Decatur Public Library – Madden Auditorium

Featured guest will be Steve John the co-founder and executive director of the Agricultural Watershed Institute, a Decatur-based nonprofit organization, and who serves on the Steering Committee of Green Lands Blue Waters. Keynote: The Perennial Biomass Initiative: Collaboration For the Next Landscape Transformation Steve John will discuss a multi-state initiative for a 21st Century landscape transformation featuring perennial crops to enhance agriculture’s economic, environmental, and social performance. The Decatur area and the Upper Sangamon River Watershed can be a test bed to significantly increase acreage planted in perennial crops managed for both agricultural goods and environmental services. Download a flyer here.

Frank Grgurich, a Master Gardener who has been growing vegetables for several years on a large scale as well as composting will talk about:  “Garbage to black GOLD.  Free fertilizer from your kitchen and yard and maybe your neighbors.”