On Monday, April 2, the day before the Our Farms, Our Future Conference officially begins, NCAT, through its ATTRA program, will get things going with a special networking session from 5:30 to 7 p.m. for military veterans.
NCAT and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program are bringing the nation’s leading farmers, ranchers, researchers, and educators to St. Louis for the April 3-5 conference.
In recent years, ATTRA has offered “Armed to Farm” training for veterans around the country who are interested in sustainable agriculture as a career choice. The early get together will be a chance for veterans who have taken part in that training and any other veterans planning to attend the conference to “network” and share their experiences.
For more information, or to register visit http://ofof.sare.org.
Other Conference Offerings
The conference will address major food sustainability trends with presentations by a diverse group of farmers and ranchers using a wide range of innovative systems to sustainably produce vegetables, grains, fruit, cattle, hogs, poultry and other livestock.
It will feature plenary sessions and workshops for grain, livestock and specialty crop producers, along with cutting-edge material for researchers, educators, agency leaders, and non-profit representatives.
Our Farms Our Future also will feature sessions on Farm Policy; the First Years on the Farm 
or Ranch; Climate Change; Local Food Systems; and Soil Health as well as many educational sessions about a variety of production systems, including poultry, cattle, small ruminant, vegetable, grain, fruit, and others.
And participants will be able to get out and stretch their legs 
during eight farm tours that will showcase sustainable models of rural and urban agricultural production within the vibrant St. Louis food system.
