Tasch is the chairman of the Slow Money Alliance and inspired the Slow Money movement by writing Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered.

The Slow Money Alliance is bringing people together around a conversation about money that is too fast, about finance that is disconnected from people and place, and about how people can begin fixing the economy from the ground up, starting with food.

So far, $4.5 million has been invested in 16 small food enterprises through Slow Money’s national gatherings. In the last year, $5 million more has been invested through Slow Money chapters, with membership growing and local investor groups continuing to emerge.

For 10 years, Tasch was chairman of Investors’ Circle, which has invested $133 million in 200 early stage sustainability businesses since 1992. Tasch also served as treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation where, as part of an innovative mission-related venture capital program, a substantial investment was made in Stonyfield Farm, now the world’s largest maker of organic yogurt.

Kimbrell is one of the country’s leading environmental attorneys and the founder and executive director of the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and the International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA). The Center for Food Safety pursues public education, policy advocacy, and legal actions to curtail industrial agricultural production methods that harm human health and the environment, including genetic engineering.

Kimbrell is author of 101 Ways to Help Save the Earth, The Human Body Shop: The Engineering and Marketing of Life, Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food and general editor of Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. His articles have appeared in numerous law reviews, technology journals, magazines, and newspapers across the country, and he has been featured in documentary films, including “The Future of Food.”

In 1994, Utne Reader named Kimbrell one of the world’s leading 100 visionaries. In 2007, he was named one of the 50 people most likely to save the planet by The Guardian (UK).

Jeff Moyer - As the director of farm operations at the Rodale Institute, Moyer is an expert in organic crop production systems including weed management, cover crops, crop rotations, equipment modification and use, and facilities design. Moyer has helped countless farmers make the transition from conventional, chemical-based farming to organic or sustainable methods. Moyer’s workshops will cover no-till organic farming, utilizing cover crops to enhance soil fertility, and effectively managing compost applications as a means of waste management.

Gary Zimmer - As a farmer, author, educator, and president of Midwestern Bio-Ag, Zimmer is recognized around the world for his commitment to improving farming through building healthy soils, and has spoken to farmers and agribusiness professionals all across the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. In his workshop, Zimmer will cover nutritional considerations for pasture-based systems which includes details on how to use Brix on dairy operations.

Dan Ravicher - As a patent law professor and executive director of the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), Ravicher represents OEFFA and other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Monsanto which seeks preemptive court protection for farmers who may be accused of patent infringement if they become contaminated by Monsanto's genetically engineered seed. Ravicher will provide an update on the lawsuit during his workshop.

Frack Track Workshops - High volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), commonly known as "fracking" is an intensive extraction process that uses a high pressure chemical cocktail to fracture rock to release natural gas. Already widespread in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country, natural gas companies are now expanding into Ohio. This "frack track" comprised of three different workshops will educate farmers, landowners, and concerned citizens about the environmental and social risks of this process and what it means for organic farmers. Participants will also have the opportunity to learn about the current regulatory and legislative landscape, as well as actions to take in their local communities and to protect their land.