Guelph Organic Conference returns to in-person sessions

After two years of virtual-only programming and two years of gradual transition into full hosting and organizing duties, the Organic Council of Ontario will welcome Canada’s organic sector to the 42nd annual Guelph Organic Conference Jan. 23-29.

“Last year, we took over the virtual programming,” said executive director Carolyn Young, noting the annual event was forced by COVID-19 restrictions into two consecutive editions of virtual-only programming. 

“The year before that (in 2021), we were part of a group of organizations joining together to run the conference.”

Why it matters: The conference has long served as a networking opportunity for Ontario’s organic sector.

Started in 1992 by a grassroots group of farmers, the conference and tradeshow was organized by University of Guelph students for the rest of the 1990s. The university continues to host the event in its student centre and nearby buildings but growth in the scale of programming and exhibitor booths led to the creation of an organizing committee led for many years by Tomas Nimmo.

The transition to Organic Council leadership began with Nimmo’s retirement.

“We really like the idea of more people being able to participate in the conference,” said Young about the hybrid event. “We really like that it allows us to add more of a global perspective by having guest speakers from around the world.”

A planned panel discussion – potentially including both in-person and virtual overseas guests – will explore how the pandemic influenced the organic marketplace and possible future trends for organic pricing and value chain challenges.

Young confirmed in December that one of the in-person panelists will be former long-time Organic Denmark lobby group leader Paul Holmbeck, elected in September 2021 as a member of the four-year board of directors for the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.

American-born and a one-time social justice and poverty awareness activist at Duke University, Holmbeck married a Danish woman and spent 25 years heading the Scandinavian nation’s organic lobby effort, including a successful campaign urging the European Union to reject genetically modified crops under organic rules.

Holmbeck, who now runs an organic-focused policy consulting firm, will be on-site at the university because he will deliver the keynote keynote address at 7:30 p.m. Friday Jan. 27.

Details about the programming, which this year include virtual sessions from Monday through Friday followed by full days of in-person sessions on Saturday and Sunday, can be found at guelphorganicconf.ca.

The trade show runs Saturday and Sunday. Young says booth registrations are down slightly compared to recent in-person editions. Many businesses cite a shortage of employees or volunteers to staff the booths.

One major change compared to recent in-person events will be the lunch. It will not be available through the weekend so attendees are urged to either bring lunch or pre-order an organic lunch prepared by The Bullring when they register online.

Young says 2023 attendees may detect a shift in the programming towards more sessions for farms and market gardens and fewer geared to consumers and hyper small-scale production.

“That being said, we are trying as much as possible to hold true to the legacy of the Guelph Organic Conference. That type of (consumer-based) programming will still be a part of it,” said Young.

“It’s everybody’s conference,” she said. “We’re hoping we can learn from everybody what they’d like to see in the future.”