Fall Farming Workshops in Western Massachusetts

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Fall Farming Workshops in Western Massachusetts from Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA),

CISA is excited to announce a handful of fall farming workshops for farmers, plus two events planned for mid to late fall in Western Massachusetts. Whether you hope to expand your farm management skills, meet new folks, or connect with some old friends, we hope you take advantage of these opportunities. Come check out what CISA is all about!

For more information about the fall farming workshops visit www.buylocalfood.org/workshops or contact Stevie – stevie@buylocalfood.org, 413-665-7100 x27

 

Efficiency in the Field: Managing Your Crew to Achieve Results and Deepen Relationships

October 26 from 5:00 – 8:00 pm at Brookfield Farm, 24 Hulst Road, Amherst, MA

Join Pete McLean of True North Facilitation and Zoe Abram of Brookfield Farm to look at Brookfield as a case study for crew management. The workshop is broken into two parts: an introduction to Brookfield Farm as a case study, and a self- assessment and analysis of each participant’s farm.

$10 for Local Hero members, $15 for non-members

 

Lean Management Principles for Farmers

November 8 from 9:00 am – 1:30 pm at Outlook Farm, 136 Main Road, Westhampton, MA

Can factory principles be applied to farming without compromising the values of sustainability? According to our presenter and lean business consultant Scott Morrison, they can. Join us for a half-day workshop on lean farming at Outlook Farm with owner Brad Morse. We will begin with an introduction to lean principles and apply them in a walkthrough of Outlook’s post-harvest operations. We will discuss how to map out any process in your operation to identify opportunities to streamline and reduce costs, determine the capacity of production and how to create investment, and ownership from your workforce to make improvements to the farm.

Introduced to the farming community by the recent book “The Lean Farm” authored by Indiana small farmer, Ben Hartman, lean farming offers an approach to efficiency that focuses on increasing production capacity by changing your processes in all aspects of your operations while maintaining the values and mission of your farm.

Our presenter, Scott Morrison, has worked with other farms throughout the Northeast including Local Hero member, Red Fire Farm. We are excited to bring him back to the Valley to speak to more farmers on the value in lean farming principles.

This workshop is in collaboration with PVGrows, Massachusetts Department of Agriculture (MDAR) Agricultural Business Training Program, and Franklin County Community Development Corporation (FCCDC).

$15 for Local Hero members and non-members

 

Understanding Customer Behavior at Farmers’ Markets

November 14 from 3:00 – 6:00 pm at the Northampton Senior Center, 67 Conz Street, Northampton, MA

With the number of farmers’ markets in the Massachusetts steadily increasing and the tripling of SNAP sales coming into markets through the state-wide Healthy Incentive Program, drawing in customers to your stand is imperative. What can farmers do to attract more shoppers to their stands? How can farmers actively market their products in and out of the farmers’ markets? What can farmers do to better understand customer behavior at the market, and how can they use this information to increase customer satisfaction?

Chris Wayne of GrowNYC’s FARMroots program will present a tool for measuring customer behavior at farmers’ markets. By leveraging customer research performed by grocery stores and largescale food retailers, and building on 40 years of institutional knowledge internally through the operation of NYC’s Greenmarkets, FARMroots developed strategies to increase sales and customer satisfaction. Learn tips for advanced merchandising, how to appeal to a customer’s behavioral habits, segmenting your market, leveraging sales data records to make informed marketing decisions, and ways you and your staff can improve your customer’s overall shopping experience.

$10 for Local Hero members, $15 for non-members