Farming and the food system in the Midwest will be addressed in an event hosted next week at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Food Evolution—a movie screening and panel discussion—will take place 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Sage 1214 on the UW Oshkosh campus.
The UW Oshkosh Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations (SIRT) and several area farmers will lead the event.
The Food Evolution film is narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson and addresses the development and use of genetically modified crops as well as public concerns about the technology.
“If you want to know why farmers choose to grow (or not grow) genetically modified crops (aka GMOs). If you think about where your food comes from or if you want to know how farmers in the Midwest care for their land then this event is for you,” said Kevin Crawford, UW Oshkosh professor and SIRT director. “We choose what we eat every day and farmers choose what to grow and how to grow it every season. Come find out what GMOs are, why they exist, the controversy over them and how they are being used. Hear directly from farmers how they choose the crops they grow and what they do to care for their land so it can continue to be farmed into the future.”
A panel discussion beginning at 7 p.m. will include Kim Bremmer, motivational speaker and founder of Ag Inspirations; Michelle Miller, a farm in northeast Iowa known on social media as The Farm Babe; Nancy Kavazanjian, a farmer in Beaver Dam and a director on the United Soybean Board; Tracy Vinz, co-owner and operator of Olden Organics, a certified organic produce farm near Ripon and a regular vendor at the Oshkosh Farmers Market; and Stephen Kercher, chair of the history department at UW Oshkosh and a co-leader of the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project.
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