Sep. 9--At the base of a sustainable food system is dirt.

Farmers call it soil, and if it isn't healthy, there's no food, no farmers market and little chance of building a local food-producing system that can endure over the long haul.

Similarly, the foundation of a sustainable local economy is a healthy collection of small businesses and entrepreneurs whose efforts get a boost from investors.

Truchas resident and investor Woody Tasch said that's the philosophy behind the Slow Money network he founded. Slow Money will hold its first national conference in Santa Fe beginning today. Investors, farmers and activists are gathering through Friday at the Santa Fe Railyard to talk about food issues, investing in farms and economic ideas.

While the "slow food" movement focuses on fresh, locally grown food, Slow Money is based on building a local economy using some long-tested venture-capital principles.

Tasch was at home struggling to write his speech Tuesday before the conference started. "We view business as financial, social and natural capital working together," he said. "But financial capital has to be a tool of social and natural capital, not the other way around."

Tasch likened a healthy local economy to healthy soil. "The soil of the economy would have a lot of small businesses in it, like healthy soil has lots of micro-organisms," he said.

Featured speakers at the conference include Eric Becker of Trillium Asset Management; Odwalla juice founder Greg Steltenpohl; Ann Wright, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Northern New Mexico local-food advocates and producers.

Another speaker, Judy Wicks, founder of Philadelphia's White Dog Cafe and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, will give an early talk today at 5 p.m. at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art. Today's presentation by Wicks, titled "Local Living Economies: Green, Fair and Fun," is a fundraiser for the Santa Fe Alliance. Dozens of small food producers and hundreds of investors will be at the conference.

Tasch said the conference focuses on local farms because food is fundamental to local economies. He began thinking about "slow money" while taking a break from the small-scale venture capital Investors Circle he started more than 18 years ago. Those investors so far have put $130 million into 200 start-up companies with specific social or environmental bents like renewable energy, organics and health care.

Tasch believes last year's global financial collapse was the signal that old models for capital and companies aren't working. "We've just had a glimpse into the financial abyss. The fact that it was only a glimpse doesn't make it any less scary," Tasch said. "Our financial system is not sustainable. Our idea of unlimited economic growth on a planet of limited resources is not sustainable."

Slow Money starts with the idea of building a well-funded means of supporting local food systems. He hopes it will grow into a steady stream of support for all kinds of entrepreneurs. "We're talking about organizing a million people as part of the Slow Money movement," he said. "We already have 100 members."

Membership fees will serve as seed money for connecting local investors to local food producers or to support municipal bonds for food production, Tasch said.

For more information, visit www.slowmoneyalliance.org/

A screening of Food Fight, a documentary about the local food movement with a talk by director Chris Taylor afterward, is scheduled for 7:30 tonight at the Jean Cocteau Theater. Seating is limited to the first 120 people.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com

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