GrowNWT 2026: Conference Schedule & Agenda (Draft)
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Join this interactive multi-day event to learn more about how the NWT agrifood sector is recovering and building resiliency, what business opportunities exist, best practises from experienced growers and producers and ideas for innovation. Everyone is welcome. There is no charge to attend but registration is required. Visit www.nwtagrifood.ca to register.
Date and Location
The conference will be held in Yellowknife, NWT at the Chateau Nova Hotel March 26-28, 2026. A room block has been reserved for out-of-town visitors. Please use the name of the event when booking.
Schedule Overview
Thursday March 26
1-4:00pm Growers Forum
Learn about agricultural projects happening around the NWT and join experienced Northern growers to discuss common issues, solutions and best practises.
6:30-8:30pm
Nourish and Network: An Agrifood Sector Networking Event and One Act Play
Sponsored by the Future Harvest Partnership (Wilfrid Laurier University, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Territorial Agrifood Association)
Friday March 27
MAIN CONFERENCE DAY 9am-4pm
Full day interactive conference with the opportunity to meet one on one with funders, suppliers and subject matter experts as well as a series of panels, presentations and technical information.
5:30-7:30pm Dinner ($50 per person)
Mix and Mingle with conference speakers, participants and funders while letting your hair down and enjoying an amazing meal and live music.
Saturday March 28
SEEDY SATURDAY (open to the Public)
10:00am-2:00pm
Seed Swap, talks and workshops. Light lunch.
Thursday March 26, 2026
GROWERS FORUM –Chateau Nova
MODERATOR: Janet Dean, Executive Director, Territorial Agrifood Association
1:00pm – 1:15pm Conference Opening with the Yellowknives Dene Drummers
1:15pm-1:30pm Welcome
Kevin Wallington, Chair, Territorial Agrifood Association
1:30pm-2:00pm The State of the Agrifood Sector in the NWT
Touchback to discussions and recommendations from the 2025 conference, update on the sector as a whole.
Janet Dean, Executive Director, Territorial Agrifood Association
Joel Holder, Director Agriculture and Commercial Food Development Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment
Nazim Awan, Canadian North Development Agency
2:00pm-2:30pm An Agricultural Update from the South Slave
TBA
2:30pm-2:45pm Cultivating Curiosity- the role of famers and growers in research, seed saving and creating a community of practise
Julie Lacourse TAA Grower’s Liaison
Dr. Rosie Kerr, University of Guelph, Future Harvest Partnership
2:45-3:00pm Health Break
3:00pm – 4:15pm Northern Food Participants Panel - collaboration, collegiality and capacity
How we grow food in an isolated community
Aliya Hirch & Kathryn Scott, Garden Coordinators for Sambaa K'e First Nation's Community Garden
Learn the different locations and crops grown at the Sambaa K'e Community Garden - over 20 different varieties of fruits and vegetables with programs that involve different community members and age groups.
Creating avenues for budding local food producers
Lyndsay Matesic, Harvesters Table Coordinator Yellowknife Farmers Market
The Yellowknife Farmers Market Harvesters Table is a program that connects the public with fresh produce grown and harvested by backyard gardeners, with the goal of supporting northern food sovereignty and developing local food production.
A journey into forest gardening
Devon Koeller & Olivier Duret, Five Snares Homestead
200km beyond the last road on a small island in the East Arm, Devon and Olivier
are exploring the challenges of building soil, a balanced nutrient cycle, & long
term sustainability, while using as few outside “inputs” as possible. A sharing of
experiences & lessons learned in conversation with the land.
4:15pm – 4:45pm Networking and Q and A
A series of spotlight questions designed to spark discussion, identify resources and foster collaborations amongst northern producers, growers, harvesters and processors.
TOPIC: Next steps for NWT Growers, creating a wish list for the future in a world of food sovereignty, arctic sovereignty, trade tariffs, relaxed interprovincial trade and climate change.
Facilitated by Janet Dean, Territorial Agrifood Association
6:30-8:30pm Nourish and Network: An Agrifood Sector Networking Event and One Act Play sponsored by the Future Harvest PartnershipEnjoy Dale Hamilton’s touring one act regenerative agriculture play “The Gardener and the Golfer” while dining and networking with peers. Join in a collaborative dialogue post play and hear what other audiences across Canada have been saying.
Included with conference registration
Friday March 27, 2026 Chateau Nova
8:00 am- 8:45 am Conference Check In
9:00am-9:20am Welcome
The Honorable Rebecca Alty
MP House of Commons, Ottawa
The Honourable Jay Macdonald
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
tba
Yellowknives First Nation
Mayor Ben Hendriksen
City of Yellowknife
Kevin Wallington
Chair of the Territorial Agrifood Association
9:15am – 9:40 am KEYNOTE 1: Dinner on Mars: What Remote Food Systems Teach Us About Feeding the North Mars is too far for takeout—and so is the North
Dr Evan Fraser Arell Food Institute, University of Guelph, Sustainable Futures for Canadians Project
Learn why northern food systems need foundational supports, not just projects,
why commercial food production is part of the solution but is not a replacement for traditional hunting, harvesting, or sharing economies and that the answer lies in collaboration over competition
9:40am – 10:00am Panel: Community Food projects – the importance of project management in realizing impactful outcomes
Kevin Wallington, North Star Agriculture
Jonathan Luckhurst, Founder, Sea to Sky Botanics
Dr Andrew Spring, Wilfrid Laurier University
10:00am- 10:20am Health break
10:20am-10:40am NWT Local food survey – what we heard
Danielle Klassen, University of Waterloo Future Harvest Partnership Survey Team
10:40am-11:40am Table Talks – the speed dating of the conference world ( 2 sessions)
Visit the speakers at their tables for Q&A. Then visit the next on your list until time is up.
Ecology North
Composting – Net Solutions Inc.
Funding for agri-food in the North –ITI, CanNor, Agrifood Canada
Wilfrid Laurier Northern Research Office
Tastes of the North
Aurora College
SF4C
Territorial Agrifood Association -Farmer Led Research
Scotia Bank
Office of Official Languages
Sea to Sky Botanics
Black Farmers Association of Canada
11:40-noon Agrifood Innovation and Youth – what we heard at the SF4C Youth Hackathon and the importance of amplifying the voices of youth
Tiffany and Carl Jr Kodakin-Yakelya, Territorial Agrifood Association
Noon- 1:00pm Buffet LUNCH
Video highlights of the Territorial Agrifood Association’s work over the last year will be shown over lunch.
1:00pm - 1:30pm KEYNOTE 2
The NWT Agricultural Frontier Under Climate Change
How scenario modelling can help our sector plan for the future.
Dr. Elena Bennett, Dr. Yehui Zhong McGill University Future Harvest Partnership
1:30pm- 1:50 pm Soil Stories – update on NWT soil research
Jane Mariotti, MSc, University of Guelph
1:50pm- 2:10 pm The Little Greenhouse That Could –a unique model of indoor farming
Trina Semenchuk, CEO & Founder Biosystems EIT
Winnipeg Manitoba
2:10pm- 2:30 pm The importance of Food Sovereignty: Growing food and traditional harvesting are both important pieces of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Puzzle
Speaker to be confirmed
2:00-2:30pm The importance of Cultural Food Sovereignty
Toyin Kayo-Ajayi, Canadian Black Farmers Association
Mission, BC
2:30pm - 2:45pm Health break
2:45pm – 3:15pm Table talks: second round
Visit the speakers at their tables for Q&A. Then visit the next on your list until time is up.
Ecology North
Composting – Net Solutions Inc.
Funding for agri-food in the North –ITI, CanNor, Agrifood Canada
Wilfrid Laurier Northern Research Office
Tastes of the North
Aurora College
SF4C
Territorial Agrifood Association -Farmer Led Research
Scotia Bank
Office of Official Languages
Sea to Sky Botanics
Black Farmers Association of Canada
3:15pm- 3:45pm Amplifying Voices for a Collaborative AgriFood Sector – a summary of conference outcomes and calls for the future of NWT food.
3:45pm – 4:00pm Continuing our call to Action for NWT Livestock and Meat Regulations and
Closing Remarks
Janet Dean, Executive Director Territorial Agrifood Association
Optional Friday Dinner ($50 per person) Elks Lodge
6:00pm- 8:30 pm An Agrifood Sector Dinner Event
Mix and mingle with other participants at this buffet catered by the Northern Chicks (maximum 60 people) while participating in agrifood related trivia before live music from the TAA’s own 17 year old retail clerk and her band Raskl.
Saturday March 28 – Seedy Saturday (open to the public)
10:00am- 12:00 noon Seed Swap and Info Exchange
12:00 noon – 1:00pm Light Lunch
1:00pm- 2:00 pm Concurrent Workshops (workshop topics to come)
Show Your Badge Program
This is an opportunity for conference delegates from outside of Yellowknife to access special promotions from local businesses. To access these promotions, delegates simply present their event badge displaying the NWT Show Your Badge Program Logo or show the coupon they received at registration at the participating business. Thank you to the generous sponsors who help make the Show Your Badge experience possible. Email events@nwtagrifood.ca if you wish to receive your coupons in advance to help you plan your stay.
Conference Sponsors
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