Building Connections Across the Chestnut Supply Chain

Many people are working to increase the production of chestnuts. People are also working to create relationships and infrastructure to aggregate, process, and distribute these chestnuts. Much of this work is happening in parallel. These virtual events are an opportunity to have conversations with others involved in moving these efforts forward. This is intended as an advanced discussion of lessons learned and next steps. Since the 2020 Chestnut Growers of America meeting was postponed until 2021, we hope this event provides an interim opportunity to connect and build networks.

First discussion

Tuesday, September 1, 2020 – 9am-12pm eastern

• 9am-10am: Facilitated discussion by Erik Hagan with Greg Miller (Empire Chestnuts & Route 9 Chestnut Cooperative), Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl (Red Fern Farm), Bill Davidson (Savanna Institute), and Roger Blackwell (Chestnut Growers, Inc.)
• 10am-11am: Chestnut Aggregation Roundtable - 5 minute introductions by 10 participants: volunteer to share in the questionnaire!
• 11am-12pm: Questions and Answers

Recording of Session 1

Questions and Answers (Q&A) from Session 1

Second discussion

Thursday, September 10, 2020 – 9am-12pm eastern

• Deeper discussions among those interested in moving forward in conversation about next steps to establish chestnut cooperatives and other aggregation organizations.
• Event will include both large group discussions and small group discussions organized by region and/or sector
• Please participate in the first event or listen to the recording to attend the second event.

Please send questions to: Sara Fitzsimmons