Beyond Small Farming - Achieving Sustainabilty with Success

This last week we were delighted to announce that the educational session details for the 2010 Florida Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises Conference are now available on its website! As you know our topics are intended to give you the latest information for successful small farming in Florida. In the near future we will be giving you descriptions of the presenters and the scope of the Conference's presentations, workshops, demonstrations, and discussions of these topics. This post is intended to describe the context of the Confernce and how all of the planning for it is intended to take you "Beyond Successful Small Farming".

Simply put, our Conference really has a higher goal of serving you as a source for achieving sustainability in your small farming operations. This is going to be done by the following
- diverse session topics including Alternative Enterprises, Alternative Energy, Business and Marketing, Horticulture, Livestock, Organic and Sustainable Farming, and Policy and Regulations
- opportunities in networking, keynote speeches, banquets of locally-grown foods, etc. that demonstrate the potential of local, community foodsheds to support small farmers by bringing about sustainable changes for improved food security to all Floridians
At the same time, to better understand this goal let's examine just what do we mean by sustainability for small farmers.

Sustainable agriculture is can be described as where environmental, economic, and social objectives meet simultaneously. Environmental sustainability is dependent upon sound nature based agriculture; Economic sustainability is dependent upon profitable enterprises, sound financial planning, proactive marketing, and risk management; Social sustainability results from making decisions with the farm families and the larger community's quality of life as a value and a goal.

Over the years, many farmers and agriculturalists have established a strong set of guiding principles for sustainability, based on stewardship and economic visions. Producers and researchers have annually increasing the tempo of improvements in agro-ecology systems, making them more efficient and profitable. Cooperative Extension offices and land grant colleges are endorsing sustainable practices. Each year, growing populations of farmers are seeing the wisdom and rewards—both economic and personal—in sustainable systems. What once was a seed of opportunity has now taken root.

It is not just the farmers. A growing number of consumers and grassroots activists are working tirelessly to create local markets and farm policies that support sustainable practices. Their primary focus is to raise consumers’ awareness about how their food is grown and processed—how plants, animals, the soil, and the water are treated. These groups work to forge stronger bonds between producers and consumers that cement the foundations of locally and regionally self-sufficient food systems.

The theme of the Conference is "Sustaining Small Farms; Strengthening Florida's Communities". The exploration of this theme will be part of all the sessions. For example, the Organic and Sustainable Farming session has been scheduled to present topics on the history, philosophy, and science of organic farming, farm to school programs, community supported agriculture, organic disease management, organic composting, and direct marketing strategies. When you come to the Conference and attend your sessions, you can continue continue with the speakers the exploration of how to use their information to assist you in taking your production and marketing operations "Beyond Successful Small Farming".