Virginia Farm to Table Conference 2026
“Resilient Farms and Healthy Foods for the Commonwealth and Common Good”
Tuesday, December 8 and Wednesday, December 9 | 9:00 am- 4:30 pm
Blue Ridge Community College Plecker Workforce Center
One College Lane, Weyers Cave, Virginia 24486
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/2026VAF2TConferenceReg
This year we’ll talk about strengthening the resilience and connections between farms, food, and health for the Commonwealth and the common good. Conference topics will include presentations, conversation, and discussions around regenerative agriculture, soil health, resilience and the convergence of food systems issues, local and regional food system development, heritage grain varieties, regional value chain connections, and everyday opportunities to impact health in the farm and food system. Producers and practitioners will share their local and regional expertise and perspectives on concurrent session panels.
Featured Speakers and Panelists
Michael Rozyne & Kelsey Gosch
Red Tomato and EcoCertified
Michael Rozyne is founder of Red Tomato, a regional food hub based in Providence, RI that sources from 40 mid-sized fruit and vegetable farms, and distributes primarily to supermarkets, as well as institutions such as schools, hospitals and food banks. RT’s signature program is EcoCertified(TM), verifying local and sustainably-grown apples and peaches. He is manager of the Farming & Food Narrative Project, a social science research project aimed at effective communications with a public audience. In 1986, Rozyne co-founded the fair trade food company Equal Exchange, a worker-owned cooperative.
Kelsey Gosch is the Development and Program Manager of Red Tomato. She supports key projects like the Bypass Network and the Farming and Food Narrative Project. Learn more about Kelsey and her work here.
Bob Jones Jr.
The Chef’s Garden
As so many farmers do, Bob Jones wears many hats at The Chef’s Garden, but they all guide the organization in practices that have made the farm one of the most innovative and well-respected in the world. He is a co-owner and Chief Executive Officer of The Chef’s Garden, which has always been family-owned and devoutly committed to growing exceptional vegetables. Bob champions the farm team’s cutting-edge food safety and food quality programs, making the products grown at The Chef’s Garden some of the industry’s most reliably healthy, safe, and nutritionally dense fresh vegetables. Learn more about Bob and his work here.
Julia Freedgood
American Farmland Trust, Senior Fellow and Senior Program Advisor
Julia is a prominent national expert in farmland protection, land tenure and access, agricultural viability, and food system planning. As Senior Fellow and Senior Program Advisor at American Farmland Trust, she focuses on the planning and policy framework required to support the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers and to advance equitable and just regional food systems to increase food security and combat climate change. She also is involved in other research, extension, and community engagement projects at AFT.
Duron Chavis
Urban Farmer // Educator // Change Maker, Founder of Happily Natural Day
Photo courtesy of Happily Natural Day website.
Chef Radelle Reese
Chef Instructor/Assistant to the Chair and Department of Hospitality Management
Photo courtesy of VSU College of Agriculture website.
Learn about Chef Radelle Reese’s work.
Heather Bruskin
Director of Food Systems Resilience in Montgomery County, Maryland
Tony Banks
Tony has over 35 years of experience in business development, rural economic development, and agricultural policy analysis. He is a Senior Assistant Director at the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation in Richmond, VA, where he supports membership with a focus on specialty crops, animal disease, and poultry issues. He staffs the Virginia
Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation, and Rural Sustainability. In this role, he works with farmers, agribusinesses, localities and other entities to develop new value-added enterprises, facilitates strategic discussions on new market opportunities, assists clients with feasibility studies and planning, mentors small businesses, and helps organize agricultural cooperatives.
Previously, he managed several environmental programs and grants for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and worked for wholesale and retail
fertilizer and farm supply firms in Virginia and North Carolina. He earned a B.S. in Agronomy and Agricultural Economics from Virginia Tech.
Richard “Rick” Williams
Rick Williams has over four decades of experience in the insurance business specializing in agriculture, commercial risks and country estates. He holds the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) industry designation and is an associate faculty member for the Risk and Insurance Education Alliance where he teaches classes on insurance and risk management. He’s also served as an agent advisor for a regional insurance carrier, contributing to product development and marketing. Rick owned his own agency for
over 30 years before becoming a producer for LD&B Insurance in 2023. He is a licensed insurance consultant and has served in various public service roles, as a Virginia
Magistrate and on county agriculture committees. He is currently licensed in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.
Tom Croghan
Tom Croghan, a physician-scientist-turned-farmer, is the co-owner and executive winemaker at The Vineyards at Dodon in Davidsonville, MD. He is also the founding Chair of the Dodon Center for Ecological Farming, part of Dodon’s Do Your Part initiative. Widely recognized for its ecological approach to wine growing, Dodon seeks to restore functioning ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, sequester carbon dioxide, and reduce its chemical and physical footprint. In 2024, the vineyard operation was a finalist for Wine Enthusiast magazine’s American Winery of the Year, recognizing its commitment to the environment.
Lodging Options
Approx. miles from the venue: 8.0 mi
Approx. miles from the venue: 12.4 mi
Hampton Inn – Harrisonburg South
Approx. miles from the venue: 9.8 mi
Best Western Plus Harrisonburg
Approx. miles from the venue: 10.0 mi
Approx. miles from the venue: 15.0 mi
Double Tree by Hilton Harrisonburg
Approx. miles from the venue: 15.0 mi
Address: 1400 E. Market Street, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 22801, USA
Holiday Inn Express options in Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Waynesboro
Harrisonburg: 196 Burgess Road, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801
Staunton: 47 Rolling Thunder Lane, Staunton, Virginia 24401
Waynesboro: 108 Chicurel Lane, Waynesboro, Virginia 22980
Avid Hotels Staunton – an IHG Hotel
Approx. miles from the venue: 15.0 mi
Address: 62 Sangers Lane, Staunton, Virginia 24401 United States
Candlewood Suites Harrisonburg – an IHG Hotel
Approx. miles from the venue: 15.0 mi
Address: 1560 Country Club Road, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801
Conference Hosts & Partners
The conference is presented by the Virginia Cooperative Extension in partnership with the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, VT School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, the VT Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, Virginia State University’s Small Farm Outreach Program, Virginia Sustainable Agriculture Research Education (SARE), Blue Ridge Community College, and community partners.
Hosts
Eric S. Bendfeldt, Virginia Cooperative Extension and the VT Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation
Mary Sketch Bryant, Virginia Tech and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition
Partners
Thank you to our sponsors and partners!
Music and Networking
An evening networking event will be hosted by the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.
On Tuesday, December 8, join us for an evening of community, networking, and a jam session at The Granary at Valley Pike Farm Market from 5 pm – 7 pm. The Common Grain Alliance and the Virginia Heritage Grains Project will share a brief presentation.
Valley Pike Farm Market is home to a local farmers market, coffee shop, bakery, deli, and wine & beer shop. The barn is over 100 years old and has been restored with great care. David Gardner, a local farmer saved the Sellers barn from demolition to make way for large-scale commercial development. Learn more about David’s work and the venue here.
Virginia Farm to Table 