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EVENTS

Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference

Please join us for the eleventh annual Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference Saturday January 30, 2010 at Grayling High School, in Grayling MI.  The keynote speaker will be Gary Zimmer, Madison WI, who is a dairy farmer, author, agri-businessman and educator dedicated to biological agriculture.  His topic will be Value Added for you, for the Environment and for your Consumer.   

Back this year is Daniel Salatin for the youth track with his keynote Growing up Joel’s Son:  The Real Story.  New this year will be a Friday evening program hosted by Melinda Hemmelgarn at the school who will be speaking on Feast or Famine:  A Fork in the Road and the Critical Farmer-Consumer Connection.  She is an investigative nutritionist, registered dietician and award-winning journalist.

Workshops to date include permaculture, hydroponics, raising organic chickens, grass based dairy, integrating animals into your farm, storage and season extension, farm to school, Saskatoons, farm sized wind energy and much more.  A lunch featuring local foods is included in the registration fee of $40.  For more information, go to www.msue.msu.edu/antrim and click on the 2010 conference or call 231-533-8818.


2009 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo

Come explore the 2009 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo, December 8-10, 2009. The event takes place at the DeVos Place Convention Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Conference includes:

Visit GLEXPO.com for registration, program and other information. Call 810-234-4126 for registration questions or to receive registration and program information by mail. Call 616-794-0492 for information on exhibiting in the trade show. Pre-register by November 10 for savings on registration fee.

ATTENTION ORGANIC FARMERS. Special Thursday Registration Fee of $35 is available for admission to the trade show and education sessions. This is good for Thursday ONLY.  Thursdays spotlights organic educational sessions on organic opportunities and markets, and organic production. The trade show will be open from 8a.m.-1p.m Thursday-only registration does not include the free subscription offers that are included with the regular registration fees. It also does not include membership in the Michigan State Horticultural Society of the Michigan Vegetable

Thursday's Program

Organic Opportunities and Markets

Thursday Morning 9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m.         The transition to Organic and Building Organic Markets

9:40 a.m.         Perspectives and Possibilities from Maple Creek Farm

·         Michele Lutz, Maple Creek Farm, Yale, MI

10:00 a.m.      Cultivating Farmer Connections with MSU Residential and Hospitality Services: Panel

of Michigan State University Staff

    

Organic Production: Gearing up to Grow Organically

Thursday Morning 9:00 am

9:00 a.m.          Establishing an Organic Small Fruit Farm

·         Lewis Jett, Extension Commercial Horticulture Specialist, West Virginia University.

9:30 a.m.         Next Few Years for Organic Vegetable Markets’ What We May Expect

·         Mitch Gasche, Superior Sales, Hudsonville, MI

10:00 a.m.       Organic Blueberry Farmers: Building Soil and the Farm Organically

·         Wayne Kiel, Blueberry Heritage Farms, Holland, MI

10:30 a.m.        MSU Organic Farmer Training Program- An Intensive Nine-month Training Program

·         Denae Friedheim, Horticulture Department, MSU

10:50 a.m.      Building a Storage Organic Farm Business. Resources to Help You Get There

·         Sue Houghton, Retired Organic Farmer with Growing Tree, Lansing, MI  

Visit GLEXPO.com for entire program information.

If you would like to access a searchable archive of the all the previous Mich-Organic listserv postings copy this URL and paste in your browser address field http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html