The EcoFarm conference goes virtual this year, and becomes more accessible than ever.

For over 40 years, the Soquel-based Ecological Farming Association has offered a forum to share information and resources about sustainable and organic agriculture through its EcoFarm conference in Pacific Grove. The main audience is small and mid-sized farmers.

The 2022 EcoFarm, which began with pre-conference events on March 8, is online-only for the second year in a row. (Events that remain in-person are farm tours, including JSM Organics in Royal Oaks and Bees N Blooms in Sonoma County.)

Unchanged this year are the ambitious topics on the agenda, things like the future of agriculture in California, climate change, water use, ancient and new production techniques. Like the old days, attendees will have opportunities to interact in smaller forums, including meditation and yoga classes offered virtually. (The in-person edition culminates with music and dancing.)

The conference also offers sessions in Spanish and translation of workshops. Spanish-language programming has increased over the years, with nine sessions on this year’s agenda. Topics include how to produce organic seeds, from Ana Galvis of the Organic Seed Alliance, and integrated pest management by Martín Guerena of the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Husband-wife team Édgar Mendoza Samaniego and Kaley Grimland de Mendoza of Sol Seeker Farm in Lockwood present on raising poultry for eggs and meat.

The 2022 conference was set to start on Jan. 19 at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove with a hybrid format of in-person and virtual workshops, but was postponed due to the omicron surge.

One benefit of going fully virtual is expanding who can participate. In the past, most attendees came from California. Last year, people from at least 17 countries tuned in.

For the first time, EcoFarm will make all its content available online, year-around. “It’s going to be a place online where people can go at any time, 24/7,” says Deborah Yashar, EcoFarm’s communications director. She hopes this virtual space will create an online network among participants to continue exchanging ideas.

EcoFarm started in 1981 with a small group of people interested in helping each other to succeed; since then, the conference has grown exponentially and now offers dozens of workshops and acclaimed speakers.

Ricardo Salvador, one of this year’s keynote speakers, is director and senior scientist of the food environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He offers a presentation titled “The 21st Century Food System We Deserve.” Salvador will talk about what is needed to create a sustainable and equitable system among all the gears that move ag systems – including workers, supply chain and the environment.

Salvador says EcoFarm brings together people who share a common denominator: “They all want a different food system, and they’re working hard to bring it about.”

To attend the conference, visit eco-farm.org.