Beginning Farmer Learning Network Gathering

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On Nov. 10, 2016 the Cornell Small Farms Program will hold our 9th Annual Beginning Farmer Learning Network (BFLN) gathering. This day-long session is geared towards anyone who provides services targeted to farmers in their first 10 years of business. The theme of the day is formalizing beginning farmer training in the areas of business and financial management, and as always, we’ll have great training and discussion options in these areas. But the best part of the day is networking with other attendees! Don’t miss this chance to make new connections, learn from your peers, and let people know what you’ve been working on.

FULL AGENDA FOR THE BEGINNING FARMER LEARNING NETWORK GATHERING
Available for download HERE.

SUMMARY AGENDA FOR THE BEGINNING FARMER LEARNING NETWORK GATHERING
Morning: Presentations on the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship as a model of a farm-oriented formalized training program; Overview of the regulatory landscape of small farm labor (esp. interns and volunteers) by Rachel Armstrong of Farm Commons.
Afternoon: Three simultaneous working sessions:
1) The Beginning Farmer Pipeline: how to grow it, how to keep people advancing through it, and where the gaps are in our services (with Chris Wayne of FarmRoots and Jennifer Hashley of New Entry Sustainable Farming Project),
2) Metrics for Understanding Beginning Farmers’ Financial Position (with Dorothy Suput of The Carrot Project and Jon Jaffe and Chris Laughton of Farm Credit East), and
3) Teaching Farmers How to Manage All Aspects of Farm Labor (with Beth Holtzman and Mary Peabody of UVM and Rachel Armstrong of Farm Commons)
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COST & TIMING
The Beginning Farmer Learning Network Gathering is officially a pre-conference of the Northeast Sustainable Ag Working Group’s (NESAWG) Annual “It Takes a Region” Conference. We will meet from 9am to 5pm on Thurs. Nov 10. Cost for this pre-conference session is $75; or $65 if you register for any other part of the NESAWG Conference.

View our day-long conference description and full agenda HERE.

LOCATION & HOTEL ACCOMMODATION
The conference is at the Hilton Hotel in Hartford, CT. NESAWG has arranged blocks of rooms at a steeply discounted rate at the Hilton from Wed Nov 9 – Fri. Nov 12. If you want to stay at the Hilton, please use this page to get the discount.

Questions?

Contact Erica Frenay, ejf5@cornell.edu, or call 607-255-2142.

ABOUT

The Small Farms Program helps farmers get expert assistance to facilitate all phases of small farm business development, from initial growth to optimization to maturity.

We are a joint effort of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Cornell Cooperative Extension.