CURRENT SCHOLARSHIPS

VIGA is raising funds to provide scholarships for Vashon farmers to attend Tilth’s 50th

Anniversary Conference in Vancouver, WA, November 14-16.

This year marks the 50 th Anniversary of the regional Tilth movement, which promotes

sustainable agriculture in the Pacific Northwest. The annual Tilth Conference provides

an opportunity for farmers, marketers, research scientists, and food system activists to

meet, exchange skills, and strategize on ways to strengthen local food systems.

The keynote speaker for this year’s Tilth Conference is Helen Atthowe, organic farmer

and author of The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding,

Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture.

The Tilth Conference will also include a WSU Research Symposium on Agroecology for

Food Systems Transformation and 25 workshops on a wide range of topics, including

access to land, transition to organic, marketing and distribution, reduced tillage, pest

management, new crops, dry farming, seed selection, food policy, and design strategies

for climate adaptation.

The registration fee for farmers to attend both the WSU Research Symposium and the

Tilth Conference is $325. Last year VIGA raised sufficient funds to send three Vashon

farmers to the Tilth Conference and this year we would like to support even more.

Support the growth of Vashon’s farm community by donating to VIGA’s Scholarship

Fund.