Northern Michigan conference offers advice for small community farmers
posted on December 27, 2011 11:16am
Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 517-432-1555, ext. 223
Northern Michigan conference offers advice for small community farmers
EAST LANSING, Mich. – 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
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 231-838-8093.
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