Guide to Small Farming for Success in Florida

Greetings to the small farmers community of Florida. My welcome for this blog is extended to the growing numbers of producers (both beginning and established), as well as food processors, distributors, customers, and advocates, of locally grown foods for local foodsheds development in Florida. Specifically this blog is your guide to the 2010 Florida Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises Conference which is the premier statewide event to come to learn to be a successful small farmer in Florida.

To give you some background, the first FL Small Farms & Alternative Enterprises Conference was held in 2009 and was an incredible success with 800 attendees. Because of the overwhelming feedback received from these attendees to continue the Conference as an annual event, the Stakeholder Planning Committee let it be known they were ready to immediately begin planning for the 2010 conference. Therefore, this blog is offered to the FL Small Farmers Community to support the information sharing and networking that will ensure the 2010 FL Small Farms Conference will deliver even more excitement and promise than the first one, including your attendance and participation.

First, let's cover some basics on the 2010 FL Small Farms Conference. It has been set for Saturday, July 31st and Sunday, August 1st. It will take place at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, FL. These 2 days will provide educational and networking activities and events including presentations, workshops, panels, and demonstrations of a variety of topics including organic farming, grass-fed meats, aquaponics, agritourism, food policy advocacy, food safety regulations, and much much more, including an outstanding trade show and 5 star meal banquets featuring locally-grown foods. To register now for the "early bird" rate of $110 for both days go to the Conference link at the website http://smallfarms.ifas.ufl.edu/

In addition, there are a couple of independent events that are supportive of the 2010 FL Small Farms Conference and will be available free to the attendees of the Conference. These events include a social event sponsored by Slow Food Florida and a 'Candidates Forum' sponsored by the Florida Association of Community Farmers Markets.

Now I want to jump to the really big and exciting news! We are so pleased to announce that Will Allen is the Keynote speaker! Recently named as Time's 100 World's Most Influential People, Will Allen is also the recipient of multiple awards including a MacAthur Fellowship in 2008. He is founder and chief executive officer of Growing Power, Inc., an organization that continues to receive ever-growing acclaim for its innovated approach in providing education and healthy foods to communities, where before there were "food deserts". The organization has one simple goal: "to grow food, to grow minds, and to grow community". The words and urban agriculture models of Will will be interest to all stakeholders of local foodsheds and supporters of our small farmers of Florida. We invite you to come to the 2010 FL Small Farm Conference to listen to Will and network to bring this movement to Florida . . .

This Blog will continue to provide you more details of the program and events surrounding the 2010 FL Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises Conference in the upcoming months until its opening on July 31st. I encourage you to sign up and/or check back for regular updates, as well as tell all of your friends and colleagues to use this Blog. Thanks . . .