The format for each Wednesday session includes one or more live keynote speakers supplemented by breakout discussions, poster sessions, and live breaks with sponsors.

Before September 18, registration is only $100 ($50 if you are a student). After September 18, registration goes up to $125 and $75 for students. Here’s the really good part about registration – all registered attendees get access to the breakout session presentations starting in September. They also get access to all live and breakout discussions as they occur each Wednesday in October, and they will have 24/7 access to all recordings of presentations through April 2021.

The organizers have lined up a diverse group of breakout session presenters and topics. Check out the UFSS website for all the details on breakouts. Keynote topics, speakers, and dates are:

• Oct. 7 – Urban Agriculture and Food Systems – Building Climate-Resilient Urban and Regional Food Systems, Jess Halliday, associate of RUAF Global Partnership on Sustainable.

• Oct. 14 – Urban Agriculture, Climate Change and Food Security: Potential Solutions and Synergies, Chuck Rice, Kansas State University Distinguished Professor of Soil Microbiology.

• Oct. 21 – The Role of Urban Farming in Nutrition Security, Elizabeth Mitcham, director of the Horticulture Innovation Lab, University of California-Davis.

• Oct. 21 – Food Justice is More than Growing Food and Feeding People, Karen Washington, farmer and activist with Rise & Root Farm and Black Urban Growers.

• Oct. 28 – Fixes That Fail: Using Community-Based Systems Modeling to Diagnose Injustice in the Food System, Jill Clark, associate professor, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University and Jennifer King, assistant director of training and community education, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Mary Ann Swetland Center for Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University.

• Oct. 28 – The Hydra-Headed Food System: Imagining the Whole and Connecting the Dots, Mark Winne, food policy expert, former executive of the Hartford Food System.

Register online today at the Urban Food Systems Symposium website. Got questions? Send those to the organizing committee at ufss@ksu.edu.

From February 20 through summer 2020 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will present Countryside, The Future, an exhibition addressing urgent environmental, political, and socioeconomic issues through the lens of architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas and AMO, the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). A unique exhibition for the Guggenheim rotunda, Countryside, The Future will explore radical changes in the vast nonurban areas of Earth with an immersive installation premised on original research. The project extends investigative work already underway by AMO, Koolhaas, and students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Wageningen University, Netherlands; and the University of Nairobi.

Countryside, The Future is organized by Troy Conrad Therrien, Curator of Architecture and Digital Initiatives, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, Director of AMO, with Ashley Mendelsohn, Assistant Curator, Architecture and Digital Initiatives, at the Guggenheim. Key collaborators include Niklas Maak, Stephan Petermann, Irma Boom, Janna Bystrykh, Federico Martelli/Cookies, Clemens Driessen, Lenora Ditzler, Kayoko Ota, Linda Nkatha, Etta Mideva Madete, and Ingo Niermann.

“In the past decades, I have noticed that while much of our energies and intelligence have been focused on the urban areas of the world—under the influence of global warming, the market economy, American tech companies, African and European initiatives, Chinese politics, and other forces—the countryside has changed almost beyond recognition,” stated Koolhaas. “The story of this transformation is largely untold, and it is particularly meaningful for AMO to present it in one of the world’s great museums in one of the world’s densest cities.”

For the past four decades, Koolhaas has led the discipline of architecture in a global investigation of the contemporary city as part of the Harvard Project on the City and is known for books such as Delirious New York (1978), S,M,L,XL (1995), and Elements of Architecture (2018) and for architectural projects around the world. Countryside, The Future will mark a shift from a focus on the urban to the rural, remote, deserted, and wild territories collectively investigated here as “countryside,” or the 98% of the earth’s surface not occupied by cities. Through this exhibition, Koolhaas offers a selection of global case studies showing the countryside as a frontline of transformation.

The exhibition will explore artificial intelligence and automation, the effects of genetic experimentation, political radicalization, global warming, mass and micro migration, large-scale territorial management, human-animal ecosystems, subsidies and tax incentives, the impact of the digital on the physical world, and other developments that are altering landscapes across the globe.

Countryside, The Future will offer speculation on the future through evidence of transition from a diverse range of sites. It documents examples from around the world as case studies, exposing the dramatic transformations that have taken place in the countryside, while our attention has been collectively focused on the city. Along the spiraling ramp of the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda, visitors will encounter thematic groupings of images, sounds, objects, and texts that interweave references from across time and space. The multisensory installation will comprise a succession of new imagery, films, archival materials, and custom-designed wallpaper as an ordered landscape against which digitally driven disruptions will intervene.

A richly illustrated “report” will be developed in tandem with the exhibition. The book will present the exhibition content alongside reports from the journeys taken by the contributors while developing the project, with texts by Rem Koolhaas, Samir Bantal, Niklas Maak, Troy Conrad Therrien, Lenora Ditzler, Kayoko Ota, Alexandra Kharitonova, Anne Schneider, Ingo Niermann, Linda Nkatha, Etta Mideva Madete, Clemens Driessen, Stephan Petermann, Janna Bystrykh, and Jiang Jun. Irma Boom, an Amsterdam-based graphic designer and longtime collaborator of Koolhaas/AMO, the report will be copublished with Taschen.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a set of public programs to be announced closer to the exhibition and posted at guggenheim.org/calendar.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT

Countryside, The Future is made possible by Lavazza and American Express.

Major support for Countryside, The Future is provided by IKEA Foundation and Sies Marjan.

Additional support is provided by Northern Trust and Design Trust.

The Leadership Committee, chaired by Dasha Zhukova, is gratefully acknowledged for its support, with special thanks to the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Naomi Milgrom AO, The Durst Organization, Robert M. Rubin and Stéphane Samuel, and an anonymous donor.

Additional funding is provided by Creative Industries Fund NL, the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, and the Netherland-America Foundation.

In-kind support for the exhibition is provided by NethWork, Infinite Acres, Deutz-Fahr, 80 Acres Farms, Priva, Planet Labs, Inc., Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Volkswagen, Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, and AMO B.V.

The globe—its topography, animal inhabitants, political regimes—highlighted with an abstract representation of the areas of countryside addressed by AMO in the exhibition.

ABOUT REM KOOLHAAS

Rem Koolhaas (b. 1944, Rotterdam) founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in 1975 together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp. He graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and in 1978 published Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. His 1995 book S,M,L,XL, summarizes the work of OMA in “a novel about architecture.” In 2001 Koolhaas published with his students two volumes of the Harvard Project on the City, The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping and Great Leap Forward, and in 2011 Project Japan: Metabolism Talks looked back at the Metabolism movement. His built work includes the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015), the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal (2005), Seattle Central Library (2004), and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Berlin (2003). Koolhaas designed the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, open from 2001 to 2008, and, in 1978, The Sparkling Metropolis, an exhibition on the top ramp of the rotunda of the Guggenheim in New York. Current projects include the Qatar Foundation headquarters, Qatar National Library, Taipei Performing Arts Center, a new building for Axel Springer in Berlin, and the Factory in Manchester. Koolhaas is a professor at Harvard University and in 2014 was the director of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, entitled Fundamentals.

ABOUT AMO

Cofounded by Rem Koolhaas in 1999, AMO is the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). AMO applies architectural thinking to domains beyond building, often working in parallel with OMA’s clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. AMO has worked with Prada, the European Union, Universal Studios, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Condé Nast, Harvard University, and the Hermitage. It has produced exhibitions, including Expansion and Neglect (2005) and When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013 (2013) at the Venice Biennale; The Gulf (2006), Cronocaos (2010), Public Works (2012), and Elements of Architecture (2014) at the Venice Architecture Biennale; and Serial Classics and Portable Classics (both 2015) at Fondazione Prada, Milan and Venice, respectively. AMO published The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2001) and Great Leap Forward (2001) with the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Content (2004), Al Manakh (2007), Al Manakh: Gulf Continued (2007), and Project Japan: Metabolism Talks (2011). Notable current projects include a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

ABOUT THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. In 2019 the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates 60 years as an architectural icon and “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet. To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Admission: Adults $25, students/seniors (65+) $18, members and children under 12 free. Open daily from 10 am to 5:30 pm; Tuesdays and Saturdays until 8 pm. Admission is pay-what-you-wish on Saturdays from 5 to 8 pm.

For general information, call 212 423 3500 or visit the museum online at: guggenheim.org or guggenheim.org/social

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) introduced the Urban Agriculture Production Act in September. This bipartisan bill aims to support nutritional and farmers’ market programs and help create the next generation of local, urban farmers and food producers.

Kaptur was joined by 11 original cosponsors: Rep. John Conyers (MI-13), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13), Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL), Rep. Gwen Moore (WI-04), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Rep. Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-13), Rep. Dwight Evans (PA-02), Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) and Rep. Don Young (AK-AL). The bill is supported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition.

Congresswoman Kaptur sat down with Urban Ag News to talk about the Urban Agriculture Production Act and the impact it could have on growers, local food retailers and urban communities.

UAN: What are the goals of the Urban Agriculture Production Act and why did you introduce the bill at this time?

Kaptur: The Urban Agriculture Production Act can serve as a marker for the next Farm Bill reauthorization. My key goals are to support small farmers and producers, work to eliminate food deserts and promote local agriculture in our nation’s metropolitan areas.

Across America, too many of our urban neighborhoods are absent of stores where community members can purchase fresh, healthy foods. There are more than 23 million individuals residing in these so-called “food desert” neighborhoods, where there are no stores within one mile in which they can buy healthy food. Without healthy options, people are forced to eat unhealthy, processed, junk food, because that is all that is available and affordable. This bill is a step to correct this unacceptable trend.

UAN: The term “urban agriculture” includes urban farms, hoop houses, aqua-culture, hydroponic and aquaponics facilities and rooftop, vertical and indoor farms. Would this also include new or existing commercial greenhouse growers who may be looking to set up production facilities in urban areas?

Kaptur: Certainly. But it is important to also note that new approaches to greenhouse growing should be re-imagined in order to manage energy and water systems through more efficient and renewable means. In urban communities like those I represent, resources are available and are waiting to be utilized. Vacant and blighted properties can be repurposed into productive sites with the installation of energy- and water-efficient commercial greenhouses. Waste heat from manufacturing operations can also be rechanneled to allow for an entirely new class of four-season growing.

Embracing such opportunities can empower new people through agriculture. Residents in urban areas could benefit from not only the jobs created, but also from the unique skills gained in food production and distribution processing.

UAN: How is the production of the food and its sales going to be coordinated? In other words, how are growers going to know that they have markets ready to handle their produce even before they grow the crops and retailers are going to be sure they have an adequate amount of produce to sell?

Kaptur: That is up to the growers, but ideally, we will have at least some venues, think farmers’ markets that are also empowered by the investments we’re making in this bill. From there, growers and producers can get a foot in the door to compete and succeed.

UAN: The Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an urban agriculture outreach program. Part of this program enables the Secretary to award grants. Would growers be eligible for these grants and what type of production and marketing activities/projects could these funds be used to finance?

Kaptur: That is one of the most exciting pieces of the legislation. Growers would be eligible for these grants. And the grants are for the following types of activities in urban or in and around urban areas:

1. Infrastructure, land acquisition and land conversation.
2. Education and training to enhance agricultural production.
3. The aggregation of farmer products and supplies for purposes of transportation to market.
4. Other activities that support urban agricultural production as determined by the Secretary of Agriclture.

UAN: Where would the money come from to operate the urban agriculture outreach program and who would oversee it?

Kaptur: Our bill authorizes Congress to allocate $50 million each year to the Department of Agriculture for the urban agriculture outreach program. It also creates an Urban Agricultural Liaison who would administer the program.

UAN: How much money will be available to initiate the urban agriculture outreach program and for how long would this funding be available? Does this amount of funding change from year to year and does it have to be appropriated annually?

Kaptur: $50 million is the amount authorized in our bill, starting in 2018 and each fiscal year thereafter. This authorizing amount does not change from year to year. We hope this money will eventually inspire other investment from businesses, nonprofits, churches and even local and state governments.

In my hometown of Toledo, for example, a local restaurant, Balance Pan-Asian Grille, is building an urban indoor aquaponics farm next door to their new location to grow the food that will be served every day. It is very exciting and ideally, our bill would help create more opportunities and the expertise for this to happen a lot more across the country.

UAN: Who will decide as to which production and marketing projects receive funding?

Kaptur: The Secretary of Agriculture will determine how the production and marketing funding is awarded based on the criteria set out the bill.

UAN: Some of these projects are eligible for grants and others are eligible for loans. Who will make the decision as to which projects receive which type of funding?

Kaptur: The Secretary of Agriculture, either as acting through the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency or any other USDA agent who he deems appropriate, will make the determination.

UAN: With the mentality of the current administration and some legislators in Washington to cut spending, what do you think are the chances of this bill passing even though it has received bipartisan support?

Kaptur: That is why we are focused on incorporating as much of our urban agriculture bill into the upcoming Farm Bill. Though it won’t be easy, this legislation is a must-pass bill, and historically has always crossed the finish line.

UAN: Will the Urban Agriculture Production Act have any connection with the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill? If so, would funding the urban agriculture outreach program and its projects have any impact on funding other programs in the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill?

Kaptur: Well, we hope so. And I am confident that other Members of Congress from both rural and urban areas alike will see the value in spurring innovation and investing in our urban agriculture infrastructure.

For more: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), 2186 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; (202) 225-4146; https://kaptur.house.gov.

Yuck – A 4th Grader’s Short Documentary About School Lunch – Trailer

by maxwellproject

A brave fourth grader goes undercover to reveal the truth about the food service program at his elementary school.

The Solution

Food For Thought at The Grow Haus

Check out the full article here.

The Grow Haus is an organization working in Denver to help bring healthy food options to the “food deserts” in the area. The Grow Haus uses aquaponics to effectively grow and sustain diverse gardens in an urban environment.

>>> More from Issue 3