March 7, 2017
Farm Starts Workshop in Hays
Submitted by Milissa Alexander
Beginning Farmers Explore Production, Business and Marketing.
Plans have been finalized for the Farm Starts workshop to be held on Friday, March 24, at the KSU Agricultural Research Center. The 1-day workshop will focus on helping Ag Producers in the dairy and grain sectors who have been farming for 0-10 years. The topics will be Organic Grain Operation Practices, Organic Dairy Operation Practices, Organic Dairy Markets and Marketing, Organic Grain Markets and Marketing, Ag Risk Management and Crop Insurance, Transitioning to Organic, Organic Certification, and Farm Financial Management.
The program will begin at 9 a.m. with registration and a pre-program survey. See the complete schedule of events:
9:00 a.m. Registration and Pre-Program Survey
9:15 a.m. Welcome and Attendee Introductions —Kansas Organic Producers Ed Reznicek
9:30 a.m. Soil Health, Cover Crops & Grazing in Organic Grain Production —Shannon Gnad, Agronomist - Crop Vision Consulting
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. Financial Planning & Management for Organic Grain Production — Dale Nordquist, Associate Director of the Center for Farm Financial Management in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota
11:30 a.m. Organic Certification Basics —Demetria Stephens, OCIA Chapter Coordinator & Organic Inspector
Noon: Lunch
12:45 p.m. Organic Crop Rotation, Soil Fertility & Weed Control— Dennis Demmel, Organic Grain Farmer
1:45 p.m. Organic Crop Insurance—Tait Berlier, Silveus Insurance Group
2:30 p.m. Break
2:45 p.m. Marketing Organic Grain—Adam Ptacek & Martin Eddy, KOP grain marketers
3:30 p.m. Introduction to OFARM — Oren Holle, President - Organization for Relationship Marketing
3:45 p.m. Post Program Survey
4:00 p.m. Survey and Adjourn
To learn more about the event, please visit http://www.nfo.org/farmstarts/. Conventional and organic producers are welcome. Several of the day’s educational sessions apply to both conventional and organic producers. Each person should register individually. Online registrations are being accepted now.