Events - North American Food Systems Network

UPCOMING EVENTS

NAFSN promotes its own events as well as those hosted by our collaborator organizations (denoted by a *). We welcome the opportunity to attend, cross-promote, and help create accessibility to events with collaborating member organizations that share our values and vision to build a more inclusive and informed workforce for local and regional food systems development.

Finding Your Future In Food Systems

Are you an emerging food systems professional? Are you in career transition, seeking a job in community food work?

This series is for you!

Finding Your Future in Food Systems provides participants with connections and insights to help them identify next steps in their careers.

Come meet speakers from a wide variety of sectors within the food systems profession: policy & advocacy, market development, food access initiatives, value chain development, education, and farming, both urban and rural.

The series features speakers from job-creating organizations, agencies, and businesses, some working locally, others with national or international scope. Produced by college students for college students and others.

Produced by Jeffrey Xue.

Co-hosted by Natalie Cruz & Jeffrey Xue.

THIS SERIES IS SEASONAL

ALWAYS FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC

SPRING 2026 SPEAKERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

Micro Course Information Session

Anyone who values community-based farmers markets will benefit from this course. It is conveniently condensed, making lots of information as accessible as possible.

This course informs grassroots champions of local and regional food systems - just like you - how they can support farmers markets to drive economic reinvestment and improve social determinants of health.

In this course, you will engage in multiple, interactive ways with the work of three researchers.

Together, they present insights gleaned from their multi-year research study published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development in January 2025.

This micro course is free for NAFSN members.

Thu, Jan 22, 2pm ET

Thu, Feb 12, 2pm ET

Thu, Mar 19, 2pm ET

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

ACRE Information Sessions

Are you interested in becoming a trained food systems facilitator?

Or, are you looking for an affordable & practical professional development opportunity for your staff with lasting impact?

Join us for a free Information Session on ACRE.

AgriCluster Resilience and Expansion - or ACRE for short - is a professionally-facilitated strategic planning process to help groups of farmers, especially those in value-chains, work together and compete more effectively.

The ACRE Facilitator Training program provides instruction specifically designed for food and agriculture systems professionals to facilitate and guide the ACRE Process with farmers and other community stakeholders in the values-based development of more resilient food value chains.

In the ACRE Information Session, you'll learn about the training course, and the community of practice employing ACRE in their food/ag communities.

The ACRE training is free for NAFSN members.

Tue, Jan 13, 2pm ET

Tue, Mar 10, 2pm ET

Tue, May 12, 2pm ET

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

CARAT Information Session

The North American Food Systems Network has released CARAT as a free, open-access resource.

The Community & Agriculture Resilience Audit Tool (CARAT) helps community stakeholders assess how they currently utilize the assets of their local food system to achieve a substantial level of community resilience.

CARAT measures the resources within a food system via 101 indicators to determine possible next steps to increase community resiliency and food sovereignty.

To learn more, please consider attending one of our CARAT Informational Sessions.

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

ACRE Community of Practice Gathering

This event will gather together those who have completed certification in ACRE Facilitator Training as well as those currently enrolled.

Email us to register for the ACRE Facilitator Training course, offered free to NAFSN members.

THIS EVENT IS QUARTERLY

Dec 16, 2025, 2p ET

OPEN TO MEMBERS OF THE ACRE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE ONLY

NAFSN Leadership Circle

Leadership Circle Meetings are open to all members of NAFSN throughout 2026.

During the one-hour monthly meeting, NAFSN Leadership members review and discuss the organization's monthly leadership report.

Led by Natalie Cruz, Co-Director of NAFSN, the group makes time at the beginning of each meeting for new members to briefly introduce themselves to the group.

Mon, Jan 12, 12p ET

Mon, Feb 9, 12p ET

Mon, Mar 9, 12p ET

Mon, Apr 13, 12p ET

Mon, May 11, 12p ET

Mon, Jun 8, 12p ET

Mon, Jul 13, 12p ET

Mon Aug 10, 12p ET

Mon, Sep 14, 12p ET

Mon, Oct 12, 12p ET

Mon, Nov 9, 12p ET

Mon, Dec 14, 12p ET