DAY ONE: SPEAKERS
- DR CHRISTINE JONES | Soil Ecologist
- DR ANDREW SMITH | C.O.O Rodale Institute
- MATT GALLAGHER | Asure Quality
- JONO FREW | Natural Performance/Quorum Sense
- PHILIPPA JAMIESON | Writer/Editor in the Organic Community
- NIC CONLAND | Verdi (MRV)
DAY TWO: FIELD TRIPS
- Gavin Fisher’s Farm (Te Aroha)
- Zealong Tea Estate (Hamilton)
MORE ABOUT DAY ONE:
At The Narrows Landing, near Hamilton Airport, we’ll be hosting a wide range of excellent speakers, headlining with renowned soil ecologist from Australia, DR CHRISTINE JONES. We’re looking forward to a video-conference with DR ANDREW SMITH, the C.O.O of the great Rodale Institute in Pennslyvania. MATT GALLAGHER (AsureQuality) will be discussing all things to do with his speciality of certification, JONO FREW (Natural Performance & Quorum Sense) will present on aligning farming with nature for the future, PHILIPPA JAMIESON (Writer/Editor in the Organic Community) is researching Meat and Milk: Fake vs Real for the conference, and NIC CONLAND’s (Verdi) presentation will be about calculating carbon on the farm. And we’re hoping a member of the MPI Organic Standard team will be attending a Q&A session to update us on progress.
(Learn more about our speakers below.)
The day is fully catered at our wonderful venue – set in gardens and only 3km from Hamilton Airport – with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, and a delicious buffet dinner to take us into a sociable evening.
MORE ABOUT DAY TWO:
We have two fascinating field trips planned, and we’ll be chartering coaches and organising packed lunches for a great day out. Delegates will be split into two groups to visit the destinations, and swap venues halfway through the day.
GAVIN FISHER was one of the original instigators behind the formation of ODPG. He has been farming organically for decades and the fruits of his labour are visible in every corner of his property.The cow races are bordered with trees of every description, fruit, nuts and medicinal varieties for the animals to graze adlib. Gavin is an inspirational caretaker of the environment. ‘Seeing is believing’. He himself would reverse that to ‘believing is seeing’.
ZEALONG TEA ESTATE is widely regarded as a Waikato icon. It is the only commercial tea estate in New Zealand, producing 100% organic award-winning tea, and a world-leading destination for tea, art and hospitality. We have booked a behind the scenes tour to learn how Zealong grows tea organically in New Zealand, and much much more.