GRAPHIC: The largest organic farming conference in the nation will take place later this week in La Crosse, WI. Thousands of attendees from more than 40 states will share knowledge and learn the latest techniques in organic and sustainable agriculture. (Image credit: Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service)

SPRING VALLEY, Wis. - Thousands of organic and sustainable farmers from across the nation will meet in La Crosse later this week for the annual MOSES Organic Conference, which in its 25-year-history has become the largest organic farming conference in the country.



MOSES stands for Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. Last year, more than 3,400 attendees from 43 states and foreign nations attended the conference.



Faye Jones, executive director of MOSES, says the conference gets bigger every year because it gets better every year, and this year attendees can expect bigger and better things.



"Great improvement in the workshop sound and screen systems, and additional networking and opportunities for new and beginning farmers," she says. "The workshops continue to be the heart of the conference; we've got 68 workshops and something for everybody."



Registration for the conference is now closed, but Jones says there will be limited on-site admission available at the La Crosse Center. The conference kicks off Thursday night with the presentation of the 2015 MOSES Organic Farmer of the Year award.



According to Jones, another reason for the constant growth of the organic conference is the increasing concern consumers have about where their food comes from.



"A lot of people maybe don't realize that here in Wisconsin and here in the Midwest we actually are leaders in that movement," says Jones. "That growing movement of our concern about what we eat and how it's grown and the impact on the environment."



The Organic Trade Association says 80 percent of U.S. families buy organic foods, and Census Bureau figures show that there are more than 16,000 organic farms in the country. Organic foods generate in excess of $35 billion in sales every year and for the past three years, the average growth for the organic market has been 10 percent, compared to the conventional market's three percent.