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".

Will Allen's Road to Florida

Well, as was announced in our inaugural post, the big news of the 2010 FL Small Farm Conference is the addition of Will Allen of Growing Power, Inc., as the keynote speaker on the openning day, Saturday, July 31, 2010. To this end, this post is the beginning of periodic updates of Will's activities as the time approaches for his arrival at our FL Small Farm conference, i.e., Will Allen's 'Road to Florida'. We hope that letting you know about some of Will's activities prior to coming to Florida will continue to introduce Will to all of you and "pique your interest" in coming to hear him speak and inspire us at the FL Small Conference . . .

-- Wednesday, May 19th - Just two months after First Lady Michelle Obama asked him to stand with her in Washington as one of four Americans speaking in support of the launch of her “Let’s Move!” initiative to end childhood obesity, Will Allen of Growing Power was again invited to the White House, this time as a guest at a dinner to honor the official state visit of the president of Mexico. Before the event, Will commented that “It is an absolute honor to be invited by the president and Mrs. Obama to such a prestigious and important event. It will give me an opportunity to continue building important relationships that will help drive our Good Food Revolution.”

-- Saturday, My 15th - in the midst of hosting Growing Power’s Fifth Annual National and International Urban Agriculture Workshop, with more than 100 attendees participating in intensive training, he took time off from his duties to accept an honorary doctor fine arts degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and to deliver the commencement address to 140 graduates of the institute.

-- For an up close and personal interview of Will and Growing Power, Inc., check out the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLhi23aTmkk

-- Stay tuned for an upcoming video for our FL Small Farm Conference of an organic farm in Pinellas County that is implementing some of Will's production models

-- Finally, here is some food for thought: a major program by Will and Growing Power, Inc., is the development of Regional Outreach Training Centers (see http://www.growingpower.org/training_centers.htm). The question then begging to be asked - is it time for Will Allen to bring one to Florida???

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 . . .