{"id":328,"date":"2010-01-11T11:32:05","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T18:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=328"},"modified":"2010-01-15T14:23:15","modified_gmt":"2010-01-15T21:23:15","slug":"vrg-generates-interest-in-vegetarianism-at-agricultural-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/11\/vrg-generates-interest-in-vegetarianism-at-agricultural-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"VRG Generates Interest in Vegetarianism at Agricultural Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Vegan-booth-Ben-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Vegan booth Ben\" title=\"Vegan booth Ben\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Vegan-booth-Ben-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Vegan-booth-Ben-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Vegan-booth-Ben.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Ben Shaberman<\/p>\n<p>Organic farmers, specialty growers, and agricultural professionals from throughout the Midwest braved arctic-like conditions to attend the 2010 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference in Springfield, Illinois, from January 6-8, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Making its first appearance at the annual event, the Vegetarian Resource Group was warmly and respectfully received by attendees. At VRG\u2019s exhibit booth, visitors collected and perused a variety of books, brochures, and handouts to learn more about vegetarian cooking, nutrition, and health benefits. While most conference attendees were not completely vegetarian, most also acknowledged the benefits of being meat-free, and expressed an interest in moving more toward a vegetarian diet.<\/p>\n<p>Several attendees representing farmer\u2019s markets, herb growers, and community-based nonprofits were grateful to receive free VRG brochures and literature to hand out at their events. They noted that they either had customers or constituents who were vegetarian, or they were interested in promoting a vegetarian lifestyle at their events.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some examples of the people and vendors who took an interest in VRG\u2019s materials:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An organic community agricultural project will use VRG materials<br \/>\n    to enlighten people about our nation\u2019s food supply and a more<br \/>\n    healthy and sustainable approach to eating.<\/li>\n<li>A veterinary professor picked up the Vegetarian Journal to learn<br \/>\n    more about the dietary and cultural habits of his students, many<br \/>\n    of whom are vegetarian.<\/li>\n<li>A vegan and owner of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in<br \/>\n    Mansfield, Missouri, took VRG literature to distribute to his<br \/>\n    customers.<\/li>\n<li>A representative from the USDA\u2019s National Resources Conservation<br \/>\n    Service came by the VRG booth to learn about new vegetarian food<br \/>\n    alternatives for him and his family.<\/li>\n<li>A representative from Eden Place Nature Center, located in the<br \/>\n    South Side of Chicago, picked up VRG materials to hand out to<br \/>\n    visitors, many of whom live in urban neighborhoods.<\/li>\n<li>Several people took VRG materials to give to their vegetarian<br \/>\n    friends and family members.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>VRG extends special thanks to Patricia Wieland for introducing us to the conference and supporting our presence there, as well as Ben Shaberman for staffing the VRG booth.<\/p>\n<p>Check out Ben&#8217;s book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1934074365?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=httpwwwvrgorg-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=1934074365\">The Vegan Monologues<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ben Shaberman Organic farmers, specialty growers, and agricultural professionals from throughout the Midwest braved arctic-like conditions to attend the 2010 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference in Springfield, Illinois, from January 6-8, 2010. Making its first appearance at the annual event, the Vegetarian Resource Group was warmly and respectfully received by attendees. At [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}