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Conference 2008 Friday, October 3 Workshops Keynote Event Walking Their Talk: The Values and Vision Connection
Keeping your values and vision at the forefront of your organization can be hard in the pursuit of growth and profit. Not every company can maintain their original goals under the pressure of day to day business. There are those, however, who have made it happen. Join Zhena Muzyka from Zhena’s Gypsy Teas, Mike Fata from Manitoba Harvest, Ed Nichols from Sambazon and Patrick Lee from Guayaki as they discuss their struggles to balance it all while creating successful companies. Workshops: Session I Everything You Wanted to Know About Seed but Were Afraid to Ask
Plant sex and seed are complex, but you needn’t feel embarrassed in your garden beds or in this workshop. Hosts Frank Morton and Matthew Dillon will walk you through a Seed 101 and get you comfortable with our intimate relations with plants. They will help you understand how we ended up with seedless watermelon when we started out with a bitter poisonous gourd some 10,000 years ago. What is plant breeding and how did we get all this diversity anyway if genetic laws of inheritance were only discovered 100 years ago? What is an heirloom, an open-pollinated variety, a hybrid and a GMO (transgenic, biotech, GE) and should we really embrace the former and fear the latter? Organic produce doesn’t mean it came from organic seed – why not? And just because it’s certified organic doesn’t guarantee there aren’t biotech genes in it–WHAT ? From seed politics to reproductive biology this seedy duo will attempt to show you the seductive ways of plant sex, the resulting seed, and the story of how and why modern seed is so much trouble – but has so much potential for fun. Women’s Health Research Update
This session will provide selective research updates on important natural therapies in women’s health and will include areas relating to menopause, osteoporosis, PMS, cancers, heart disease and more. Common ingredients and topics that will likely have important new research will include black cohosh, soy, vitamin D, Maca, calcium, HRT, Pycnogenol, Hops, green tea, and others. A Cut Above: Product Standards To Help You Set your Place in the Market
Does your store/company have product standards? how do you decide what items your store carries, which companies you do business with, what standards you adhere to? Join this highly experienced and dynamic panel of professionals for a lively discussion of product standards. Learn what questions you can ask, what details to know, and how to judge the products your store carries. Find out what other stores are using as their standards. Share your ideas/standards and opinions with the participants. Domestic Fair Trade: News and Updates and How You Can Have an Impact
In this session, we will update you on the pilot projects occurring throughout North America with the Fair Deal, the Agricultural Justice Project folks, the Local Fair Trade Network and others. We will review the principles, the application to join the Domestic Fair Trade Association and the progress on certification. Become a part of the next great movement within the organic/natural food business. The Changing Economy and What's In It For Us?
"Change is the only constant,” said someone smarter than us. Join in a discussion to learn in which ways the economy is changing and what that might mean to us as business people. We'll talk about the economy in general– what direction it’s going (not just doom and gloom) and how it might affect you and your consumers. In addition we'll talk about what kind of resources you will find out in the banking world to help you weather the upcoming challenge and opportunities. Workshops: Session II Nanotechnology: The Small and the Large of It – Where Is it and Where Do We Think It Fits In!
Nanotechnology has slipped into our environment in many ways, largely without tickling our consciousness. I will present some background on what it is, where we may already be experiencing it, and open a discussion what we might be able to do about this issue. Think GMOs, only smaller!
This workshop will provide a broad and visual overview of recent structural changes in the North American organic food system, including production, processing, distribution and retailing. Although this rapidly growing sector is increasingly controlled by fewer and fewer people, "stealth ownership" keeps this fact somewhat hidden. Strategies for expanding opportunities for ecologically sustainable and socially just food systems in the face of these trends will be discussed.
In this class we'll discuss what tea is, where and how it is grown and produced as well as the subtleties of drinking it and it's therapeutic benefits. We'll cover what makes a white tea vs. a green tea vs. a black tea. Along with that we'll give first hand feedback of the positive role Fair Trade has played in the tea Industry and the growing influence of both Organic Certification and Fair Trade. Debunking the Marketing Plan Mystique
Why do you need a marketing plan? Isn't it all just in your head anyway? Don't you need to just go with the flow? Did you mean to do one before and you've been procrastinating ever since? Where do I begin? How do I start? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you'll fi nd answers in this workshop. It's true. Writing your marketing plan can be scary. Annie will show you how to write a low stress marketing plan that can work for any size of operation. The key is to make it simple and keep it light. And, make it pretty by using easy presentation tools. Clean Up Your Act: A Modern Chemistry Lesson Using Cleaning Products as Examples
Our everyday cleaning choices affect our health, the health of our families, and the health of our planet. Join this dynamic panel of professionals from the natural products industry as they speak about their products, ingredients and general issues surrounding cleaning products. Discuss the environmental implications of the myriad of cleaning products used daily in the US. What are our options? Friday Night Band Be the lead singer in the band! you are the lead singer, and our live band makes you a star! Find out what the folks at Nike, New Seasons Market, Weiden + Kennedy, R&H Construction, McMenamins, Bridgeport Brewing and thousands of other people already know…that Karaoke From Hell is a blast! Whether you are into punk, pop, rock, soul, country, folk, metal, or lounge, you can rock it in front of the world's original karaoke band. In turn, you get one hell of a cover band playing your favorite songs, too! Come and share your talent... or less-than-velvet tones... on your own, or with your friends at the microphone. There are over 400 songs to either nail or maim. you don't have to be good, but you also don't have to apologize. That, dear friends, is why it's from hell! Special session CATAPULT Session: Calling all CATAPULT users! Provender will host a 1-day forum for users and potential users of the CATAPULT point-of-sale system. The morning session will provide an opportunity to discuss operations at the register, membership, commonly used reports, and problem areas. The afternoon meeting will focus on more technical issues, including new-report-creation, hardware support, best practices and future cat development. All current and prospective CATAPULT users, managers, and support people are invited to attend what should be an informative and stimulating day. This special session is included with the cost of your conference registration. Conference main page
Provender Alliance
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