This year's Annual Gathering – November 5th-6th – will provide participants an opportunity to explore the spirit of innovation and hope now needed in rural America. As we move into an increasingly global economy, how can the local not only survive but thrive? Rural life leaders have ideas about this. We need to hear their stories and find hope in their encouragement.
This annual gathering will bring together members to share stories of hope and innovation by focusing significantly on the entrepreneurial spirit. Please join us in Saint Louis, Missouri, where NCRLC was founded 81 years ago in early November 1923.
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PROGRAM
FRIDAY, November 5th
4:30 pm Registration opens
6:00 pm Opening & Introductions by Brother David Andrews, CSC, Executive Director
Welcoming by a representative of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis
7:00 pm Opening Keynote: "Rural Life: The Challenge to a Spirit of Innovation"
Dr. Chuck Fluharty, Director, Rural Policy Research Institute
8:30 pm Social Time
SATURDAY, November 6th
7:00 am Registration opens
7:30 am Opening Prayer
8:00 am "Communities and Innovation in Agriculture: Organizational and Spiritual
Considerations"
Russ Kremer: President, Missouri Farmers Union
9:30 am First Workshop Sessions:
1. Farmworker Ministry (Juan Marinez, Michigan State University, US Catholic Conference of Bishops Domestic Policy Committee)
2. Rural Economic Development: Role of the Church (Carol Richardson Smith, NCRLC)
3. Rural Mental Health (Cece Arnold, NCRLC)
4. Developing a Water Ethic (Tim Kautza, NCRLC)
10:50 am Second Workshop Sessions:
1. Global and Local Perspectives (Robert Gronski, NCRLC)
2. Competition and Concentration in Agriculture (Peter O'Driscoll, Center of Concern)
3. Catholic Social Teaching and Rural Life (Barbara Ross, Rural Life Director, Diocese of Jefferson City)
4. Economic Innovation at Community and Regional Levels (Kathleen Vinehout, Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission)
12:00 noon Lunch
1:30 pm Third Workshop Sessions:
1. Rural Economic Development: Role of the Church (Carol Richardson Smith, NCRLC)
2. Rural Mental Health (Cece Arnold, NCRLC)
3. Developing a Water Ethic (Tim Kautza, NCRLC)
4. Rural Housing (Toby Pearson, NCRLC)
3:15 pm Innovative Local Food Systems
Dr. Mary Hendrickson, Director, Food Circles Networking Project
4:30 pm 81st Anniversary Liturgy Worship
Most Reverend David Ricken, Presider and Homilist
6:00 pm 81st Anniversary Dinner and Awards Ceremony
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC) is the major voice of the Catholic Church on rural life concerns in the United States. Since 1923, NCRLC has spoken on behalf of sustainable rural communities in the United States and around the world. In the era of industrialization, NCRLC supported small communities, rural life, resource conservation, and evangelization. In the current era of globalization, NCRLC has participated in the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle and Cancun, the World Food Summit in Rome, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Along with our many civil society partners, NCRLC has raised a voice of social justice in the debates about sustainability and globalization.
Keynote Speakers
Charles W. (Chuck) Fluharty is Director of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), the only national policy institute in our country solely dedicated to assessing the rural impacts of public policies. This comprehensive approach to rural policy analysis involves scientists from member institutions at Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, and the University of Nebraska, as well as numerous researchers, policy analysts and policy practitioners from other universities, research institutions, governments, and non-governmental organizations. To date, over 200 scholars representing 16 different disciplines in 80 universities, 40 states, and seven countries have participated in RUPRI projects.
______Chuck Fluharty is the 2002 recipient of the Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award from the Rural Sociological Society and the 2002 USDA Secretary's Honor Award for Superior Service (jointly to RUPRI). Chuck was born and raised on a fifth generation family farm in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Ohio, and is a graduate of Yale Divinity School. His career has centered upon service to rural people, primarily within the public policy arena.
Russ Kremer is a diversified family farmer from Osage County, MO and president of the Missouri Farmers Union. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Farmers Union and serves on their Cooperative Development, Legislative, and Farm Bill committees. Russ is on the Board of Directors of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. A past president of the Missouri Pork Producers Association, Russ has served on the agricultural advisory committee of five different Missouri governors. He is actively working with various community based, value added, cooperative projects such as cooperative distribution; sustainable production, processing and marketing of livestock; organic dairy and vegetable processing; and biomass recovery.
Mary Hendrickson, Ph.D. is the co-director of the Food Circles Networking Project, an outreach program that links farmers and consumers together in a local food system, located at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is also the associate director of MU’s Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program located in the Department of Rural Sociology. Mary has helped numerous agriculture groups with marketing strategies and cooperative development, including Ozark Mountain Pork, LLC., a natural pork cooperative. She also collaborated with Kansas and Missouri dairy producers interested in alternative markets for milk. Mary served as president of the Community Food Security Coalition from 2001-2003. In 2002, she was appointed by the City of Columbia to the Sustainable Food and Communities Board of Directors.
Where is the Gathering?
At the Holiday Inn Oakland Park, 4505 Woodson Road, St. Louis, MO. The hotel is adjacent to the St. Louis International Airport, just across from I-70. This quality hotel provides complimentary airport transportation and hotel parking. Reservations must be made directly with the hotel by October 11th in order to take advantage of the reserved rooms: $59.50/night (plus taxes).
Call 800-426-4700 and identify yourself with the NCRLC Annual Gathering.
CLICK HERE for Annual Conference Register Form