Session Summaries

Principles of Contour Lines Agroforestry

Thomas Leonard, Contour Lines

Contour Lines Corp provides free trees and technical assistance to farmers in exchange for the implementation of soil conservation practices. This session will focus on the science and strategies behind the soil-conserving techniques that Contour Lines recommends for their agroforestry projects in the U.S. These projects are designed to limit planting and maintenance expenses and to improve the survival rate of seedlings. Thomas discusses contour farming, berms and swales, nitrogen fixing support trees, chop and drop mulching, and integrating cover crops into agroforestry systems.

Getting the numbers right: small farm finance preparation and presentation

Let’s talk about finance, and how to make your farm grow with your present revenue, assets and projections.

To Till or Not to Till

Ellen polishuk, Plant to Profit

Are you tired of tillage being bantered about like it’s a moral failing? me too. Are you confused about what is really at stake when deciding when, if and how to till? Join the club. Let’s get down and dirty in understanding what we mean by “tillage”, and how to make practical decisions on your farm about whether to till, or not.

Community Plant Breeding

Chris Smith and Bonnetta Adeeb, Utopian Seed Project and Ujamaa Seeds

Most crops we grow and consume are the result of on-farm community plant breeding efforts that took place over a long period of time by peasant and Indigenous growers. In our recent past, plant breeding has become a specialized skill that takes place off-farm, and often not by farmers. This session will explore why it’s important (both culturally and genetically) to have community based plant breeding, as well as how to participate in, organize, or launch a community plant breeding project. We’ll cover Participatory Plant Breeding, Community Seed Selection, Regional Ultracross Adaptation and have plenty of room for discussion and group planning.

Beyond the Basics: Growing common and uncommon greens

Ira Wallace, SouthernExposure Seed Exchange

Fresh-picked  greens are among the most rewarding vegetables you can grow. Ira Wallace still grows a variety of lettuces year-round in her garden, but it’s the unusual greens from the global south, that add so much diversity in taste, color, and texture. Let Wallace introduce you to some extraordinary greens and give you a few tips on timing and technique for stretching your salad season and livening up your braising pan.

Farming for Community

Morgan Bradley, Lee O’Neill, Ryan Blosser, Amyrose Foll

Appalachian Sustainable Development, Radical Roots Farm, Waynesboro City Schools, Virginia Free Farm

Morgan Bradley will share best practices for how to incite action in your own community that results in a more educated population, better regenerative practices, and addresses discrepancies in the flow of knowledge, resources, and cooperation among organizations and individuals focused on improving community food and agriculture systems. 

Ryan Blosser will delve into the creation of a sustainable farm to school culture that spans an entire school division. In Waynesboro City Schools, we’ve centered our efforts on instruction to integrate farm to school principles throughout our education system. Beyond the logistics, he will discuss the crucial role of food, specific educational lessons, and the infrastructure and community partnerships that sustain this initiative. Unlike traditional Farm to School programs that might be limited to a one-week celebration, WEF focuses on embedding a farm to school culture into the everyday lives of our students. 

Lee O’Neill of Radical Roots Farm, will share how their farm in collaboration with a local nonprofit, Vine & Fig, created an innovative grant program that delivers over 300 shares weekly to local agencies for those in need. These veggies are distributed through Boys & Girls Clubs, Church World Service, Health Clinics, and other local agencies. 

Amyrose Foll of Virginia Free Farm will share how they produce thousands of pounds of food a year and with the help of community partners it is distributed throughout central Virginia free of charge.  All of the food is donated locally with the intention of directly impacting the community. Virginia Free Farm also facilitates a community garden that provides hundreds of vegetable plants to community & public gardens to become a source of healthy nutrition, and calming nature therapy. By providing free access to communities that are labeled as food deserts they supply a dependable source of free fresh produce to anyone who needs it.

TOPP: Demystifying Organic

Wren Frueh, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP)

What does organic certification look like? What are the regulations? Is it right for you? This workshop will breakdown the organic certification process, discuss the benefits of organic certification, and connect you to resources to assist in making the transition process as easy and affordable as possible.

City to Country: How to Transition Without Losing Your Mind or all of Your Money

Tomia MacQueen, Wildflower Farm

This session is focused on helping people who want to leave the city or suburbs and move to the countryside to do so with less stress and anxiety. It  will also help those people who have recently moved out to country life but now feel overwhelmed by the long list of to-do’s, the family disagreements over workload sharing (if there is such a thing!) and the veritable conniptions of kids and teens over the isolation and change in their environment that country life often brings. How, when and what to set up first, how to find and fund your farm, and how to choose a venture that works for your family, your passion and your pocket.

A practical guide to using Virginia native wildflowers as cover crops

Steve Haring, Virginia Agroecology Services

This session will include detailed information about using native wildflower plants to create functional cover crops. We will address multiple aspects of these cover crops, including management goals, species selection, seed sourcing, cost, and cultural practices, and compare them to conventional/domesticated cover crops. This session will focus on a case study in Piedmont VA apples, but also include case studies from annual cropping systems and data from native cover crop trials in Willamette Valley, OR hazelnuts. The session will close with an exercise for developing native cover crop strategies in participants’ own cropping systems.

Crafting a Profitable Business Plan for One High Tunnel

Dr. Theresa Nartea and Harry Edwards, Virginia State University and Rimol Greenhouses

Join us for a dynamic workshop designed to launch your high tunnel farming venture. Perfect for new farmers setting up their first high tunnel or those refining their farm plans, this session is developed in partnership between VSU and Rimol Greenhouses, crafted to help you innovate and thrive. 

In this interactive workshop, we’ll brainstorm entrepreneurial strategies to develop a customized one-high-tunnel business plan that aligns with your dreams, ethics, skills, and market needs. Discover the essentials of high tunnel management, from choosing the right crops and crop guilds to enhancing year-round production. You’ll learn advanced techniques in high tunnel and crop management, including layout and irrigation, to boost yield, quality, and reliability. We’ll delve into value-added products to increase farm profitability and fun and explore holistic methods to minimize input reliance and incorporate waste streams. Engage in creative marketing strategies to connect your crops and value-added products with buyers across traditional and digital platforms, and tap into free resources from universities, government, and industry to support your business growth. 

This workshop is your chance to transform your high tunnel dreams into a thriving enterprise. Come prepared to learn, innovate, and lay the foundation for a farming venture that reflects your aspirations and ethical values. Join us to turn your green thumb—and your high tunnel—into sustainable food production and a profitable business!

Defenders in Your Greenhouse: IPM Strategies and Biological Control

Meredith Hoggatt, Virginia Cooperative Extension

Come learn how commercial greenhouse IPM strategies can be scaled down to meet your needs in reducing pest populations and the need for pesticide applications in your own greenhouse or hoop house. More specifically, discover some of the most efficient beneficial insects you may like to introduce into your growing space for protection and considerations to make in your selection.

Making your farm tell a story with Heritage breeds

Ronald R Seagrave, Seagrave Williams Farm

Let’s tell your farm’s story. How to select livestock and heritage breed consideration. Using networking to increase profits through Agritourism and using and selling your valuable plant fertilizer.

Growing Great Garlic

Pam Dawling, Twin Oaks Community

Planting, harvest, curing, storing and the selection of planting stock are comprehensively covered in this workshop. As well as both hardneck and softneck bulb garlic, we will cover “byproduct crops” such as garlic scallions and scapes, which are ready early in the year when new crops are at a premium.            

Spirits of Virginia

Join us for an informative roundtable discussion with owners of breweries, distilleries, and wineries to discuss agritourism and their experiences, growing pains, successes and opportunities for Virginia’s spirit enterprises.

Creating a Pollinator Sanctuary

Alex Tuchman, Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary

Pollinators cannot be healthy if the land they inhabit is unhealthy.  This session will share our first-hand experience of building up Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary in Floyd Virginia, with consideration towards providing the best possible forage for the pollinators, as well as establishing nesting habitat for the native pollinators. We will also consider how to ensure a positive relationship and harmony between honeybees and native pollinators.    

From Grow More Farms to the Blackbird Cooperative; transforming the small diversified farm into an agribusiness producer

Dan Sweet, Grow More Farms

The session will cover how my small diversified start up farm evolved into an at scale poultry production unit within a co-owned agribusiness cooperative over 4 seasons. The presentation will focus on the advantages and key problems addressed through cooperative agribusiness and how that encourages rethinking the small farm paradigm. Production and financial analysis will be presented in addition to lessons learned and techniques utilized to achieve at scale production     

Agroforestry for Small Farms and Homesteads

Stesha Warren, Appalachian Sustainable Development

Agroforestry is not a set of new practices, it has been around for centuries in various forms and cultures. In today’s society we are seeing these practices reemerge in the forms of alley cropping, forest farming, silvopasture, riparian buffers and windbreaks. These approaches are gaining in popularity across small and large scale producers. The purpose of this class is to introduce agroforestry concepts that can be incorporated into the everyday homestead or small scale farm for crop and wildlife diversity, multi-revenues of income, soil and water protection, and a host of other benefits. Participants will gain a high level understanding of how to take these concepts and apply them to their land through presentation of design considerations, conversations and situational case study for hands-on application.

Tunnel Vision: Season extension for Flower Farmers

Chelsea Belle Graves, Bee’s Wing Farm

Considering adding high tunnels to your flower production? Join Chelsea as she guides you through selecting the right tunnel for your farm. Discover her crop management techniques and seasonal strategies to maximize profitability throughout the year. Chelsea will also cover essential tunnel and soil care practices to ensure the longevity of your infrastructure, helping you get the most out of your investment.

Low Cost, No Cost Sustainable Farm-Made Mineral Amendments

Nigel Palmer, Author of The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments

Imagine feeding plants and the soil biology sustainably, without the use of chemically made, purchased fertilizers. Farm-made mineral amendments can be made using simple tools with ingredients often available for free. Analysis of these amendments reveals all eighteen of the minerals that plants and the soil biology need in the appropriate proportions. Some extractions reveal high concentrations of specific elements that can be used to facilitate phases of plant development. Foliar feeding your plants not only feeds the plant, but also feeds the soil biology through the phloem plant sap pathway. These ideas provide an alternative delivery of plant nutrition that facilitates the transition towards regenerative growing as well as closing waste gaps. We will review the phloem pathway, laboratory analysis of farm-made mineral amendments, their use during different phases of plant development and their life cycle cost.

Traditional Indigenous Medicine Foraging

Amyrose Foll, Virginia Free Farm

Easy ways to integrate plant based health into your busy life. Amyrose Foll (Abenaki/Penobscot) will discuss with you common remedies traditional to the Native People’s North America. Follow along & explore simple ways to, easily identify, sustainably harvest, and accurately utilize mother nature’s medicine cabinet.

The Earth-Friendly Apple Orchard

Joseph Martinez, Rockbridge Cider Vinegar

It isn’t easy growing apple trees organically in the Eastern U.S, but it is possible.  In this session, I will share my experiences growing apple trees over the last 25 years on our farmstead in Rockbridge County, Virginia.  Topics will include – site selection, choosing disease resistant varieties, planting strategies, pests and diseases, tree nutrition, orchard ground covers, encouraging pollinators, Winter and Summer pruning, harvesting, attracting farm volunteers, and marketing value-added products.

Organizing and Carrying Virginia Farming Voices into Federal Food and Farm Policy

Nezahualcoyotl “Neza” Xiuhtecutli, Hannah Quigley, and Mark Schonbeck, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Do you have firsthand experience or feedback on USDA conservation programs that you’re eager to share with lawmakers as they’re reauthorizing the 2025 Farm Bill? While some key USDA programs assist organic and regenerative farmers to make a decent living while providing nourishing food to their communities, many of the largest federal farm programs include incentives that reinforce the extractive, monocropping, status quo. How can farmers in Virginia contribute to the push for more policies that incentivize sustainable agriculture? 

Two ways to move federal farm policy in the right direction are to demonstrate demand for and use of the best programs, and to join in a nationwide advocacy effort to bring about transformational change in the US food and agricultural system. VABF is a member of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which allows them a seat at the table when influencing federal policy design. In this session, attendees will have an opportunity to understand the ways in which they can participate in this national coalition and identify priorities that are most important to VABF farmers.

Equitable Entries into Agroforestry

Emilie Tweardy, Appalachian Sustainable Development

Grant programs, shoestring methods, free resources and more!  Agroforester Emilie Tweardy discusses equitable entry points into Agroforestry, including funding streams currently available, cheap ways to grow perennial plants, and resources to help get you started.  If you know where to look, opportunities abound!

Build Your Farm Team for Success

Gwynn Hamilton, Stonecrop Farm

In its 21 years, Stonecrop Farm has relied on forty employees and dozens of volunteers to thrive. This session will build your courage to add team members to your farm, inspire ideas to keep the great ones longer, and give you the support to keep farming longer and better. 

Special Session: Regional Networking Sessions    

3:45 – 4:30 PM, Roanoke Ballroom    

Join VABF Board members and Ambassadors in your region to network and discuss regional based VABF programming including farm tours, farmer listening sessions, workshops and potlucks and how you can be involved. 

Mulberries In The Rain: Lessons from a decade of experience with permaculture plants

Ryan Blosser, Shenandoah Permaculture Institute

Join us as we share stories and lessons from our decade plus experience in working with permaculture plants. In this session, we will detail the work we have done with Shenandoah Permaculture Institute and walk the audience through a handful of our favorite perennials to work with. This session will include strategies for designing, growing, and using perennial plants out of your very own food forest. In addition, we will include some fun anecdotes and memories we’ve experienced along the way that highlight the importance of what we call the “human sector” in permaculture. 

Data Driven Decision Making

Janet Aardema & Dan Gagnon , Broadfork Farm

A successful farm needs to capture and use data in order to make informed, effective decisions. Learn accessible systems for recording critical data and how to tap into the information you’ve carefully gathered to make your farm work better for you. We’ll talk about ways to capture data during busy farm work days, make habits out of good data recording systems, and consistently use that data to inform decisions.

Key tools and systems for diversified vegetable farms

Jason Pall, Glade Road Growing

It’s hard to know which tools to invest in during your first years with limited income. Our goal is to help you make wise tool investment decisions for your farm to save your body, reduce stress and help you become more profitable. Here we’ll go over a progression of pivotal tools and systems with efficiency and labor savings at the forefront. We’ll cover a progression of tools for growing scales from seed starting to cultivation to the packhouse. We’ll also cover mechanization, especially for materials handling for organic-matter/mulch based operations.

Moving Forward by Looking Back: Old-time farming wisdom for the future

Jeff Poppen, Barefoot Farmer – Long Hungry Creek Farm

Our market garden took a quantum leap forward when I looked backward and began learning from 19th century market gardeners. We’ll explore reasons, requirements, and attitudes for farming along with efficient ways to insure good soil structure and fertility. Our ideas about crop rotations, cover crops, tillage, mulching, compost, lime, cold frames and hilling benefit from including what our gardening ancestors thought and did. I’ll explain how these ideas were incorporated into our modern market garden.

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

Mark Jones, Sharondale Mushroom Farm

In this introduction for gardeners and homesteaders, learn to grow several different types of mushrooms using low-tech, low-cost methods in your garden or woodlot.  We will explore the biology and ecology of fungi in agriculture, using mushrooms for personal and planetary health, and methods for cultivating shiitake, oyster, lion’s mane, reishi, and other mushrooms in wood, straw, and compost.

Making your voice heard

Every year is election season for farmers. Join us in brainstorming on farmer related policies and sharpening our approaches on how to get policy adopted no matter what party is in control.

If you don’t know, you don’t know – Being More Successful with NRCS Conservation Programs

Anita Roberson and Jacob Crandall, Botanical Bites and Provisions, NRCS, NCDACS

While USDA’s NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) can provide wonderful benefits to farms, forests, and wildlife, it can be difficult for the small scale or historically underserved farmer or rancher to access NRCS services and benefits. In cases when it seems easy, there can still be unexpected challenges along the way.  Join Anita and Jaimie in a highly interactive session to get a farmer and fact-based perspective on applying to and succeeding with NRCS programs like EQIP and CSP. Anita and Jaimie are USDA NRCS Cooperators who will leave you with a deeper understanding of the language NRCS speaks, eligibility, what to do before applying, how the application process works and the timeline you should expect, specific and lesser known ideas of what you can apply for, how to afford the cost-share, and how our assistance can improve your chances of receiving financial assistance for climate-smart and other conservation practices.

This 90 min session includes a presentation, small group discussion, and handout applications for participants ready to apply to NRCS. 

Homestead Goat and Pig Production

Natalie Green, Feral Ridge Ranch (formerly Handmade on the Homestead)

We’ve all seen those cute little kids hopping around and thought, I totally need baby goats! Well, what happens when baby goats turn into big goats? How can they be useful on the homestead and what do you need in order to be successful? From meat to small scale dairy, this workshop will cover the basics to help get you started. Then we will cover how pigs can be an amazing way to maintain land or fill your freezer. This workshop will teach you how to select the pigs that are right for your needs while creating a safe and comfortable environment for you and for them. This workshop will give you confidence to move forward as you begin to add goats and or pigs to your homestead or small farm. Participants will be provided with presentations and links to continue their research and planning.

Special Session: Yoga for Farmers

6:30 – 7:30 AM, Crystal Ballroom

Mary Cush

During the growing season we can be pressed for time and sometimes our own well-being gets pushed to triage.  In this non-traditional yoga session you will come away with some yoga “snacks” to use throughout your busy day.  Do a little often. Integrate daily love for your body by simply incorporating proper alignment and intermittent stretching into your work and end the day with gratitude for the miracle of the human anatomy and physiology.

Agroforestry Pruning

Thomas Leonard, Contour Lines

We will explore the science and strategies behind pruning trees and shrubs for agroforestry systems. The class will discuss the botany of pruning and strategies for silvopasture, alley cropping, food forests, windbreaks, and riparian buffers. We will discuss the differences in pruning for fruit, nut, timber, fodder and mulch production. Participants will leave understanding how to prune trees to control growth and optimize yields.

4 Photos Every Farm Should Have

Daniel James, HERD Ventures

The presentation for HERD Ventures will explore various aspects of marketing while giving focus to the individualized needs of farmers and producers. It will highlight how to effectively use social platforms for marketing and promoting brands, products, & practices to reach the target audiences. Practical examples will be shown to help the attendees set attainable media and marketing goals.

Irrigation Systems for Farm Efficiency & Fertility

Christopher Griffin, Bee’s Wing Farm

Water is essential for plant health and growth, making efficient management crucial. Chris will guide you through evaluating your well capacity and designing the components of an automated drip irrigation system. By integrating automation, you can streamline irrigation tasks, minimize water waste, and reduce manual labor, giving you more time to focus on other important aspects of your farm or garden. Additionally, Chris will discuss how to use your irrigation system for distributing amendments and fertilizers, further enhancing efficiency and plant nutrition.

Cultivating Connection: Ancestral Practices for Modern Farming

Gabriella Soto-Velez, The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)

This session will delve into the rich heritage of indigenous farming practices that support soil health and biodiversity. Topics will include intercropping, syntropic agriculture, permaculture, indigenous companion plants, and ancient soil fertility methods. Learn how to bridge traditional knowledge with contemporary techniques to create a more resilient and sustainable farming system.

High Tunnel and Field Ginger Production and Research Update

Dr. Sanjun Gu, Virginia State University

Ginger is a viable niche crop for small farmers. Virginia climates allow for successful young or baby ginger production in open fields and high tunnels. This session will provide basic information on ginger and its production techniques in field and high tunnels. Updates on ongoing research at VSU will be presented, which include ginger cultivar evaluation,  transplant production, disease management and ginger seed rhizome production.

Veterans in Farming

Renee Foster, Amyrose Foll, Jon Jackson, Ronald Seagrave, Anita Roberson

Hampton Roads Urban Agriculture, Virginia Free Farm, Comfort Farms and Stag Vets, Seagrave Williams Farm, Botanical Bites and Provisions

Veteran Farmers will discuss how they found their place in farming. They will touch on Veteran Health, Sustainability,  Mental Health, and the benefits of farming. 

Market Access: Making Each Certification Fit Your Farm

Lee O’Neill and Stasia Greenewalt, Radical Roots Farm and SG Farm Services

Focusing on the small grower, we weigh the pros and cons of GAP and Certified Organic and will help to demystify what it takes to get certified and if you even need/want to. We will also discuss some funding that can help make it more obtainable. While taking the steps required for a certification almost always improves your product, deciding which certification will benefit your business is critical to success.  GAP and Certified Organic both increase your market access, but in different ways. Join Stasia Greenewalt of SG Farm Services, and Lee O’Neill from Radical Roots Farm, as they talk about the nitty gritty of who will benefit from either GAP certification and Organic Certification and what it truly takes to get certified. Radical Roots Farm has been farming since 2000 and gained Certified Organic status in 2012 and HGAP Certification in 2019. Stasia and Lee have worked together since 2019 when they worked together to write Radical Roots Farm’s Food Safety Manual for GAP certification. They have collaborated ever since and offer a unique lens from both the farmer’s perspective and a consultant’s perspective. 

Weathering the Storm of a Different Kind: People Quitting, Injuries and Other Labor Challenges

Ellen Polishuk , Plant to Profit

Labor is the single largest expense item on a market farm. How you handle your staffing will make or break your business. This workshop will provoke you to make some fundamental shifts in your attitudes and actions toward those who work for/with you.

How Can Your Forest Work for You?

Stesha Warren, Appalachian Sustainable Development

Do you have unmanaged forest property that you’d like to see have a purpose on your farm? Join Stesha to learn about how to put your forest to work with an agroforestry practice called Forest Farming. Forest farming is the cultivation of high-value crops under the protection of a managed tree canopy. Explore crop options, design considerations, benefits and potential challenges of forest farming. Participants should walk away with a foundational level of knowledge with forest farming and how to apply this agroforestry practice on their land.

Integrating Pastured Poultry and Vegetable Production

Nathan Ratchen, Bellair Farm

We will discuss the nuts and bolts of managing large scale laying flocks, the role of cover and forage crops in the health of your poultry, and the exponential benefits of stacking poultry systems with vegetable production. There will be an overview of food safety guidelines as well as the practical lived experience of the do’s and don’ts of poultry. This session is appropriate for every type of producer, whether a seasoned vegetable farm interested in poultry, an existing multi-enterprise farm, or 1st year farmer getting started raising birds. Come learn from Bellair farms decade of successes and mistakes in combining these two enterprises.

Managing important vegetable pests without insecticides: Some promising new research in Virginia

Dr. Tom Kuhar, VT – Vegetable Entomology

Dr. Kuhar and two of his graduate students, Taylore Sydnor and Demian Nunez will highlight their research with non-chemical control tactics for key pests of vegetables including mating disruption for diamondback moths, trap out strategies for cucumber beetles, and others. 

Saving Culturally Significant Seeds for Biodiversity

Amyrose Foll, Virginia Free Farm

Biodiversity of seed stock is vital for adapting to climate change, and safeguarding both our future food supply, and preserving the past. Food tells the story of who we are, and roots us to the land, and our identity. Preserving heritage crops, and ensuring they are grown and saved from year to year helps those plants make micro adaptations from season to season, and change with our world, weather, pest pressures, and can really act as so much more than just a meal on a plate. It can be a family legacy, childhood memories, and the generic diversity preserved through producing culturally relevant food crops that can help ag scientists keep plates full in the future.

The Heirloom Collard

Ira Wallace and Jon Jackson, SouthernExposure Seed Exchange and Comfort Farms, Stag Vets

“The Heirloom Collard Project is working for the recognition and respect of collards as a key component of American food culture so their seeds and stories will never be forgotten.” Join the amazing Jon Jackson and Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange to learn about this collaborative seed-saving project!

The Mid-Atlantic Local Grain Movement: An Introduction to Growing Grain for the Regional Food System

Madelyn Smith and Gabi Salazar , Common Grain Alliance and American Farmland Trust

Learn the fundamentals of growing grain for local markets. Common Grain Alliance will provide an overview of The Growing Grain Handbook, outlining key considerations for incorporating grains into small and mid-scale farms. Learn about the Mid-Atlantic region’s local grain movement and how to grow for these markets.

Organic and Regenerative Certification: Considerations in a Changing Certification Landscape

Meredith Morgan, Quality Certification Services

Third party certification is a great way to show your farms’ commitment to sustainability. As the term “regenerative” gains traction in the market, many producers are left wondering what that really encompasses. Join Meredith Morgan of Quality Certification Services to learn what USDA organic certification covers, what various regenerative certification marks mean, and what might be right for your operation. We will also discuss regulatory changes that impact the term “regenerative.” Participants will have ample time for Q&A.

How to begin to plan your farm transition

This is one of the most important and critical conversations to have and one of the least held conversations in the farming community. Join fellow farmers as we discuss how, why, where, and when to have the conversation and how to take the proper steps to prepare for the inevitable.

Special Session: Farmer Movement – How to maintain the sharpest tool in the Barn: Your Body

1:45 – 2:45 PM, Crystal Ballroom

Ann Mooney

A primer on ergonomics, injury prevention, functional anatomy,  and self care  for long Health Span. Octogenarians are Agrarians! Bring the body in question to explore our habits, injuries, routines. Be prepared to move on the floor, share your questions and experiences.  We’ll Focus on our spine, hands, shoulders, knees and toes . And of course metabolism and Energy production.

Build a Permaculture Guild: Demystifying polycultures, plant groupings, and companion planting

Nicky & Dave Schauder, Permaculture Gardens

Finally, a practical workshop for you to build a permaculture guild without the confusing jargon or having to acquire a permaculture design certificate (PDC)! We’ll work together step by step to create a permaculture plant guild based on a specific “star player” plant.  We’ll also be showcasing some appropriate technology for guild-building!

Get clarity to questions like, “How diverse should a backyard garden be without getting all jungly looking?”  

“What if I have walnut trees or juglone-exuding plants around?” “What plants grow well with _(insert your plant name here) ?”

Expanding your operations by growing your markets : A farm wholesale readiness primer

Ready to take your farm business to the next level, let’s start with exploring market possibilities. Let’s discuss the why, how, when and where of wholesale markets and how to get your farming operation ready for some new market horizons.

High Tunnel Automation & Monitoring

Dan Gagnon & Janet Aardema, Broadfork Farm

High tunnel automation is a hot topic these days and options exist for the grower interested in greater climate control in protected culture, safety, peace of mind, and freedom to leave the farm – all while improving plant health and yield. Join us as we present detailed information about our experiences implementing high tunnel monitoring and automation at Broadfork Farm – including monitoring temperature, humidity, and wind – so that you can make informed decisions about automation options as you consider these technologies for your farm.

Collard Atlas

Christian Keeve and Chris Smith, Utopian Seed Project and University of Kentucky

By focusing on seed stories and the oral geographies of collards, we hope to visualize and uplift the importance of this crop to Southern, and especially BIPOC, food and seedways in the region. The oral geographies of collard paint a picture of the flourishing of agrobiodiversity across the region alongside legacies of migration, labor, and cultural diversity that connect this crop to the world. It is by reckoning with these legacies–and focusing on this charismatic crop–that we hope to encourage seed savers, growers, chefs, and food activists to collectively imagine more just food futures.

This workshop builds on ongoing mapping and visualization work through Collard Atlas, a collaboration with the Utopian Seed Project as part of my dissertation research. Seed mapping reveals important relations between data, knowledge, and stories, presenting questions about how seed networks understand the mobilities of seeds to visualize the geographies of present day seed and food justice across space and time. Participants will be invited to co-create an experimental ‘deep time’ seed map focused on collards. This begins with a brief self-reflective meditation about their personal connections with seed and understandings/imaginings of varieties that they care about, followed by individual share outs. They’ll then be invited to visualize those seed geographies on the map with yarn, tape, markers, collard samples, and other materials, or just sketch them out on their own terms. May be reproduced into a digital story map later. We’ll have a full group discussion about the experience and about the importance of regional collard geographies. Participants can also opt in to a paid interview later in the conference to collect their collard stories. Group interviews are also possible!

Native Fruits and Nuts

Allyson Levy & Scott Serrano, Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, authors of ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts’

Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano garden all year long at Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, a level II accredited arboretum. Their goal is trialing plants from around the world to create a “living textbook” of plant life, particularly low-maintenance and underutilized edibles. These range from shade-loving perennials like Spikenard (Aralia racemosa), to trees like American Persimmons, shrubs such as Chokeberry (Aronia spp.), and groundcovers like Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). This presentation will focus on how to grow low-maintenance native fruiting plants. Allyson and Scott wrote the book ‘Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts’, published by Chelsea Green. This book was on the list for 2023 Best Gardening Books by Garden’s Illustrated magazine and The Irish Times.

Transforming our relationship to honey

Alex Tuchman, Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary

In this time together, we will explore the wonderful mysteries of the honeybees, their kinship with the plant world, and the internal transformative process which produces the most healing and special substance–honey. This session will include an experiential study of honey through a ceremonial tasting process, bringing us into a sensory connection and enlivening our relationship to this sweet gift of the honeybees.

How to Conduct Research on Your Farm

Candace Pollock-Moore, Paul Vincelli, Southern SARE

This interactive session covers information related to testing sustainable ag ideas on the farm. It will include basic information on SSARE’s Producer Grants, as well as a discussion of the various sections of the grant Call. The second half of the presentation will include an in depth discussion on how to develop a research project based on an idea that the farmer would like to test. The discussion will cover topics such as identifying the research question, developing the hypothesis, control vs treatments, developing an experimental design, collecting and analyzing data and drawing conclusions based on the results. The session is intended to educate farmers on developing testable, replicable on-farm research that will help strengthen a proposal when applying for research grants.

Hiring farm staff- 8 lessons to help them help you

Sally Walker and Jason Pall, Glade Road Growing

At some point in your farm career you may want a day off. Here we’ll go over how to effectively bring on employees, from just one to several, so that you can get the work done without cursing humanity. We’ve hired over 40 employees over the years and currently have a staff of 10, several of which are return staff members. We’ll share our approach to hiring, on-boarding, expectations and staff time management that has allowed us to get more personal free time and improved our farm’s bottom line.

Special Session: The Regenerative Farmer & Cultivation of the Wisdom Field

3:30 – 4:30 AM, Crystal Ballroom

Sheila Guarnagia

Though VABF Farmers are undoubtedly familiar with cultivating their fields, these 2 workshops invite the exploration of another level of meaning to that phrase – an esoteric, energetic, reciprocal level inspired by our Sisters and Brothers of the high Andes of Peru and the sacred Taoist mountains of Szechuan, China. Sheila will present historical and cultural precedence for the benefits and necessity of intentional energetic connection to the Land as a Field of Living Consciousness. Drawing from the cosmologies and outer and inner technologies of Andean Nature Mysticism (the teachings of the Indigenous Inka Tradition) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Taoist energetic practices of QiGong) participants will explore concepts, practices, and exercises that both enhance health and well being and increase receptivity and awareness of the Intelligence of Nature. Our goal will be the introduction of a form of Regenerative Farming that includes the FARMER – one which has the potential to usher in a personally empowered, connected, and deeply nourishing level of awareness, behavior, vitality, and abundance

The Garden that maintains itself: Food Forests and perennial vegetables

Ben Friton, The REED Center for Ecosystem Reintegration

We live in a temperate forest region – one of the most fertile places on Earth. If you take a steam roller to a spot of ground, and then leave it be, in 15 years it will begin to become a forest. Instead of fighting our region’s natural ecology, learn to work with it by growing a 3-dimensional forest garden with diversified, multi-layer food crops that produce throughout the season with vastly lower labor, amendment, pest management, and water inputs.

Deciding Which Vegetable Crops to Grow

Pam Dawling, Twin Oaks Community

Grow vegetable crops that fit your goals, whether for sale or for your household. Consider which crops are easy to grow, most profitable for space or time, most suited to your conditions, high yielding, and undemanding. Use a DIY Crop Value Rating system to choose between options.

Using a microscope as a tool for monitoring soil health

Simeon Kleinsasser, Hiwassee Products

This workshop will go over the different parts of a microscope and explain what each one does, and why it is needed. Then we will cover the different morphology of the soil food web we will be looking to identify and then end up with live in class microscopy looking at different compost and soil samples.

Biodynamics Simplified

Jeff Poppen, Barefoot Farmer – Long Hungry Creek Farm

Biodynamics refers to biology and energy, so the method relies on compost and cover crops, along with appropriate remineralization. We will discuss in detail what it is, why we do it, and how it’s done. Without mysticism, I’ll explain the practical applications of this efficient, economical and eminently sustainable system for the market gardener and the small landowner.

An Overview: Biological farming techniques for wine grapes in the Mid-Atlantic

Tim Jordan, CommonWealth Crush

This session will provide an overview of the approaches and techniques involved in growing wine grapes in a biologically sustainable manner. We will discuss how site selection, plant material, and within and between season practices are utilized to reduce chemical inputs, improve carbon sequestration, and enhance the quality of grapes and the resulting wines.

Growing Seed for Contract

Michelle Hochkeppel, Chris Smith, Ira Wallace, Bonetta Adeeb

High Mowing Organic Seeds, Utopian Seed Project, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Ujamaa Seeds

Sit down with seed producers and seed companies in a panel discussion who will lead an informative session about what it means to work with seed companies to diversify your farm income. Panelists will share their process and things to take into consideration if you’re interested in growing seed. After an introduction from each panelist, we’ll answer general questions and then open to a Q&A session.

Measuring deep soil carbon – a climate smart practices measuring tool

Looking for a way to measure the impact on your soil, operation and community? Join the Carbon Farming Partnership, along with Carter Farms, Africulture, and American Climate Partners as we explain the latest CEMA activities from USDA National Resource Conservation Services (NRCS). Let us answer your questions and demonstrate how meter-deep soil measurement practices can benefit your farming operation through active management of soil health, nutrients and carbon.

Backyard Rabbits and Poultry

Natalie Green, Feral Ridge Ranch (formerly Handmade on the Homestead)

Keeping backyard rabbits or poultry doesn’t need to be complicated. This workshop will cover the basics of choosing the breed that best suits your needs, the benefits of both purchasing young animals versus breeding your own, creating a space for them, and tips on how to keep your animals healthy. Animals discussed in this workshop will include rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and quail. Participants will be provided with presentations and links to continue their research and planning.