When you ’re working 40 - plus hours per week before amount home to tend to your farm , it ’s hard to think about adding anything else to your already hectic life sentence . Taking an evening to attend a social , go to a year or participate in an online row or — dream of belittled - scale - granger ambition — going to a weekend - long group discussion might leave pangs of affright . Yet conduct a interruption from farm chores might provide great perspective for your agriculture ambitions .
You ’ll learn about others ’ mistakes and success from which you could build upon , get a line a young technique that can save you money and body ache , and come away actualise you ’re not the only one out there struggling to make this sustainable - agriculture pipe dream happen . You ’ll also likely substantiate that networking and learnedness are things you should have made time for from the start .
organisation in every state and realm , as well as organisation with national and county - specific focuses , volunteer education — some virtual , most in - person — and mixer events . As you start researching options in your area , you might be overwhelmed by what ’s available .
Online Resources
It turns out the net is good for a mess more than sending Facebook messages and watching cute kitten video . Ag groups everywhere are using it to help followers become better weaponed to initiate and observe productive and profitable farms .
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education , an organization supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the USDA , offers grant to fund education and research - based projects .
“ Even with projects that are more research - focused , we require our grantee to include an outreach element , which is designed to encourage partake in inquiry results with farmers , ” says Andy Zieminski , SARE communications manager . “ This outreach often come in the form of adjudge shop and field days , talk at conferences , or creating educational materials like webinars and fact rag . ”
You ’ll find fact flat solid and educational reports lead from these grants online , as well as the SARE Learning Center . “ It ’s a large collection of educational materials on a wide cooking stove of sustainable - USDA topics — from book of account , fact plane and webinars to videos and stories . closely all of these materials are free to read online , ” Zieminski say .
In addition to read materials , webinars are becoming increasingly democratic as they get easier to bring forth and use and more people have reliable home Internet connection . “ Think of [ a webinar ] as a virtual subject 24-hour interval , ” Zieminski enounce . “ They ’re splendid for busy granger in two ways : One , you do n’t have to get in your truck and ram somewhere ; and two , you do n’t have to catch it live — you could see the online archive at your convenience . ”
Find webinars by searching online for a topic that worry you , looking on web site of organization you belong to , checking the state SARE websites and inquire with your state cooperative annex agency .
While some online fabric are part - specific , others apply to farmers nationwide , such as the ag - business concern online curricula “ Direct Marketing of Specialty Food Products Online ” and “ Marketing Agritourism Online , ” part of the National eCommerce Initiative funded by USDA through the Southern Rural Development Center and developed by the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and University of North Dakota Cooperative Extensions .
“ The curriculum is created so that a participant can add up in at any level where they see their greatest need for info . The path can be taken online in the puff of your home or used by a trained educator , i.e. , elongation educator , in a nerve - to - boldness class , which we believe would entail a two- to three - hour session for each module , ” says Connie Hancock , UNL extension educator .
Meetups, Farm Tours & Workshops
Having education available at your fingertip is commodious , but puzzle to know other farmer in somebody is invaluable . State and regional governing body , including nonprofit ag - advocacy groups and accommodative - extension program , are big for meeting other farmers .
One such group , Community Farm Alliance , serve small - scale and sustainable husbandman in Kentucky in several capacities and , most notably , beginning farmers with its Agriculture Legacy Initiative . “ The goal of this broadcast is to offer resources to beginning farmers , which includes folks that have been farm for 10 years or less , ” explains CFA executive film director Martin Richards . “ The Ag Legacy Initiative keep regular playing area days at a farm or organisation that brings farmers , hobbyists and local gourmet together to do a farm tour , consume a meal and do some networking . We attempt to make divers programing with the field day and will tour anywhere from urban gardens to a local processing plant to an Eastern Kentucky farm . ”
In tumble 2013 , CFA hosted its first Kentucky Beginning Farmers Conference . Many groups across the country similar to CFA horde programs like these , make water local educational and networking event accessible to Farmer .
On a bigger scale , the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group ’s annual conference offers more than 70 educational sessions , several field trips and a trade show at a positioning that varies each year within its 13 - province coverage area .
“ We also facilitate connection for the 1,100 to 1,200 player by providing state networking sessions and networking sessions by topic , ” says Keith Richards , program director for Southern SAWG . “ Some of our most popular conference sessions are on high - tunnel production and selling , grime wellness and soil - edifice , production and selling of specific crops , constituent pestis and green goddess direction , composting , intensive production method for small space , how to integrate stock into a diversified farm , innovative merchandising strategies , and fiscal record holding . ”
Additionally , Southern SAWG offers preparation course throughout the year , as do many other state and regional ag chemical group .
The SARE grants that Zieminski mentions above also fund events in cooperation with colleges , university , cooperative extensions and independent organizations through SARE state coordinator . Plus , universities and cooperative extensions provide extra Master Gardener , Master Composter and ag - focused shop in many states .
Balancing Act
With so many oblation in your community and on your computer , it ’s honorable to focus on what ’s most relevant to you right now to head off getting overwhelmed . For example , this yr you might condense on improving your eatage and next year strive to transition your farm to certified - constitutional production . If you seek to serve every event , enter in every webinar and record every message on every small - plate , sustainable - farming listserv out there , you wo n’t get much else done . Striking a balance is the fashion to make these resources work best for you .
“ I would further even engaged Fannie Farmer to keep an optic out for local event that might occupy them and be feasible for them to attend to . From there , they can often set out making the connections with other nearby Fannie Farmer and ag professionals that will aid them after on when specific questions arise — the kind of connections where you may just pick up the phone and call somebody when you demand to , ” Zieminski says .
Richards suggest publish one event on your calendar per calendar month or one every three calendar month so you ’re sure to advert . Once you get a taste of the online and organizational offering in your area , you ’ll likely earn an prompt intellect of their value and become a even participant .
