This year, parents, plan on bringing lots of warm clothing: gloves, hats and boots for your child to participate in outdoor activities with the Arbor Day Tree Adventure. The Tree Adventure is included in the youth registration. From COLD to HOT children will also want to have their swimsuits to enjoy the kiddy wading or Olympic-sized indoor pool. We have a complete youth session planned.

We encourage the entire family to attend the conference. Special pricing and rates have been set to make the conference both affordable and accessable. Details can be found below!

Plan to attend the Healthy Farms & Rural Advantage Conference in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The dates for 2012 are February 10-11 at the Lied Lodge and Conference Center. Our keynote this year is Fred Kirschenmann. We will also have our annual All-Nebraska Foods dinner with proceeds going to NSAS and Live Auction with all the funds raised going towards the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society- NSAS!! There will also be a full schedule of youth programming complete with hands-on demonstrations, youth lead sessions, and more.

This year’s agenda offers a number of breakout sessions with topics ranging from; Raw Milk for pastures, grazing, local foods distribution, Farm Bill, , Energy, and many more. We will also once again have a full youth program with many of the presenters being youth and presenting on projects from their farms. The NCR-SARE Program will be doing their farmers forum during the conference and will showcase the numerous farm projects funded with assistance from the SARE grants program.

The room rate for this year is $89 for a single and $99 for a double. The rate is good from February 7th to February 12th, so make it a vacation! To reserve a room call, 800-546-5433 and reserve a room under ―The Rural Advantage / Healthy Farms reservations. Lied Lodge & Conference Center

In June NSAS hosted representatives from the USDA, FSA and the White House in a series of roundtable discussions. As an extension on these roundtable format discussions we will be holding a series of discussions at the conference. In the attachement you will find complete details about this new feature.

Held in February each year, NSAS hosts a wide range of speakers covering interests ranging across the spectrum -- from production to marketing to conservation in farming & beyond. Our keynote speakers are always inspirational & educational!

Annual Western Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Conference

Keynote: Donald Tanaka will be keynoting the conference this year. Dr. Tanaka began conducting research with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at Sidney, MT in 1980. He has been a member of the research team at NGPRL since 1991. He has advanced degrees in agronomy with a concentration in soils and soil chemistry from the Universityof Nebraska . He has conducted soil and water conservation research in the northern Great Plainsfor 28 years. Exhibitor and Sponsor Opportunities are available and information can be found below. Other questions please Liz Sarno, Extension Educator and Organic Project Coordinator, University of Nebraska, Haskell Agriculture Laboratory 402-309-0944