Dec 27, 2011

Northern Michigan conference offers advice for small community farmers

Northern Michigan will host a conference to provide small agriculture communities with the tools they need for success. The Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference will be held at Grayling High School in Grayling, Mich. on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012.

A variety of topics will be presented by industry professionals at the conference, including: farming season extension, basic meat cutting, building profitability while helping families and using social media. Small-scale farmers, people considering becoming farmers and those interested in learning about the food system are welcome to attend.

Michigan State University (MSU) Extension is among the event’s sponsors and will have representatives giving presentations at the conference.

Julia Darnton, MSU Extension educator, and Diana Jancek, Sweetwater Local Foods market manager, will be presenting on social media. Their presentation will explain how producers can use social media to promote a farm and how to increase followers of the sites.

Phil Durst, MSU Extension senior dairy educator, and Stan Moore, MSU Extension dairy educator, will discuss improving milk quality through on-farm milk culturing. On-farm milk culturing also improves the animals’ health and milk safety.

Agriculture professionals such as Pete Shetler will also share their experiences in the agriculture industry at the conference. After attending college, Shetler returned to Shetler Family Dairy to be a full-time partner. He now is starting a beef and pork business to provide meat for high-end restaurants and stores.

The event will be split into three 75-minute sessions with a half hour break between each session. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The registration deadline is Jan. 19, 2012. The cost is $50 for the first person and $35 for each additional person from the same family or farm. The registration form and details about the conference can be found online at smallfarmconference.com.

Send questions about the Northern Michigan Small Conference to [email protected] or call 231-838-8093.