'Ag For All' Conference Opportunity for LGBTQ Farmers to Network

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- An agricultural conference specifically for the gay farming community is coming to St. Cloud.

The first Ag for All Conference is this Saturday at the St. Cloud Holiday Inn and Suites.

The University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture are hosting the event for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Spokesman Joe Rand says they want the conference to be an opportunity to both learn and network.

There are 10 million LGBTQ+ people that live in rural communities in the United States and a percentage of those are folks who live on farms, work on farms, or own farms. A lot of the LGBTQ+ community are first-time emerging farmers.

Rand says he and his husband own a hobby farm near Clearwater.

We're registered through Minnesota Grown, which you can do through the Department of Agriculture, and you can designate if your farm is LGBTQ+ owned or another underrepresented identity. There are only live five farms in the state that had chosen that designation, and we personally know more than five farms.

According to the 2017 USDA census, about 12,000 farms across the country are run by same-sex couples.

More Information

The theme for the day is Transforming Barriers into Breakthroughs.

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Agenda
8:15-8:45 a.m Registration
8:45 a.m. Welcome
9:00 a.m. Keynote panel
10:00 a.m. Community member highlight
10:10 a.m. Morning break/visit booths
10:30 a.m. Breakout session 1
11:30 a.m. Affinity spaces for queers and allies
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Community Member Highlight
1:45 p.m. Breakout session 2
2:40 p.m. Afternoon break/visit booths
3:00 p.m. Regional connections
3:45 p.m. "Mini" breakout session 3
4:15 p.m. Wrap up & door prizes

They have about 100 people signed up so far. Registration is open through this Friday.

Rand says they are hoping the Ag For All Conference becomes an annual event.