HARRISON TOPP

THE RADICAL RE-CENTERING OF A WISEACRE YOUNG FARMER

To understand the radical center, it helps to respect farmers from all the far-flung sides of the agricultural system. Even better, one can strive to be a better farmer in adopting qualities and lessons from all those unlikely mentors. This plenary session explores the training and experiences of a young peach farmer and community organizer, whose livelihood depends on expanding his network’s boundaries. In the field, in his community, and industry, he’s confronted the multitude of linkages that keep our food system aloft. Like many farmers and organizers before him, his story explores the intersectional forces that shape the radical center and our role in the future of agriculture.

Harrison Topp is the Membership Director for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the manager of Topp Fruits in Paonia, CO. He works with a diverse spectrum of farmers and ranchers in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, to build community driven chapters and organize around local, state, and federal issues that impact agriculture. Topp is passionate about two things – soil and helping develop grassroots leaders. He is a first generation farmer, who began farming after college on a sugar farm in North Carolina and is now developing a commercial orchard business in his home state of Colorado. Topp graduated from New York University in 2009 with a double major in Film and Television Production and Anthropology.  Rocky Mountain Farmers Union –  www.rmfu.org

We invite you to enjoy videos from our 2017 Conference here. The annual Quivira Conference is internationally renowned for bringing together leaders, innovators, and stewards of the land for three days of provocative plenary presentations, roundtable discussions, and networking with diverse attendees from across the southwest, the country, and globe. The conference creates a unique environment where ideas are sown, exchanged, and grown. Quivira’s outstanding speakers and attendees contribute expertise in ranching, farming, conservation, community, and all things soil, which is the key to it all. Every attendee brings something unique to the table, and each departs with inspiration, new connections, broader perspectives, and the tools necessary to effect change.