On February 4-6, 2025, the SOWTH 2025 Convention welcomed over 1,000 meals system producers and advocates and leaders from throughout the Southern United States and territories! Representatives from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands gathered on the Georgia World Congress Middle (GWCC) in Atlanta to advance sustainable agriculture and strengthen the native meals motion throughout the area, persevering with the legacy of the Southern SAWG Convention. With a concentrate on connecting the area, SOWTH 2025 was the ag occasion of the season, providing contributors instruments, assets, and neighborhood to deal with the challenges going through at this time’s Southern meals programs.
In complete, 1,326 folks attended the convention with 444 (33%) being producers (farmers, growers, graziers, bee raisers, pastoralists, fishers, oyster farmers, and all the things in between). Moreover, over 475 attendees have been awarded SOWTH scholarships, offering extra alternatives for meals system neighborhood members to learn from the convention. The Georgia Organics staff and our organizing companions have been grateful to obtain sort phrases from many SOWTH attendees—Heather “H” Nieto-Friga, CEO of SupplyChange shared, “I had such an unimaginable time on the convention, and was astounded by how your staff made it a comfy and energizing expertise at each flip. Severely the most effective conferences I’ve been to. And an enormous shoutout to Ever, they have been so supportive and useful to me and everybody else on the Procurement observe in a means I have not skilled with convention help within the previous.”
Danielle Adamson of HealthMPowers additionally shared, “It was nice to see everybody in particular person and to witness firsthand the dedication and onerous work that went into making this convention an unforgettable expertise. The classes have been insightful, the networking alternatives have been invaluable, and the general expertise was extremely rewarding!”
The primary day of convention noticed attendees journey to numerous small farms in Georgia, together with Patchwork Metropolis Farms, World Growers Community, Rodgers Greens and Roots, Love is Love Cooperative Farm, Decimal Place Farm, Snapfinger Farm, Chattahoochee Queen & Floribunda Flower Farm, Excessive Hog Farm, Develop The place You Are, and Fort Valley State College. Tour-goers obtained up-close explorations of natural livestock manufacturing, scaling small farms for wholesale markets and studying how cooperative farm fashions work. Along with Farm Excursions, different excursions took contributors to local people meals organizations, additional highlighting the collective efforts of sustainable agriculture and the way everybody, from nonprofits to small companies to company companions, has a stake in the way forward for our meals system.