Thursday, January 20, 2011

CT New Farmer Summit and Farmer Social Mixer

CT NOFA is proud to announce the CT New Farmer Summit on Friday, February 11, 2011 from 2:00pm - 6:00pm. Held in the 4-H Education Center at Auer Farm in Bloomfield, CT, this Summit is for young and/or beginning farmers who are currently farming, either your own business or employed by farm work. The USDA defines new farmers as farming less than 10 years and young farmer as 35 years old or younger. Participants in this Summit should have at least 2 seasons full-time farm experience and plan to be mostly employed as a farmer in the future.
There is no charge to attend this Summit, but you do need to preregister. Please complete this application by February 1st. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. If you need to fill out a paper copy of this application, please call (860)318-6813 to request one. Registration IS required AND YOUR PARTICIPATION WILL BE CONFIRMED BY Feb.4th. We only have capacity for 50 people for this first event! 
The Summit will be formatted around Roundtable discussions, participant led workshops and round robin sharing (including a virtual farm tour with photos, seed swap and catalog sharing, a book share, and a farmers market table).
Topics will include (and are not limited to):
  • What is the culture of CT agriculture?
  • Season successes and failures?
  • Best tools, varieties, techniques and resources…
  • The A-HA moment! New ideas that worked!
  • Turning disaster into opportunity…
  • And More!
Have questions? Contact:  Shannon Raider - newctfarmers@gmail.com, 860-318-6813

It even gets better! After the Summit, there will be a Farmer Social and Mixer from 6:30pm - 8:00pm. A $5 donation is suggested for pizza and refreshments. Check out the Event Page on Facebook and let us know that you'll be attending.

Thank you to the Greenhorns blog for this feature on the Summit!

This event is in partnership with CT NOFA, UCONN Extension and many CT Farms and is supported by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant # 2010-49400-21847.

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