2003 Archive - Please Note: This is last year's information.

FEEDING THE WORLD: Strategies to Provide Food & Water

Pre-Conference seminars (separate registration).

Global food demand is growing along with the explosion in population. And yet, food production is growing faster than the population. A collaborative discussion, and demonstration will explore techniques and design strategies to provide food and water in even the most challenging parts of the world.

Responding to the worst drought in 100 years has been confusing, disturbing and difficult. The main unanswerable questions are, "How long is it going to last?" and "Is global warming or other conditions going to cause this kind of drought to be more common place?" One theme seems to stand out and ask to be named, and that is the theme of waste, of the unnecessary uses of water that we have ignored because water has been so plentiful and taken for granted.

20% of the world's population lacks clean water and 40% lacks adequate sanitation. Improved water delivery and irrigation methods can improve both local food supply and income.

This is the only Pre Conference workshop being held off site. The Harlequin's Gardens is a small family business that specializes in Colorado-adapted plants: hardy own-root roses, xeriscape plants, native perennials and shrubs, herbs and rock garden plants. They have been testing these plants for 17 years at our exposed and dry North Boulder.

Dick Chapin, Chapin Watermatics

When starvation threatens, the short term solution is food distribution to save lives. The long term solution is to teach the poor to grow their own vegetables when there is not rain. This workshop is an opportunity to learn from one of drip irrigation's pioneers, Dick Chapin and his experience in how improved irrigation can make a huge difference in developing communities as well as in your own back yard. Dick has been working with drip systems for over 40 years and is the inventor-manufacturer of the patented Turbulent-Water Drip Irrigation Tape. (http://www.chapindrip.com/)

Mikl Brawner, Harlequin Gardens

Mikl got his initial training along the creeks and woods of eastern Iowa. Then he studied biology at the University of Iowa, but the further education he sought to become an ecologist and naturalist were not available, so this being the sixties, he went to India with the Peace Corps. Back in America, he managed a small organic apple orchard, and started a tree care business which he has continued for 25 years. Studying plants, researching alternatives to pesticides, and developing a xeriscape garden led him from the tree tops to a plant nursery. Now the evolving Harlequin's Gardens is his life-work, helping the gardening community to bring nature into their personal lives and homes. (http://www.harlequinsgardens.com/)

Martin Price, USA/Rooftop Gardening Methods

ECHO answers technical questions, provides introductory seed packets for lesser-known tropical plants that have special use in some situations. Martin Price is the Executive Director of ECHO. Dr. Price is an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, and a member of the honorary society Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Price has led ECHO for 22 years as it serves missionaries and development workers who help small farmers and gardeners. (http://www.echonet.org/ )

Bill Melvin

Permaculture envelops methodologies for sustainable living design including energy production, water catchment strategies, land based economies, organic food production, appropriate technology, human dynamics and housing. Permaculture is a design methodology that seeks the utilization of appropriate resources, the maximization of efficiency, and the goal of self-reliance. (http://www.EcoscapeDesign.com)

Devon Pattillo

As population increases and the farmable land and water resources available to families decreases, there will be an increased demand for the land to produce more and more food. Ecology Action, a non-profit organization based in Willits, California has been researching techniques for the last 32 years that produce high yields while simultaneously building soil fertility.

Florence Reed

Sustainable Harvest International and the 670 Central American families with whom we work have planted nearly one million trees and converted thousands of acres of degraded land to sustainable land-use practices, thereby saving tens of thousands of acres of tropical forest from slash-and-burn farming. Florence Reed started Sustainable Harvest International in 1997 to provide farmers with the long-term technical assistance they need in order to reverse rainforest destruction and poverty in the tropics.

"I believe that with sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture, farmers could take control of their environmental and economic destinies". http://www.sustainableharvest.org/