Breakout Session Descriptions
Get ready to make some tough decisions: we're excited to bring you six cross-cutting and dynamic breakout session options for the 2025 NH Food System Statewide Gathering. Browse through the descriptions and featured speakers for each session below.
Sustaining Local Food Access: Navigating Changes and Building Community Support
Join us to explore several local food access programs, including Double Up Food Bucks, Granite State Market Match, NH Feeding NH, NOFA-NH’s Farm Share Program, and WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program that make fresh, locally grown food more accessible to all community members. We will begin with an overview of each program, an update about how recent policy changes and shifts in funding have affected these programs.
Finally, we will break out by program to brainstorm and focus how we, as a food community, can work together to ensure these programs continue to thrive and evolve in the years ahead. Whether through innovative funding strategies, policy advocacy, or community partnerships, your ideas and insights will be key in shaping the future of food access in our region.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Granite Staters can have it all! Let’s create more housing and produce more food
That’s right! We can create more affordable housing for Granite Staters while protecting New Hampshire’s most valuable farmland and inspiring more food production. We’ll get into how during this breakout session with a panel of farmers and conservation and planning professionals who will share strategies to create more housing and protect land for food production. Moderated by NH Housing’s Sarah Writghtsman, panelists will share about their work incorporating innovative zoning ordinances, creating flexible conservation easements, building on-farm accessory dwelling units, and developing cluster subdivisions with food production-friendly HOA agreements. Each panelist will host a breakout group specific to their strategy to answer questions and workshop ideas with breakout session attendees who may want to use the strategy in their own work.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Roots of Opportunity: Experiential Ag Education for New Hampshire Youth
Explore innovative strategies for integrating agricultural education into school curriculums, fostering hands-on learning, and creating real-world experiences for students through Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs). We'll discuss the role of CTE programs in providing career pathways in agriculture and how ELOs can support experiential learning, connecting students with local farms, food systems, and agriculture-related industries. This session will provide actionable insights into creating more opportunities for the next generation to gain essential skills and knowledge in food and agriculture.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Expanding On-Farm Community Composting in New Hampshire
Farmers can play a crucial role in managing food waste in rural areas, where alternative diversion options are limited. With access to land, equipment, and the motivation to create compost systems at various scales, farmers are well-positioned to lead these efforts. Many farms already have the raw materials needed for composting, and the nutrient-rich end product is valuable to the land. Join New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and the Composting Association of Vermont (CAV) to learn about CAV’s On-Farm Community Composting project model, which has proven to be successful in helping farms start food scrap composting and better manage their manure. Presenters will highlight successful case studies from NH and VT farms already involved in the project and explain how the online toolkit can help others replicate similar composting programs across New Hampshire.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Visioning a Path Forward: Strengthening Farm Business Technical Assistance
New Hampshire farmers and food businesses face economic challenges ranging from simple to complex, a fact that has become increasingly clear through the strategic planning process and discussions of the NH Ag Financiers. The farm business technical assistance service providers poised to address those challenges have fluctuating capacity, availability and a wide ranging set of skills and specialities. Additionally, as many TA providers prepare to retire, there’s a growing need for succession planning within the industry.
The idea of creating a network of farm business technical service providers to address these needs emerged from the Farm Business Technical Assistance brief. What could such a network look like? Join the discussion to help shape a vision that we can refine and develop further.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Unveiling & Shaping the New NH Wholesale Producer Directory
The need for streamlined pathways that connect New Hampshire’s wholesale buyers with wholesale ready producers was evident throughout the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan and was spelled out in recommendations within almost every market brief. Join Katelyn Porter, Value Chain Coordinator for the NH Food Alliance, as she introduces the brand-new NH Wholesale Producer Directory, a project of the NH Food Alliance and the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food, that is a response to this identified need. Learn about its features and goals and, through this interactive session, provide your feedback and ideas to help shape the next iteration of the directory into one that best supports local food sales in the Granite State.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Seeds for Success: Growing a Connected Agritourism Network in NH
Agritourism can offer valuable opportunities for farms, but requires diversified knowledge spanning agriculture, finance, hospitality, marketing, visitor safety, and more. This session will be an interactive workshop that focuses on identifying: 1) which forums and resources are currently the most helpful to agritourism businesses and other interested tourism-focused organizations for knowledge sharing, networking, and cross-promotion, and 2) and what is still needed to create more opportunities for such engagement.
The group will explore questions such as: How can operators best support one another, building interest in agritourism experiences statewide? How can relationships with local, regional, and state tourism/promotional organizations be further developed toward advancing the overall industry? Anyone who is interested in agritourism industry development in NH is welcome to join the conversation.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Building A Brand: Promoting New Hampshire Grown Foods
A common theme that came through loud and clear in the development of the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan is the strong desire for a distinct brand and identity for New Hampshire-grown, raised, and produced foods. Significant progress is already being made toward this goal, and we want to ensure your voice is a part of shaping its future. Join the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food for an interactive session that serves as an opportunity to dive into the branding discussion. Share your thoughts on why a brand is crucial, how it might be used, and which key themes and values are most important for it to express. Your input will support this work as we explore the creation of a brand that truly represents New Hampshire’s agricultural identity.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
Shaping the Future of Food Research in New Hampshire
Join Anton Bekkerman, Director of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station (NH AES) for a session that will explore the vital role NH AES plays in advancing food-related research and driving innovation in agriculture across the state - and for a synthesis of key research needs identified in the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan. Whether you are a researcher, policy maker, industry leader, or community advocate, this session will provide you with valuable tools to engage with the food-related research happening in NH and make a lasting impact on the future of New Hampshire’s agriculture and food system.
Featured in the session: To be announced!
Resources from this session: Coming soon!
