Physicians, nurses, dieticians, public health directors, food security Advocates & other health & human service professionals

will benefit from three workshops in Track 2:  Navigating to Food and Health, which is sponsored by Building a Healthy Nation: Broome County Strategic Alliance for Health. At the workshops, discuss how major public health challenges across the state and nation such as hunger, obesity, diabetes and other nutritionally based chronic diseases can be addressed with increased production of and access to fresh, affordable, high quality farm products.

§         Registered Dieticians, you can receive 6 CEU Credits by attending the conference!

§         Inside the Legislative Chamber & Out in the Field: How Food Policies & Practices Impact Our Health in Track 2: Learn about the latest research from Jennifer Wilkins, PhD, RD, Senior Extension Agent, Cornell University, on the relationship between food policy and obesity, nutritionally based chronic disease and hunger. Food and agricultural policies are powerful tools for realizing better (or worse) health. Her Food Citizen newspaper column appears monthly in the Albany Times Union and the Ithaca Journal.  

§         The Real Dirt on Healthy Soil, Food & People:  Explore thought-provoking perspectives and consider the nutritional foundation for human health from the ground up, with Kenneth Jaffe, MD, retired pediatrician and grass based beef farmer; Jerry Brunetti, founder of Agri-Dynamics; and Julia Lapp PhD, RD, CDN, Assistant Professor in Nutrition at Ithaca College. As a registered dietitian and nutritional anthropologist, her work in education and research helps reshape food production and consumption systems towards nutritious, wholesome food that is ethically produced and accessible to all, with an emphasis on local and plant-based eating.

§          Put the Fork in Food Insecurity: Regional Food that Feeds the Hungry: Find out about exciting work at state and local levels to fight hunger and food insecurity by tapping into our rich bounty of regional and NY produced food. Hear from Liz Karabinakis, Community Food Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) for low-income residents. Hear from John T. Evers, Executive Director, The Food Bank Association of New York State. The Association represents the eight food bank members of Feeding America in New York State. www.foodbankassocnys.org

§         Track 4: Local Farms & Foods for Economic, Environmental & Community Health, features several workshops of interest. The workshop on Community Health: Repairing Damages from a Broken Food System focuses on the Economic Burden of a Broken Food System, with Grant Best, Regional Director for Southern Tier Excellus BlueCross BlueShield presenting, and Effective Public Health Interventions for Reducing the Burden of Obesity, Diabetes and Other Chronic Diseases with Mary McFadden, Program Coordinator, Building a Healthy Nation – Strategic Alliance for Health, Broome County Health Department. In the Environmental Health through Agriculture workshop, learn about practices farmers are using to promote healthier soils, water, streams, rivers and air and implications for public health.

“We can’t fix our health system without fixing our food system”
Ken Morse, Partnership Director, Healthy Oxford Hills