Upcoming BF Service Provider Webinars

Are you looking to deepen your skills in support of beginning farmers? Don’t miss these two free webinars for service providers offered this April! Pre-registration is required and you need to register for each webinar separately.

Valuing time and muscle – Working with beginning farmers in labor record keeping

THURSDAY April 17th, 2014 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM EDT
It can be a daunting task for beginning farmers to track labor inputs on the farm. What records do they keep and when is it most important? Knowing how to take labor records can set up your farmers to make management decisions that appropriately value labor, especially their own. How can you support beginning farmers in these record keeping skills? Join us for a free webinar, learn from farmer, consultant, and educator Chris Blanchard, and explore ways to track and calculate labor inputs that translate into meaningful records. This training will focus on what activities to monitor, if and how to extrapolate from a snapshot, when to lump activities together or get picky, and what forms and formats may work better or worse. Whether it is setting prices, evaluating profitability, or considering a new farm investment, this training will help you work with beginning farmers in designing the right recording keeping systems that lead to informed management decisions.
Presented by Chris Blanchard – Flying Rutabaga Works, Decorah, Iowa
Register for this webinar here
About the Presenter: Chris Blanchard provides consulting and education for farming, food, and business through Flying Rutabaga Works. He has worked in farming for the past 24 years, managing farms and operations around the country. As the owner and operator of Rock Spring Farm since 1999, Chris raised twenty acres of vegetables, herbs, and greenhouse crops, marketed through a 200-member year-round CSA, food stores, and farmers markets.

Diversifying beyond direct – Supporting beginning farmers in exploring wholesale markets

FRIDAY April 25th, 2014 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM EDT
Most beginning farmers look to direct marketing like farmers markets and CSA’s for the majority of their sales and don’t consider wholesale as a viable option. A growth in wholesale marketing opportunities now have many thinking about whether and how to add these channels to their market mix. How can you help beginning farmers decide on and take steps to entering a wholesale market? Join us for a free webinar to learn through the experience of Deep Root Cooperative and their work with organic vegetable farmers in the NE. Learn about the nature of wholesale relationships, terms of pricing and payment, and expectations for quality and packaging. Exploring the structure of wholesale markets will help you design outreach and education programs that prepare beginning farmers to consider these channels as their enterprises grow.
Presented by Anthony Mirisciotta – Deep Root Organic Cooperative, Johnson, VT
Register for this webinar here
About the Presenter: Anthony Mirisciotta builds direct relationships with farmers and links them to consumers as sales manager of Deep Root Organic Cooperative, one of the oldest co-ops of organic vegetable growers in the US. Anthony brings 10 years of experience in the produce industry, working in retail, distribution, and cooperative enterprises, and serving in communications, sales and logistics, procurement, and administrative roles.

Did you miss our last webinar?

Learn from Michele Pfannenstiel DVM, of the Farmer Veteran Coalition about “The Language and Landscape of Working with Farmer Veterans“. You can view an archived recording here.