Midwest CSA Farming Conference Slated for January

By CnAgri Print

Eight Wisconsin organizations are putting their resources together to hold a two-day conference for those involved in Community Supported Agriculture early next year. The event, called 'Taking Stock-Celebrating Our Success and Planning for the Future,' will be held January 10-11 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The forum will feature CSA farmers from across the Midwest.

Organizers say Community Supported Agriculture is a system that creates close connections between farmers and consumers and provides a model of shared risk. CSA farms have members that typically pay in advance for a weekly box of fresh vegetables and other farm produce. Many of these types of farms in the Midwest may have as few as a dozen or as many as a thousand members, who receive food from the farm and in-turn support the farmers and farming enterprise.

The conference will provide the opportunity for farmers of all sorts and sizes to come together to learn, network, and share experiences through a set of practical workshops, primarily presented by CSA farmers from Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. They will share first-hand practical knowledge and strategies for success.

Meanwhile, four sets of concurrent sessions will be organized around the themes of: beginning CSA farming; production, packing and distribution logistics; building and cultivating communities through Community Supported Agriculture; and financial management and planning ideas. There will also be time at the conference to discuss the future of the CSA movement in our region.

In addition to presentations from CSA farmers, there will also be presentations from Cornucopia Institute's Mark Kastel, who will hold a session on guerrilla marketing, Gretchen Perbix from Minnesota State University, who will present information on successfully using social networking and other forms of communication, and Rachel Armstrong from the non-profit Farm Commons, who will address legal issues impacting CSA farmers. We will also hear from Keynote speaker, Tony Schultz, CSA farmer from Stoney Acres Farm in Marathon County, Wisconsin.

The program is being coordinated by the Wisconsin Farmers Union, Angelic Organics Learning Center, Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, FairShare CSA Coalition, Land Stewardship Project, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services, and UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.

For more information or to register, call the Wisconsin Farmers Union office at 608-844-3758.