The eighth annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference is scheduled for March 14-15 at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. Two pre-conference workshops will kick off the event on March 13. Anyone interested in farming, eating local and cultivating mushrooms and other foods is welcome to attend.
In past years, pre-conference workshops have drawn more than 100 participants, with attendance nearing 200 at the two-day conference. Folks travel from communities all across Alaska.
This year’s morning pre-conference workshop will focus on farming as a business and how to maintain profitable management strategies. John Collins of Alaska Farmland Trust will present the business-planning workshop, designed specifically for farmers and persons interested in starting a farm.
The afternoon pre-conference workshop, presented by Glenn Coville of Wild Branch Valley Farm, Craftsbury, Vt., will focus on cultivating mushrooms. The workshop will begin with a short presentation on his commercial mushroom operation followed by a hands-on segment on cultivating mushrooms in straw. Various mushrooms and growing methods will be discussed.
Coville operates Wild Branch Valley Farm with the help of his wife and three young boys. His 240-acre certified organic family farm consists of open fields, forests and riparian areas, vegetable fields, pastures for beef cattle, high tunnels, grow rooms for mushrooms and spawn laboratories. The Covilles produce a large variety of specialty mushrooms and mushroom products, including spawn, and a line of medicinal mushroom teas, mixed vegetables, flowers and grass-fed beef. The farm is an example of a diversified and sustainable farm in a northern environment. Colville returns to his home state to share his knowledge of mushroom cultivation and farming experience.
Many farmers, community members and agencies from across the state will present on a wide variety of topics from business and marketing to farm safety and livestock. Other topics include Alaska’s only flour company, the history of plant varieties developed in Alaska, a community seed library, innovative farm contraptions, peony growing and marketing, gardening projects in Fort Yukon and more.
Local food efforts will be addressed with presentations from farmers markets, schools and universities, and a panel discussion between restaurateurs and farmers.
Following conference activities March 14, the Alaska Community Agriculture Association will host its annual meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. This group of Alaska farmers, gardeners and community members is interested in supporting and promoting sustainable local food systems. Come and hear what they are doing; the event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
New this year — and in the spirit “eating local” — conference planners are excited to include Alaska grown produce in meals during the three-day event. A number of local farmers and the catering staff of the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge are working together to serve Alaska grown products.
Interested people are invited to attend this informative and exciting conference, which is sponsored by the Alaska Division of Agriculture, Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District, Equipment Source Inc., USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Western Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, UAF Office of Sustainability and UAF Cooperative Extension Service.
For more information on the conference, including agenda updates, accommodations and registration details, visit here.
Taylor Maida is the Tanana District agriculture and horticulture program assistant for the Cooperative Extension Service, a part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She can be reached at 474-2422.
(Article provided by UAF Cooperative Extension Service.)
No comments:
Post a Comment