Conference materials consist primarily of audio recordings (1993-2017) and printed conference programs (1994-2017). Materials for earlier conferences include brochures (1990, 1992-1993), and planning and promotional materials (1992, 2013-2016). The audio and video (2016 and 2017) recordings document welcome and keynote speeches, workshops, and panels on various aspects of organic production, soil and weed management, certification, marketing, livestock management, and organic research, farm bill, and legislative updates. In some instances, the printed programs may differ from the list of recorded sessions and speakers. Some scheduled sessions were ultimately cancelled; other presenters may have filled in for listed speakers who were unable to attend the conference due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.
The Thursday Seminars, courses held the day before the official conference began, were offered in 1999 and 2000, and became the model for Organic University, a series of intensive, day-long workshops held the day before the Organic Farming Conference which began with the 2001 conference. Recordings of some of these sessions are included for the years specified in the contents list. Coverage is incomplete: courses offered ranged from six to ten separate courses from 2000 to 2017; the collection includes some, but not all, Organic University recordings.
In 2008, the first Midwest Organic Research Symposium was held in conjunction with the Organic Farming Conference. In 2010, the Organic Research Forum became part of the annual conference, where organic researchers could share their findings with farmers and receive feedback. The research forum includes workshops, a poster display, and panel discussion. Recordings for the Organic Research Forum workshops are included for 2010-2017 (only one recording is included for 2017).
Beginning with the 2015 conference, a project with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Farley Center Incubator Farm (Verona, Wisconsin) sought to make the conference more accessible for Hmong farmers and resulted in selective interpreted workshops and workshops presented in the Hmong language. Subsequent partners (2017) for this project include Hmong American Partnership (HAP) and the Minnesota Food Association (MFA). Two audio files from this project are included for the 2016 conference for two workshops conducted in Hmong.
Also of note in the 2016 recordings are two sessions given by participants in the Mandela Washington Fellowship program of President Barack Obama's Young African Leaders Initiative, a six-week leadership institute established in 2014 that involved 500 young people from across continental Africa. Two fellows, Ayoola Adeniyi and Angela Kirabo, discuss sustainable agricultural and food initiatives in Nigeria and Uganda, respectively.
Also included are recordings of related conferences organized by other organizations, including the Land Stewardship Project (1992), Michigan Organic Conference (2001), and National No-Tillage Conference (2007), as well as twelve of the sixteen "Best of" Organic Voices recordings selected by Barry George.
Digital files of photographs include shots of conference participants and events, 1990-2009.
