Winter Production Workshop—Monday & Tuesday, November 10 and 11, 2014

Thanks to a Local Food Marketing Grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture, the Webb City Farmers Market is hosting a Winter Production/Season Extension Conference November 10 and 11.

Topics include: Maximizing High Tunnel Production, Managing and Record Keeping for Maximum Production, Winter Production for Southwest Missouri, Heating Alternatives, Root Crops/Cellaring/Cold Storage and a Food Safety Update. 

In addition there will be a session for farmers new to winter production on Equipment and a session on Rehabbing and Maintaining Equipment for Winter Production and Long-term Soil Management for experienced winter producers. A tour of Center Creek Farm is also planned.

The event will take place at the Continental Banquet Center, 2802 N Range Line Road, Joplin, MO 64801. Registration is $50 for the first farm registrant and $40 for each additional registrant from the same farm. Registration includes a copy of The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses by Eliot Coleman (limit—one per farm registered). The conference will be limited to 100 participants and includes lunch both days.

Presenters include:

• Alison and Paul Wiedier of Au Naturel Farm in Smiths Grove, Kentucky, year-round market growers and authors of Walking to Spring

• Patrice Gros, market grower and educator, owner of Foundation Farm in Northwest Arkansas.

• Lewis Jett, horticulturist, West Virginia University Extension, formerly of University of Missouri where he pioneered tomato production in high tunnels.

For additional information, contact Eileen Nichols at 417 483-8139.