2016 NE Ohio Small Farm Conference and Trade Show

NE OHIO SMALL FARM CONFERENCE AND TRADE SHOW

The “Living Your Small Farm Dream” conference and trade show will be held Saturday April 2, 2016 at the Shisler Conference Center on the OARDC campus in Wooster located at 1680 Madison Ave Wooster OH 44691. The conference is offered by the OSU Extension Small Farm Program and will provide farm owners and landowners with the opportunity to learn more about how to make their farms work better, expand their operations, or gather ideas on how to utilize rural acreage.

Participants will choose from 28 different sessions offered over 4 breakout sessions during the day.  Presenters include OSU Extension specialists and educators, USDA agency personnel, and innovative small farm entrepreneurs.  The trade show represents industries, businesses, services and organizations that provide products or services utilized on a small farm or rural property.

A sampling of some of the topics that will be covered at the conference includes:

  • Raising chickens and turkeys
  • Soil health and productivity
  • Raising sheep and goats
  • Pond care
  • Using and Evaluating hay
  • Fruit tree pruning
  • Grass-fed beef
  • Do’s and Don’ts of Livestock Fencing
  • Pumpkin Production
  • High, Medium and Low Tunnel Vegetable production
  • Cheese Making
  • Raspberry, Blackberry and Grape Production
  • Selling eggs, produce and cottage foods
  • Marketing farm raised meat
  • Small farm poultry processing
  • Mushroom production

The conference begins with registration at 8:00 am, and an opening general session at 9:00 am.  The conference concludes with closing comments at 4:00 pm.  Registration cost is $60 per person, which includes lunch and morning refreshments.  The registration deadline is March 25.  A conference brochure and registration form along with descriptions of all the breakout sessions as well as on-line registration is available on the OSU Extension Small Farm Program web site at: http://agnr.osu.edu/small-farm-programs.    Anyone with questions or in need of more information can contact the Wayne County Extension office at 330-264-8722.