Join us for a cozy Food Works Annual Meeting and farm conference with keynote speaker Marty Travis (Down at the Farms, Spence Farms). Locally-sourced hors d'oeuvres will be served throughout the afternoon.

For southern Illinois farmers and producers—and those interested in and excited by our regional local food system!):
The 2027 Food Works Annual Conference is a callback to our earlier Food Works annual meetings of yore! We invite you to pause, reflect on the previous year's growing season, and celebrate the beginning of the coming year alongside fellow regional producers. We know the work can be tough and isolating at times, and we hope this event carves out time to connect with like-minded farmers and local-food enthusiasts to nurture our collective spirit and carry on the good work.

Food Works has several new initiatives aimed at building upon years of our local growers' efforts, including expanding markets, and creating tangible farm service programs. We are here to serve you and want to hear from you!

For organizational and agency partners:
This event is a small departure from previous conference years. Instead of a tabling setup for our organizational and agency partners, we are curating opportunities for you to connect by sitting down with regional farmers and producers based on their needs and interests.

The event space is cozy and intimate, and we hope this will inspire a more communal feel!
Please feel free to bring handouts, flyers, visuals. There will be a resource table with limited setup space but you will not need to "staff" the table during the event. Furthermore, if you are interested in facilitating a small-group discussion or presentation, please reach out to me!