Schedule 2019

Living Soils Symposium 2019

March 28 to 31, 2019

Marché Bonsecours – Montreal

4 days. 500 people. 1 goal: soil regeneration

– SEE THE FULL VIDEO –

18panels

21campfire discussions

500+
participants from

7provinces

10countries

55
volunteers

60
speakers

105lunchboxes (32kg)

given to charities (Mission Old Brewery, Un coeur pour les autres) through la Tablée des chefs

79tons
of CO2

emitted by participant travel and offset by the Arbre-Évolution’s Carbone Riverain program

70%local and
organic food

Overview

 

Thursday

 
AM

 

PM

 

Evening

What if healing the soil is key to healing our societies and ourselves?

 

Friday

 
AM

Why do soils matter?

PM

How does soil regeneration work and what helps it work? Part one

Evening

Cocktail

 

Saturday

 
AM

How does soil regeneration work and what helps it work? Part two

PM

 

Evening

Cocktail

 

Sunday

 
AM

What is needed to help the soil regeneration movement thrive?

PM

 

Evening

 

Detailed scheduleMore speakers to be confirmed soon

Thursday
2019-03-28
3rd floor hallway
The Barn
Friday
2019-03-29
3rd floor hallway
The Shed
The Garden
The Barn
Saturday
2019-03-30
3rd floor hallway
The Shed
The Garden
The Barn
Sunday
2019-03-31
3rd floor hallway
The Shed
The Garden
The Barn
3rd floor hallway
The Barn
3rd floor hallway
The Shed
The Garden
The Barn
3rd floor hallway
The Shed
The Garden
The Barn
3rd floor hallway
The Shed
The Garden
The Barn
17:00 - 18:30
Welcome & Registration

Come and introduce yourself! Grab some snacks and kombucha, discover the artistic installations and mingle with other participants.

18:30 - 20:15
Preparing the Ground

Join us for this special opening evening, as we arrive together in one place and one purpose, from across a diverse movement.

Mohawk Elder and Faithkeeper Ka’nahsohon Deer will open the evening by welcoming us to this land and offering a traditional thanksgiving address.

Author and founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine Didi Pershouse will describe how collaborating with soil’s natural communities (and each other!) can improve resiliency on a large scale, counteracting climate warming, flooding, drought, erosion, algae blooms, wildfires and more.

Jackie Milne, founder of the Northern Farm Training Institute, will share the inspiring story of her journey through terminal illness and how the living soil played a pivotal role in her spontaneous remission. Highlighting parallels with the patterns of ecosystem collapse around the world, she will call on us to align with Earth’s own immune systems to trigger global spontaneous remission for the planet.

The evening will also be an opportunity for us to “build the soil” of our own community. Come and share what you care about, what you hope to get out of the Symposium, what you hope to contribute, and who you’d like to meet. The conversations we have this evening will help prepare the ground for deep learning together over the next three days, leading to useful collaborations and collective action.

Then, to carry us into the rest of the Symposium with inspiration, we will enjoy a special musical performance.

Please join us!

Gabrielle Bastien (Host)
Founder & Executive Director, Regeneration Canada
Ka’nahsohon Kevin Deer
Mohawk Elder and Faithkeeper
Michelle Holliday
Consultant and author
Didi Pershouse
Author and Founder, Center for Sustainable Medicine
Jackie Milne
President, Northern Farm Training Institute; Market gardener
Erin Crampton
Prairie Pasture Hub
Ruth Knight
Project Lead, Soil Health Coalition
Raphaël Goulet
Director general, Mille-Îles watershed council (COBAMIL)
Finian Makepeace
Co-founder, Kiss the Ground
08:00 - 09:00
Welcome & Registration
Discover the artistic installations and help yourself to some coffee and snacks.
Laucolo
Visual Artist
Caroline Magar
Landscape architect intern, member of the AAPQ
09:00 - 10:30
Getting our Hands Dirty

We’ll kick off the morning with a warm welcome, setting the broad context of the regenerative movement and offering an overview of how things will work over the next three days.

Then we’ll enjoy an interactive and engaging session hosted by Finian Makepeace, co-founder of Kiss the Ground. Over the course of the Symposium, we’re going to be learning many different aspects of regenerative soil. Finian is going to make sure we feel ready and equipped to take it all in and then go out into the world as powerful soil advocates. No matter who we are and what role we play, we all can – and must – “get our hands dirty” as champions growing the regenerative movement.

Next we’ll put our new advocacy tools to the test, exploring what we already know about the many stakeholders within our movement and identifying important questions that need to be answered.

Ananda Fitzsimmons (Host)
President of the Board, Regeneration Canada
Claudia Goyer
Soil Microbiologist, Fredericton Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Finian Makepeace
Co-founder, Kiss the Ground
Michelle Holliday
Consultant and author
09:00 - 10:30
Campfire Conversations – Diana, Louis & Odette

Join these soil stewards for a small group conversation around one of our campfires. Ask them anything!

Campfire 1 : Diana Rodgers

What is the ideal diet for both human health and the planet?

Campfire 2 : Louis Robert and Odette Ménard

How can productivity and protection of the environment be compatible?

Diana Rodgers
Dietician living on a working farm and Owner, Sustainable Dish
Louis Robert
Agronomist
Odette Ménard
Engineer and Agronomist, Advisor in Soil and Water Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture of Québec (MAPAQ)
10:30 - 11:00
Coffee Break
Enjoy fair trade coffee as well as organic snacks from our generous sponsors.
11:00 - 12:30
Compost, Carbon & Soil Biology

Deepen your understanding of soil microbiology, compost, and how agricultural management practices influence soil carbon.

Claudia Goyer (Host)
Soil Microbiologist, Fredericton Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
David Johnson
Molecular biologist, Institute for Sustainable Agricultural Research at New Mexico State University
Marie-Élise Samson
Agronomist and Ph. D. Candidate in soil conservation, Université Laval
11:00 - 12:30
Campfire Conversations – Lorraine & Jackie

Join these soil stewards for a small group conversation around one of our campfires. Ask them anything!

Campfire 1 : B. Lorraine Smith

How to help businesses see the opportunity of being regenerative?

Campfire 2 : Jackie Milne

City or pastoral diets and the future of life on earth

B. Lorraine Smith
Writer and Consultant
Jackie Milne
President, Northern Farm Training Institute; Market gardener
11:00 - 12:30
Health and Nutrition
How does soil health influence human health? How does a regenerative diet heal our bodies? What diets can be most healing for the Earth and for humans?
Sarah Dobec (Host)
Marketing Manager, The Big Carrot Community Market
Diana Rodgers
Dietician living on a working farm and Owner, Sustainable Dish
Didi Pershouse
Author and Founder, Center for Sustainable Medicine
12:30 - 14:00
Lunch
Grab your compostable lunch box and enjoy delicious food that’s 70% local and organic, while mingling with other participants! Make the most of our installations such as the photobooth, the Members’ lounge, short film screenings and visual arts.
14:00 - 15:30
From a Frog’s Perspective

If you were a frog in a pond 500 years ago, what would you know about ecology? In a whimsical fantasy, Joel takes us back to the most primal templates of nature. These are the things we all know, but have forgotten. Carbon doesn’t travel very far. Energy comes from wind, water, sun, and biomass. Every ecosystem contains lots of animals. Diversity abounds. These and several other principles are self-evident from our lily pad in the pond. Appreciating them and applying them to today’s agriculture, including their adoption at Polyface, creates an historic backdrop on which to build tomorrow’s agriculture.

Brian Maloney (Host)
Carbon farmer
Joel Salatin
Farmer, Polyface Farm
14:00 - 15:30
Campfire Conversations – Marie-Élise & Jocelyn

Join these soil stewards for a small group conversation around one of our campfires. Ask them anything!

Campfire 1 : Marie-Élise Samson

How to store carbon in agricultural soils?

Campfire 2 : Jocelyn Michon
Large surface agriculture: Yields without tillage.

Marie-Élise Samson
Agronomist and Ph. D. Candidate in soil conservation, Université Laval
Jocelyn Michon
Farmer, Ferme Jocelyn Michon
15:30 - 16:00
Coffee Break
Enjoy fair trade coffee as well a delicious snacks from our caterer.
16:00 - 17:30
Regenerative Market Gardening
How can market gardening promote living soils? Learn about different techniques that help regenerate soil health for vegetable production, such as reducing tillage to a minimum, covering soil and including biodiversity and perennials.
Yan Gordon (Host)
Organic vegetable gardener, Les potagers des nues mains
Jean-Martin Fortier
Farmer, Ferme des Quatre-Temps and Author, The Market Gardener
François D’Aoust
Farmer, Les Bontés de la vallée
Arnaud Mayet
Biodynamic vegetable gardener, Cadet Roussel Farm
16:00 - 17:30
Campfire Conversations – Joel

Join this soil steward for a small group conversation around the campfire. Ask him anything!

Campfire 1 : Joel Salatin

Food, farm and faith. 

Campfire 2 : Open Conversations

Sign up with a theme to have a small group conversation around the campfire!

Joel Salatin
Farmer, Polyface Farm
16:00 - 17:30
Field Crops and Soil Health

How can large surface field crop agriculture be regenerative? Learn about practices such as direct seeding, cover crops and no-till, about the challenges of such practices in the Quebec context, as well as in an organic and conventional production.

Odette Ménard (Host)
Engineer and Agronomist, Advisor in Soil and Water Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture of Québec (MAPAQ)
Derek Lynch
Professor of Agronomy & Agroecology, University of Dalhousie
Jocelyn Michon
Farmer, Ferme Jocelyn Michon
Jean-François Gross
Farmer
17:30 - 18:00
Daily Harvest

What did we gather today? You will have the opportunity to “harvest” your own experience and learnings in a variety of ways and also to help identify any important issues, questions and themes that are arising for the movement as a whole.

18:00 - 20:00
Cocktail and Entertainment
Connect with participants and speakers in a relaxed and festive ambiance! Enjoy tasty finger foods, hors d’oeuvres and dishes as well as organic craft beer and cider and local wine. Moe Clark and her band will jam in an atmosphere that will bring us back to our nomadic roots. If you feel like it, bring a small instrument!
Moe Clark
Artist, Poet and Educator
Ahau Marino
Guitarist
08:00 - 09:00
Welcome & Registration
Discover the artistic installations and help yourself to some coffee and snacks.
Laucolo
Visual Artist
Caroline Magar
Landscape architect intern, member of the AAPQ
09:00 - 10:30
Bison, Goats and Crops
How does integrating livestock into cropping systems benefit soil health and productivity? Learn from these innovative Canadian and French farmers who regenerate their soils with bison and goat production integrated in diverse cropping systems.