27th annual Eco-Farm Conference starts Wednesday

For every calorie of food produced by agriculture, 10 calories of fossil fuel is burned.

It’s an expensive habit the United States is going to have to change as the supply of oil and gas dwindles and the prices continue to skyrocket, according to Richard Heinberg, a noted author and professor from Santa Rosa.

He’s one of dozens of speakers who plan to lecture on the status of modern day agriculture while offering alternatives to fossil fuels at the 27th annual Ecological Farming Conference, which starts 8 p.m. Wednesday in Merrill Hall at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove.

Each year, the Watsonville-based Ecological Farming Association holds the Eco-Farm Conference, which began small in 1981 to create more dialogue between organic farmers.

Santa Cruz Sentinel