With No Sign Of End To COVID-19, Major Organic Farming Conference Cancels Events In La Crosse

A major organic farming conference in La Crosse is moving online in response to COVID-19.

The Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service, or MOSES, Organic Farming Conference will no longer be held at the La Crosse Center in February 2021.

The event draws thousands of people to the La Crosse area each year, with more than 2,500 attendees from across the country at the February 2020 conference.

Audrey Alwell, MOSES communications director, said the group made the decision to switch to an online format given the continued spread of COVID-19.

“Like a lot of businesses that are looking at the coronavirus pandemic, we really had to look forward and just see what’s going to happen with the public health crisis. And there just doesn’t seem to be an answer,” Alwell said. “We just have to prioritize the health and safety of our community.”

Alwell said this is the first time in the conference’s 32-year history that they’ve been unable to gather in person.

She said the organization has already started developing online content and they’re hoping more farmers will be able to contribute their own knowledge to the conference.

“We’re asking farmers to prepare short videos as they’re out in their fields or in their barns or wherever, if they want to share something that they’re doing that’s innovative,” Alwell said. “This online format will give us the platform to be able to share that kind of information farmer-to-farmer.”

Alwell said the organization has already drawn a wider audience for their virtual field days this summer, including people who would have been unable to travel to the Midwest. But she said moving the conference online does present new challenges.

“Our community is unique in that we do have members of the Plain community coming to our events. And so we’re also brainstorming on how can we get information that they can access,” Alwell said.

She said conference participation could also be affected by access to broadband, so MOSES is exploring the idea of small watch parties for those unable to attend from home.

Art Fahey, director of the La Crosse Center, said the early decision by MOSES isn’t surprising, given the continued spread of COVID-19 and the advanced planning needed to put on the conference. But he said it is a loss for the community.

“The economic impact that that has not just on the building, but the whole community is pretty substantial, filling the hotels and the restaurants, all of the activity and shopping and buying gas,” Fahey said.

Fahey said the La Crosse Center hasn’t held an event since mid-March. But even with the cancellation of the MOSES conference, he’s still hopeful things will turn the corner in 2021.

“We’re hoping things will settle down and we can have an opportunity to bring gatherings together. But a venue like us, where you have mass gatherings, is just counter to everything that’s being talked about as far as dealing with the coronavirus,” Fahey said.