Arizona Food, Farm and Ranch Finance Forum, January 13-15
Biosphere Two: What’s in it for YOU?

• If you are a social impact investor or venture capitalist: Come and hear Slow Money founder Woody Tasch tell how $30 million in dollars of investing locally in 220 food and farm businesses since 2010 is creating viable options to placing all your money and trust in Wall Street.
• If you are a beginning (or ramping-up) farmer or rancher: Come and hear Alex Young of Cornman Farm and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses talk about double their production and planting area each year, and how he finances it. Zingerman’s has grown seventeen for-profits and non-profits in Ann Arbor to create 650 new jobs and 50 million dollars of annual sales of products and services in its community.
• If you want to jumpstart a local food restaurant, or cooperative local food distribution network to restaurants: Come and hear Derrick Widmark, co-founder of Diablo Burger in Flagstaff and Tucson tell how he brokered financial backing and local beef and vegetable sourcing to jumpstart these independently-owned businesses.
• If you are a food bank staffer hoping to create new jobs for the poor: Come and hear Lisa Pino, Executive Director of United Food Bank in Chandler, explain what USDA Strikeforce Programs and philanthropic initiatives can do to help you create live-able wage jobs in the food growing, processing and distribution sectors.
• If you are a community development planner or credit union investment officer: Come and hear Michael Dimock of Roots of Change in the Bay area explain how rural and urban communities are coming together to plan the future of their food-based economies.
• If you are an eater, a food justice activist, or student: Come and hear Kimber Lanning of Local First Arizona offer a vision of living local economies that will help Arizona communities recover their health and well-being.
• If you are a potential donor, angel investor, stakeholder or loan-giver to such initiatives: Learn from Elizabeth U, author of Raising Dough, how to avoid legal pitfalls and financial risks to match your financial resources to match your investing capacity with your values to do the greatest possible good for your family and community.
• If you want to start a food microenterprise from a community kitchen using local ingredients for value-added products: Listen to Ernie Rivera, Kitchen Manager of Mixing Bowl, the Kitchen for Entrepreneurs in Albuquerque, talking about helping sixty active food microenterprises each year and guiding another hundred prospective food businesses in product development and business planning.