Organic agriculture continues its spectacular transformation from small, fragmented production niches worldwide to the most rapidly-growing sector of the global food market.  Since the first Who Owns Organic report in 2003, both production and sales of organic food have expanded dramatically, not only in the big markets of Europe, Japan, and the United States, but also among countries of the Global South. Organic agriculture is moving rapidly into new directions in different places.   It is more diverse and full of opportunity than any single image can represent.  At the same time, the very success of organic agriculture is creating the greatest challenges ahead.  This is the perfect moment in time when the organic agriculture community should reflect upon what comes next and how organic systems can meet their highest potential.  Michael Sligh, RAFI-USA’s Just Foods Program Director, will lead this discussion and offer an exclusive preview of the forthcoming update and expansion of the 2003 report Who Owns Organic.

For more than eight years, the Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) has successfully developed a national community of emerging leaders addressing some of the most difficult environmental and social issues of our time.  From September 22-24, 2008, in Raleigh, NC the ELP community along with the Park Scholars and Food Science Department of North Carolina State University will co-host a national conference on how America grows, distributes, buys and eats its food. Entitled "The Politics of Food," the agenda for this conference will focus on food security, sustainability and systems.

The Politics of Food will draw on diverse perspectives from farmers, workers, businesses, academics, social activists, government regulators and artists, and will engage participants in a challenging exploration of how and why our food system works as it does, whether it is secure, just and sustainable, and how it might be reshaped for the future.