The average farmer attendee likely looked around at the Illinois Harvest Dinner, held last week near Dixon, and didn’t recognize many people.

And that’s the whole idea.

Farmer, host and organizer Katie Pratt says she and fellow co-chairwoman Mary Faber felt this was the best year by far for the harvest dinner — an event with the sole purpose of bringing nonfarmers to the farm to have a meal without labels. Why was this year the best yet?

“One, we finally know what we’re doing,” Pratt says, laughing. “But two, we really felt like the guest list was a good, diverse mix of ideas, opinions and experiences. And from what we’ve heard, there were a lot of really good conversations about food and farming.

“My table touched on everything from ingredients in food products to food insecurity and food waste,” she notes.

The guest list included professors from Northern Illinois University, executives at McDonald’s, and administrators and doctors from local hospitals — the majority of whom came based on a cold call.

“I’d say, ‘Hey, you have no idea who I am, but I’d love for you to come out to my farm,’” Pratt says. Others came because Pratt is scheduled to speak to their group later in the year, and she invited them. Still more came from one local hospital because she’s on the board and has a connection.

From the dinner’s beginning three years ago, Pratt and Faber have focused on health care professionals because they believe it’s an audience not being targeted by ag advocacy efforts. Faber has been able to reach a database of dietitians through Midwest Dairy.

Pratt and Faber want the majority of guests to be nonfarmers, with the occasional farmer sprinkled throughout to answer questions and explain what he or she does — an 80-20 ratio of nonfarmers to farmers. Many of the farmers who attended and advocated this year were local (like Pratt’s family), or were experienced in advocacy efforts (like former U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance advocate Tom Titus). And while Pratt regrets that she had to say no to some farmers who wanted to attend, she and Faber had to draw some lines.

“If we’re going to stay true to our goal of making this not about the farmers, we can’t have everybody that we want to have,” Pratt explains.

Post-dinner, Faber follows up with guests and invites them to her family’s dairy farm. Pratt has already been asked to speak to a sustainable food systems class at Northern Illinois University because the professor attended the dinner.

“This is what we’re hoping for — that it will allow us to keep making those connections,” she adds.

And while this Illinois Harvest Dinner will be the final one for Pratt and Faber, it won’t be the last in the state. Many counties across Illinois have hosted their own dinners — something Pratt delights in.

“Those county-level harvest dinners have exploded. That’s great, because connections are being made on a local level.”

Check out the slideshow for scenes from the third Illinois Harvest Dinner.