SCHEDULE

WORKSHOPS

Workshop Session 1

  • Speakers: Shawn Howard, Bristol Aggie Director of Agricultural Mechanics and Bristol Aggie Ag. Mech students: Amanda Auger, Derek Corvelo, Mike Bruzzi

    Join Bristol Aggie Agricultural Mechanics’ Shawn Howard and Aggie students for three hands-on demos. This session allows participants to gain familiarity with the basic tools and skills needed to work on tractors and small farm engines. Participants will gain knowledge in three different on-farm tractor maintenance areas: small engine valve repairs on tractors; battery maintenance, repair and winterization; and welding repairs in the field.

    This workshop will be in the new Agricultural Mechanics building. Attendance will be limited to allow people to fully engage in the demos, but we will offer this workshop three times during the conference.

  • Speakers: Bill Braun (Freed Seed Federation), Crystal L. Stewart (Cornell Cooperative Extension), Jean-Paul Courtens (Philia Farm, NY)

    Are you interested in growing seed but concerned about the labor involved in cleaning it? Come and try out various seed cleaning equipment for dry seeded crops, including a small-scale thresher, winnower, and assorted hand-scale equipment. We’ll have seed on hand to demonstrate equipment use with but you can also bring seed along to clean during this hands-on workshop.

  • Speakers: Cian Dalzell and Amanda Chang (The Carrot Project)

    Farming can be a volatile endeavor! Every farmer develops resilience in their own way but good tools and practices are universal. Join The Carrot Project in a conversation on how to consistently meet the challenge of keeping your farm business financially successful year after year. This session outlines tools and skills for assessing the performance of your operations, determining which areas of your farm business may be most at risk, and analyzing which options best address those risks for your farm. In this session you will learn about:

    1) Assessing your current operations

    2) Determining which areas of your farm business are most at risk

    3) Analyzing which options best minimize those risks for your farm. Options including preventative tools such as diversifying your sales channels as well as restorative options such as crop insurance or perhaps your own emergency funds.

    Amanda, Cian, and Jeff from The Carrot Project will also be offering FREE 1-on-1 coaching throughout the conference! PRE-REGISTER HERE; walk-ins may also be available. Note that effective coaching may require you to bring a copy of your business plan or financial records.

  • Speaker: Jennie Kapszukiewicz (Stone Hill Farm, CT)

    Jennie Kapszukiewicz and her husband Dan raise 100% grass fed beef on their family farm in Plainfield, CT. From soup to nuts Stone Hill Farm has built a cow-calf, grass-based system that supports 30+ beef animals a year with no grain inputs that focuses on soil and pasture health, meat quality and customer experience. Jennie will help attendees navigate the most important decisions and variables to her operation and the thought process behind those choices including overviews of grazing, infrastructure, genetics/breeding and harvest.

    As part of Jennie’s grass-fed program on her farm, recording keeping is an integral part of the daily operations. Jennie will share her own journey in record keeping, as well as provide tips and tricks to make it more meaningful. Multiple examples will be provided of record keeping choices. Whether you are required to keep records for an NRCS prescribed grazing contract or want to plan better for the changing climate conditions, this might be the right stop for you!

  • Moderator: Dee Levanti (Land for Good)

    Speakers: Jamie Pottern (American Farmland Trust), Delia Delongchamp (MDAR - APR program), Jay Rosas (MDAR APR Acquisition Southcoast and S. Worcester County) and Nick Wildman (Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust)

    This workshop is geared towards both farmers and landowners who are interested in learning more about using conservation tools to secure land for farming. We will give an overview of various types of land protection tools and context for a working farm. We will have presenters representing expertise in each model. Learn about the different elements of an easement which define protection and stewardship and clarify benefits and limitations to agriculture. Bring your land stewardship questions!

  • Moderator: Nate Erwin (Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust)

    Speakers: Carmen Mouzon (The Farm School), Apolo Cátala (OASIS on Ballou), Tu Anh Phan (The Food Project)

    What role do young people have in our food system? How do we create environments that support youth and community development on farms? And how might this be the answer to so many of our common challenges on farms? Join this panel of farmers who dedicate time and resources to engaging with young people – and hear how it’s revolutionized their farms and communities.

  • Speakers: Rick Leblanc (MDAR, Division of Ag Markets), Kalliope Chute (Silva Chuters Oysters), Kevin O’Dwyer (Langwater Farm)

    Moderator: Myrna Greenfield (Good Egg Marketing)

    Agritourism can be a powerful marketing tool for your farm business, helping to bring in and retain customers. Successful agritourism ventures don't happen by chance but through well thought out strategies and planning. This panel brings together marketing expert Myrna Greenfield, MDAR's Rick LeBlanc and farmers Kevin O'Dwyer (Langwater Farm) and Kalliope Chute (Silvachute Oysters) who both run successful agritourism programs. Come ask questions and learn about how to design (or re-design) your agritourism program.

Workshop Session 2

  • Speaker: Shawn Howard, Bristol Aggie Director of Agricultural Mechanics

    Join Bristol Aggie Agricultural Mechanics’ Shawn Howard and Aggie students for three hands-on demos. This session allows participants to gain familiarity with the basic tools and skills needed to work on tractors and small farm engines. Participants will gain knowledge in three different on-farm tractor maintenance areas: small engine valve repairs on tractors; battery maintenance, repair and winterization; and welding repairs in the field.

    This workshop will be in the new Agricultural Mechanics building. Attendance will be limited to allow people to fully engage in the demos, but we will offer this workshop three times during the conference.

  • Join Bristol Aggie students in the new dairy barn as they explain how they manage their cows and the ins and outs of the robotic milker. This is a drop-in session and may not take the full hour – feel free to drop-in and ask questions!

  • Whether you have a future Aggie student in your family or just want to see the great renovations and new buildings, join Bristol Aggie students for a half-hour tour of the campus. We'll check out the highlights of the Animal Science and Environmental Conservation departments, including the new dairy barn and robotic milker, Natural History Museum, and the Veterinary Science Center.

    Tours will meet at the registration table, leaving every half hour: 12:00 pm, 12:30 and 1:00.

  • Speaker: Susan Scheufele, UMass Extension

    High tunnels provide a more controlled environment for growing high-value crops with fewer impacts from extreme heat, drought, and rain. As with most things in life, solving one problem often leads to new problems, and tunnels do come with their own unique set of pests and challenges, especially given that we tend to use them year-round, with little time for the soil to recover. In this session we will cover some basics of producing the major tunnel crops—tomatoes, cucumbers, and winter greens—and dive into some of the fertility, irrigation, soil health, and pest management strategies that can help your tunnel stay as productive as possible for the long-term.

  • Speaker: Danielle Larese (BOTL Farm – Ashford, CT)

    Interested in getting started with pasture-raised livestock? Set yourself apart! We’ll discuss the pros, cons, and infrastructure needs of raising animals on pasture instead of barn-raising. Then we’ll cover practical considerations to successfully pasture-raising animals (fencing, water, electricity, feed storage, rotational grazing, shelter, medical care, breed selection, parasites, and socialization).

    Danielle Larese owns and operates BOTL Farm, a pasture-based livestock farm in Connecticut where she rotationally grazes pigs, sheep, goats, and laying hens. Her farm is Animal Welfare Approved for all species. Danielle graduated from Yale University in 2013 with a PhD in molecular physics.

  • Speaker: Maria Gannett, UMass Extension

    Changing the soil can change which plants thrive. Maria Gannett is the new weed management extension educator at UMass Extension, and has experience with soil-based weed management tools. Some of these techniques may be helpful for managing weeds in berry production systems. Learn how soil can affect weed growth and share your thoughts on these strategies.

  • Speakers: Greg Porell (MDAR’s MassGrown Wellness program), Cynthia Flores (Labor-Movement), Julia Bancroft (Land and Sea Together)

    Moderator: Sara Barnes (Martha’s Vineyard Mediation Program)

    The core of our food system is...well...you! We can't build resilient food systems without healthy farmers and fishers, and in order to continue in a food producer career for as long as you want to, you have to ensure you're taking good care of yourself. Physical, mental, and emotional well-being all play crucial roles on the farm or boat, but prioritizing each aspect can be tricky. Join this conversation amongst farmers and experts in each tenet of health to discuss available resources, strategies for optimizing your well-being, and how to improve your longevity in a career you love.

  • Speaker: J. Harrison (MA Food System Collaborative)

    New England Feeding New England: Cultivating A Reliable Food Supply Project is a new report released by the New England England Food Planners Partnership about what it would take for 30% of the food consumed in New England to be regionally produced by 2030. Facilitated by the MA Food System Collaborative, come learn about what the region can do to create a more resilient food system, including expanding farmland, making more local food available in grocery stores, and encouraging consumers to shift their food purchasing.

Workshop Session 3

  • Speaker: Shawn Howard, Bristol Aggie Director of Agricultural Mechanics

    Join Bristol Aggie Agricultural Mechanics’ Shawn Howard and Aggie students for three hands-on demos. This session allows participants to gain familiarity with the basic tools and skills needed to work on tractors and small farm engines. Participants will gain knowledge in three different on-farm tractor maintenance areas: small engine valve repairs on tractors; battery maintenance, repair and winterization; and welding repairs in the field.

    This workshop will be in the new Agricultural Mechanics building. Attendance will be limited to allow people to fully engage in the demos, but we will offer this workshop three times during the conference.

  • Speaker: Cynthia Flores, Labor-Movement

    Understanding BETTER body mechanics and movement patterns in order to increase workforce productivity and help decrease workplace injuries. Time will be spent in an interactive atmosphere moving through four basic movement patterns: hinge, squat, push and pull, along with the importance of core stability. Each participant will leave with tips focused on ways to improve their overall movement patterning and work-related well-being.

  • Moderator: Nate Erwin (Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust)

    Panelists: Bill Braun (Freed Seed Federation & Ivory Silo Farm), Sister Anna Gilbert-Muhammad (NOFA-MA & Open Pantry Community Garden Project), Sefra Alexandra (The Ecotype Project & The Seed Huntress), Hannah Traggis (Aurelia's Garden), Amirah Mitchell (Sistah Seeds) and Nataka Crayton

    Seed is the basis of all life. For thousands of years, farmers have been cultivating seeds, selecting and saving them each season for their resilience in local climatic conditions, as well as for their yield, their flavor and their nutrition.

    This panel will focus on the process of saving seeds as a way to cultivate health and resilience within the food system. Each seed not only carries the potential of a bountiful harvest, but also the stories of communities passed down through generations. This panel highlights leaders in the seed saving community who will discuss the importance of this practice in the wider ecosystem and how they are working towards food sovereignty in their regions.

  • Speakers: Pete Lowy, Aimee Pappas & Abby Devries (Codman Community Farms – Lincoln, MA)

    Codman Community Farms is a non-profit farm located in Lincoln, MA – less than 15 miles from Boston – and manages over 150 acres on 20 parcels. Codman raised 100% Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork, pasture-raised laying hens, broilers and turkeys as well as a small market garden and new commercial kitchen. Codman has a year-round farm market selling its own meat, vegetables and regional foods with sales reaching over $2M in 2023. Close to half of annual sales derive from the farm’s own pastured meat and egg production. Pete Lowy, the Farm Manager, will present the steps Codman has taken to increase pig and poultry production on remote parcels of land. Full time livestock managers Aimee and Abby will co-present in a unique presentation which will provide tangible steps to increase production on your own farm.

  • Speakers: Laura Davis (NOFA-MA), Claire Bowen (Small World Farm), John Kenny (Big Train Farm), and Ben Coerper (Wild Harmony Farm)

    Dig into organic certification with NOFA-MA Transition to Organic Partnership Program manager Laura Davis and a diverse group of farmers with experience in organic tree fruit, vegetable, and livestock production. This discussion will focus on the lived experiences of farmers, why they chose to get certified and the benefits and challenges of running certified organic farms.

  • Moderator: Edith Murnane (Mass. Farmers Markets)

    Speakers: Bianca Meleo (Freitas Farm), Cynthia Loesch-Johnson (Codman Square Neighborhood Council), Elizabeth Frary (Copicut Farms), Jon Van Kuiken (Brockton Farmers’ Market) and Marie Ericson (Canton Farmers’ Market)

    Join Executive Director of Mass Farmers Markets, Edith Murnane, as she leads a discussion with managers, farmers and community groups on how they build longevity and sustainability in their markets.

  • Join Frank Di Luna, Esquire from MA Farm Bureau to learn more about right to farm, zoning, wetland and board of health regulations and how they affect your farm operation.

Workshop Session 4

  • Speaker: Susan Scheufele, UMass Extension

    Growing food crops has become increasingly challenging as the impacts of climate change are being felt more directly each season. But what do droughts, floods, and warm winters mean for our pest outlook? We will dig into the complicated answer to this question, and leave time to talk through some of our concerns, and highlight some of the work we are doing at UMass (and on your farm?!) to mitigate these impacts and manage the risks

  • Speaker: Kyle Medeiros (Greener Pastures Farms – Westport, MA) and Ken Rapoport (Azuluna Farms - Woodstock, CT)

    Is raising livestock profitable in New England? Hear from two producers who organized collaborative farming models, offering their customers a variety of sustainably raised meat under one farm name. Kyle Medeiros of Greener Pastures Farms and Ken Rapoport of Azuluna Farms will discuss their different models and how working collaboratively with multiple growers has helped accomplish their operational and financial goals.

  • Speaker: Mike Roberts, Roots Farm

    What does it take to sustain a family through farming without too much stress? Now in their 14th year, Roots Family Farm has developed frameworks for effective prioritization at different time scales - daily and weekly tasks, season planning and longer-term development. Mike will discuss how they make decisions around what and when to delegate, field and crop planning, staff management, new markets, tools and systems, and other elements that have helped them settle in to the right scale where they can focus on fine-tuning their year-round CSA.

  • Speakers: Dale Leavitt and Keith Wilda (Blue Stream Aquaculture), Joshua Reitsma (Woods Hole Sea Grant), and Jamie Bassett and Matthew Belson (Shellfish Broker LLC)

    This is a panel discussion covering alternate markets and market strategies for farmed oysters. Speakers will share their experiences growing and selling farmed oysters for alternate, accessory markets including water restoration projects, selling to food banks, marketing shucked and canned oysters, and providing home delivery services. Join this discussion on ways to diversify your aquaculture business by tapping into alternate markets!