UNITY — Registration is open for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s (MOFGA’s) Farmer to Farmer Conference, to be held Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Nov. 2, 4 and 6. Early bird registration by Saturday, Oct. 10, is $50. The conference is open to all farmers.

Speakers include university faculty, extension educators and other agricultural professionals. The conference offers a workshop session format, which presents talks by agricultural service professionals and farmers before opening up to farmer discussion.

This year the conference will be held virtually, bringing together presentations, panels and breakout groups mixed with farmer-led discussion groups and one-on-one farmer connection opportunities.

A favorite aspect of the conference, farm tours, will continue this year. Virtual farm tours will feature Footprint Farm of Starksboro, Vermont; Evening Song Farm of Shrewsbury, Vermont; and Nature’s Circle Farm in Aroostook County. The tours will be prerecorded and available to conference attendees beginning on Sunday, Nov. 1.

The keynote address, “Climate Change, Resilience and the Future of Food,” will be presented by Laura Lengnick on Nov. 2. Lengnick is an award-winning soil scientist who has explored agricultural sustainability for more than 25 years as a researcher, policymaker, educator, author, consultant and farmer. She is the founder and principal consultant at Cultivating Resilience, LLC, an Asheville-based firm that works with organizations of all kinds to integrate resilience thinking into operations and strategic planning.

Sessions will be held Nov. 2, 4 and 6, featuring four session-blocks with five conference sessions available a block. They will include a mix of production, marketing and farm management topics as well as a specific racial justice track and a livestock track.

Early bird registration by Saturday, Oct. 10, is $50; it is $60 a person after that. MOFGA is offering a sliding scale option: Attendees can choose to pay $20, $30, $40, $70 or $80. The event is free for MOFGA Journeyperson/Maine Farm Resilience Program participants, BIPOC farmers and veteran farmers. MOFGA has scholarships available as well; applications must be submitted by Thursday, Oct. 15.

For more information, visit mofga.org/MOFGA-Events/farmer-to-farmer-conference-2020.