The ShiftCon Conference will take place in New Orleans December 1-3, 2016. ShiftCon is the only social media conference focusing on food, wellness, health, and the environment. This conference blends workshops, networking, parties, and intense collaboration of changemakers all over in one place, with 500+ leading social media influencers attending.

OTA and The Organic Center will sponsor an Organic Track including two sessions focused on the health and environmental benefits of organic. The sessions will be moderated by OTA's CEO Laura Batcha and presenters will include Organic Center scientists Dr. Jessica Shade and Dr. Tracy Misiewicz, as well as Dr. Asa Bradman, a University of California Berkeley scientist and Organic Center board member. 

Friday, December 2

4:00 - 5:00 pm | Hot Science: How Organic Agriculture is Improving Our Environment
Organic isn’t just good for you, it’s good for the environment. This compelling and informative presentation addresses organic’s role in some of the most critical aspects of environmental science – soil health, water quality, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. Come learn how your food choices – and specifically choosing organic — can improve the world we live in.

Saturday, December 3

9:45 - 10:45 am | Hot Science: How Organic Supports A Healthy You 
Groundbreaking studies prove that choosing organic food for yourself and your family is good for everyone’s health on a number of levels. This panel presentation features top scientists in the field to highlight the most recent research supporting the health benefits of eating organic, including improved nutritional content, pesticide avoidance, and protection against antibiotic resistant bacteria. From our babies to our senior citizens, organic supports a healthy you, and this panel will prove it!

To connect with OTA at ShiftCon, contact our Director of Media Relations Maggie McNeil. To connect with the Organic Center at ShiftCon, contact the Center's Director of Science Programs Jessica Shade. 

OTA will sponsor an organic boot camp for journalists during the National Press Foundation's 4-day training on The Future of Food and Agriculture. On July 25, 2016, OTA will lead a tour of an organic farm, followed by a presentation on organic. Over four days, journalists will dive into a range of topics, taking them from the fields to the dinner table to a peek into the future of agriculture. 

The all-expenses-paid fellowship covers airfare, ground transportation, hotel costs and most meals. NPF offers this professional development opportunity for journalists to enhance skills, increase knowledge and recharge their reporting on one of today’s most critical issues. 

LEARN MORE

OTA CEO/Executive Director Laura Batcha will join U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and a group of U.S. organic food producers and advocates on a trip to Cuba May 2-7. The group, including OTA Members from Honest Tea, Global Organics, and other companies, will spend five days on the island, meeting with Cuba’s agriculture minister, touring farms and restaurants, and talking about opportunities for both imports and exports between Cuba and North America. The trip is being sponsored by the Center for Democracy in the Americas, which favors normalizing relations with Cuba. Part of the mission is to establish connections between Cubans who have been successfully producing essentially organic food for the last 25 years and companies involved in the American organic movement. To learn more, see the Portland Press Herald's article announcing the trip. 

Food Tank, in partnership with American University, is excited to announce the 2nd Annual Washington, D.C. Food Tank Summit April 20-21, 2016. This two-day event will feature more than 70 different speakers from the food and agriculture field. Researchers, farmers, chefs, policy makers, government officials, and students will come together for panels on topics including; nourishing the planet, improving nutrient density, the future of organic, investing in the food movement, legislating change in the food system, and more. To view the speaker lineup, see the summit agenda. 

OTA's CEO/ Executive Director Laura Batcha will speak on a panel on the Future of Organic at 1:00pm on Thursday, April 21st, keynoted by Dr. Carlo Leifert of the University of Newcastle. To learn more, contact Laura. 

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