of farmer-led self-organized learning. We hope that this new dimension and process will continue to add to the magic of the Organic Farming Conference. It created a structure for meaningful networking and ideas exchange and the pages of this book are a reminder of what we shared as a community about what it means to move toward true “Farm/Farmer Viability”. I hugely appreciate all of you that shared your time and insights to create this Book of Proceedings. —Lori Stern, Executive Director at Marbleseed