2019 Northern Plains Food & Farming Conference
January 24 – 26, 2019
Holiday Inn ⋅ Fargo, ND

Conference Headquarters:

Holiday Inn
3803 13th Ave S
Fargo, ND 58103

Room Rate: $104 + tax

Reservations must be made by December 26, 2018 by calling 1-877-282-2700 
and identifying yourself with Northern Plains Sustainable Ag and/or NPSAS.
*You MUST ask for the block rate of $104

Keynote Speakers

Dan Barber

Dan Barber is the chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and the author of The Third Plate (May 2014, The Penguin Press). His opinions on food and agricultural policy have appeared in the New York Times, along with many other publications.

Appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, Dan continues the work that he began as a member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture’s board of directors: to blur the line between the dining experience and the educational, bringing the principles of good farming directly to the table.

Barber has received multiple James Beard awards including Best Chef: New York City (2006) and the country’s Outstanding Chef (2009).  In 2009 he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

Steffen & Rachel Schneider

Rachel Schneider has been the Director of the Hawthorne Valley Farm Place Based Learning Center for 10 years.  Prior to her roles as facilitator and farm-based educator for the PBLC she was part of senior management at Hawthorne Valley Farm for over 20 years.  During that time she held the positions of Greenhouse Manager and Market Gardener and has practical, technical experience in greenhouse management, growing and harvesting vegetable crops as well as post-harvest care of vegetables and how to organize and manage a vegetable washroom operation for multiple markets.

Ms. Schneider also initiated, developed and administered the Hawthorne Valley CSA. During that time she forged strong networking relationships with local and regional sustainable farmers and was one of the founding members of the apprentice training and support program CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) in 1994. In 2009 as part of the PBLC, Ms. Schneider initiated the Hudson Valley Farm Beginnings businessplanning program, part of the national Farm Beginnings Collaborative as well as the Hawthorne Valley Farm Biodynamic Intensive, part of the North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program. She also initiated a summer camp program called, “Kids Can Cook” as outreach to families of low income and low access to fresh and healthy food. Her most recent projects include being co-founder of the Institute for Mindful Agriculture with her husband, Steffen Schneider, Director of Farm Operations at Hawthorne Valley Farm, and Ursula Versteegen, PH.D of the Presencing Institute.

Ms. Schneider’s combined areas of knowledge and practice in growing for market, CSA development and business development are key to running successful market garden enterprises. Her knowledge of child development is an important aspect of bringing the cultural element within agriculture forward. 

Steffen Schneider has worked at Hawthorne Valley Farm since 1989. During that time he held the positions of Dairy Herd Manager and Director of Farm Operations. He received his Masters degree in Agriculture from the Justus-von-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany in 1982. His experience covers all aspects of dairy management and general biodynamic farm management. He is also very much involved in the oversight of the value adding and retail/direct marketing enterprises at Hawthorne Valley.

Mr. Schneider served on the Board of the Biodynamic Association of North America from 2008 to 2018, from 2013 to 2017 as the President. He has presented workshops and keynotes at many organic and biodynamic conferences nationally and internationally, most recently at the IFOAM World Congress in New Delhi, India. In 2014 he founded the Institute for Mindful Agriculture at Hawthorne Valley Farm together with Rachel Schneider and Ursula Versteegen, PH.D of the Presencing Institute.