2016 EcoFarm Conference Closing Plenary: Flavors of Regeneration featuring Mas and Nikiko Masumoto

• Report rights infringement
• published: 18 Feb 2016
• views: 5

Introduction by EcoFarm Staff and Board, welcoming Cuban Farmer Delegates to the EcoFarm Conference. Flavors of Regeneration featuring Mas and Nikiko Masumoto Father and daughter, Mas and Nikiko Masumoto, will explore the meanings and stories of regeneration. What does regeneration look, smell, taste, and feel like? Through short vignettes, storytelling, and collective interaction, we'll journey to the heart of the theme. We embrace both reflection and dreaming. You might think of this talk as alternatively titled "How to Leave This Conference Happy." David “Mas” Masumoto A third-generation farmer, David “Mas” Masumoto grows sun-kissed organic peaches, nectarines, and raisins on an 80-acre farm south of Fresno, California, with his wife Marcy Masumoto, EdD, daughter, Nikiko, and son, Korio. David is the author of several books including Epitaph for a Peach, Wisdom of the Last Farmer, Heirlooms, Letters to the Valley, Four Seasons in Five Senses, Harvest Son, Country Voices, and Silent Strength. Masumoto is currently a columnist for The Fresno Bee and The Sacramento Bee. He was a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow from 2006 to 2008. His writing awards include the Commonwealth Club Silver medal, the Julia Child Cookbook award, the James Clavell Literacy Award, the Award of Distinction from UC Davis in 2003, and EcoFarm's Steward of Sustainable Agriculture Award (Sustie) in 2008. A feature documentary, Changing Season, that chronicles the theme of succession on their family- run farm, is scheduled for national broadcast and will be screened here at EcoFarm on Friday.  Nikiko Masumoto Nikiko Masumoto lives through farming and creating. Born in the Central Valley of California, she spent her childhood slurping over-ripe peaches on the Masumoto Family Farm. Nikiko has never missed a summer harvest. In 2007 she graduated with Highest Honors from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Gender and Women’s Studies. It was there that she realized she wanted to return to the Valley to farm. But first she completed a Master of Arts in Performance as Public Practice from UT Austin. Her area of research focused on the performance of memory and Japanese American history, specifically the movement for Redress. Nikiko continues to develop her creative practices, exploring civic practice, creative entrepreneurship, storytelling, and site-specific performance. On most days you can find her on a tractor, dreaming of projects yet to be born.