2009 Conference Keynote Speakers

Morning Keynote Speaker Charles Kuperus A Sussex, New Jersey Farmer, who served as New Jersey's Secretary of Agriculture from 2001-2008.   The United States agricultural land base is shrinking; the U.S. Census Bureau predicts, by 2040 the United States population will grow to over 400 million people, from the approximately 300 million today; the average age of an American farmer is increasing; fewer people are choosing agriculture as an occupation; farmers are consistently facing new business challenges. These issues make us ask what public policy leaders are thinking about concerning agricultural policy. Mr. Kuperus believes now is time to focus on: Preserving productive farmland, the finite resource which sustains the agricultural production system that we depend on. Strengthening the agricultural industry of today while encouraging innovation that will lead to growth for all sectors of agriculture, including small and large farms, close to population centers as well as in rural settings. Offering hope and equipping the next generation of agricultural leaders while welcoming new people to farming. He will speak about his experience while serving as New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture in the most densely populated state in the country. He will emphasize the urgency for a much needed policy framework, supportive to agriculture, at the local, state, regional and federal level that focuses on every part of America’s diverse agriculture industry. Read more about Charles Kuperus.

Lunchtime Keynote Speaker Mas Masumoto Organic peach and grape farmer and author of four books: Heirlooms, Letters to the Valley, Four Seasons in Five Senses, Harvest Son, and Epitaph for a Peach. His new book, Wisdom of the Last Farmer, will be published in August, 2009.   Hailed by The New York Times as “A poet of farming” and the Los Angeles Times as the “Rockstar Farmer” who “uses his farm as Thoreau did his Walden Pond,” David Mas Masumoto weaves together stories of family and farming, life and death to reveal age-old wisdom that is fast disappearing—and urgently needed. David Mas Masumoto is the award-winning author of Epitaph for a Peach and other books, popular columnist, spokesperson for organic farming, and a fellow at The Kellogg Foundation. A third-generation farmer, he grows certified organic peaches, nectarines, and grapes on his family’s eighty-acre California farm. He lives in Del Rey, California. Read more about David Mas Masumoto.