National Small Farm Today Trade Show and Conference - Nov 1-3

Probably one of the best (and cheapest) small farm conferences specificially geared to small farmers across the country is right in our backyard.  The National Small Farm Today Trade Show and Conference will be held Nov 1-3 at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Columbia, MO.  This is a long post but well worth it to see all the exciting topics and presenters.  (debi)

The National Small Farm Trade Show & Conference is one of the largest annual small farm shows in the United States. Come to the heated Exhibition Hall to see the trade show-with 150+ exhibitors- and attend 20 seminars, 8 three hour short courses, and 27 talks in NCR-SARE Farmer's Forum (that is 55 total talks!), demonstrations, exhibitions, association meetings, and more, The conference again features moneymaking farmers communicating their methods to fellow farmers. Ideas and information on income opportunities for the family farm will be presented in our seminars and short courses. Both traditional and alternative farm enterprises are covered for full- and part-time farmers, ranchers, gardeners and landowners. It is a perfect opportunity to visit one-on-one with the exhibitors and other small acreage owners. There will also be a Poultry Exhibition.  Call 800-633-2535 for more information.

When: Nov. 1-3, 2012

Hours: 9 am-5 pm Thursday, November 1
8 am-5 pm Friday, November 2
8 am-5 pm Saturday, November 3

Price: $8/1 day, $12/2 days, $15/3 days (by Oct. 15) or $10/1 day, $15/2 days, $20/3 days at the door for seminars, farmers forum, exhibits and demonstrations.

Short Courses: $25 each pre-registration by Oct. 15 - $35 each at the door

Note: Does not include admission. Special rates available

Where: Central Missouri Event Center, Columbia, Missouri. Take 1-70 exit 128A, go 3 miles north on US Hwy 63 to the Oakland Gravel Road exit, turn right and follow the signs. For more information call 800-633-2535.

Seminars

Thursday

9:30 a.m. Ron Macher (Publisher, Small Farm Today magazine)

9:45 a.m. Keynote address: John Ikerd

10:30 a.m. Grafting Tomatoes - Dr. Sanjun Gu

11:45 a.m. Aquaponics - Chuck Hicks

1:00 p.m. Selling What You Know, Selling What You Grow - Kelly Klober

2:15 p.m. Free Choice Enterprises: How Grass Grows and How it Effects Cattle - Mark Bader

3:30 p.m. Why We Need To Preserve The Lippitt Morgan - The Lippitt Morgan Horse Registry

Friday

8:30 a.m. Mob Grazing Offers the Greatest Opportunity in Agriculture - Robert Kinkead DVM

9:45 a.m. Equipment - Norman Kilmer, Morgan County Seeds

11:00 a.m. Ups & Downs with Raising a Heritage Breed of Cattle, Eventual Success

12:15 p.m. New Age Swine Production - Kelly Klober

1:30 p.m. Soil Amendments - Ralph Voss

2:15 p.m. Vegetable Plant Nutrition - James Quinn

4:00 p.m. Sandhill Preservation Center; Preservation of Seeds and Plants for Diversification - Glen Drowns

Saturday

8:30 a.m. Small Laying Flock Breeding and Managing - Kelly Klober

9:30 a.m. Soil Blocks - Caroline Hargrog

11:00 a.m. Ration Balancing Using Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen - Mark Barber

12:15 p.m. Sustainable Cropping Systems - Rob Meyers

1:30 p.m. Demonstration on Strip Grazing - Greg Judy

2:45 p.m. Teaching Pastured Poultry Producers On-Farm Processing Best Management Practices for a Safer Product - Kevin Backes

Short Courses

Thursday

10:30 p.m. Survival Raised Bed Gardening - Len Pense

1:30 p.m. Cheese from Missouri - Janet Hurst

Friday

8:30 a.m. Value Added Products You Grow - Ernie Bohner

11:30 a.m. Starting with Berries - Patrick Byers

3:30 p.m. Ethnic Vegetables - Steve Salt

Saturday

8:30 a.m. Managing Your Grazing in Sync with Nature Equals Greater Profits - Greg Judy

11:30 a.m. Movable High Tunnels - Dan Kuebler

2:30 p.m. Elderberries - Terry Durham

Farmers Forum

Thursday

10:30 a.m. Sustainable Beekeeping: Increasing Production and Utilization of Northern-adapted, Disease & Mite Resistant Honey Bee Queens - Stu Jacobson

11:00 a.m. Using Grazing Wedges to Match Beef Cattle Nutrient Need with Pasture Resources While Reducing Feed & Fertility Costs - Justin Sexten

11:30 a.m. A Survey of Relationships Among Rare Breeds of Pigs - Kizzi Roberts

12:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 p.m. Tomato Vegetable Grafting - Sanjun Gu

1:30 p.m. Good Agricultural Practices (GAPS) for Horticulture Producers - Marlin Bates

2:00 p.m. Adding Chickens to High Tunnel Production - Kay Neff

2:30 p.m. Organic Farm to School-Lunch Table: Opportunities for Youth on the Farm - Rachel Levi

3:00 p.m. To Each Her Own: Wild Bee Pollinators of Cucurbit Crops - Amy Alesch

3:30 p.m. Business Feasibility, Marketing, and On-line Direct Marketing; In-depth Training to Better Serve Sustainable Agriculture Business - Jim Crandall

4:00 p.m. Extending the Vegetable Growing Season with Low Cost Quick Hoops - Curtis Millsap

4:30 p.m. Southern Boone Learning Garden - Jennifer Grabner

Friday

9:30 a.m. Soy-Free, Corn-Free Layer Chicken Feed, Identifying a Niche Market - Jeri Villarreal

10:00 a.m. Fieldhands and Foodways: A Cultural & Historical Urban Farm Program - Venice Williams & Fatuma Emmad

11:30 a.m. Sustainability of a Short-Rotation Woody Biofuel System Compared to Grass Biofuel & Grain Cropping Systems - Hank Stelzer

12:00 p.m. Weston A. Price Foundation - Shanyna Sasken

1:00 p.m. Skip Row Corn Planting Techniques with Cover Crops for Sustainable Growing - Harry & Rose Cope

1:30 p.m. Aquaponic Farmers: Building a New Interest in Satisfying the Appetites of the Future - Robert Dillon

2:30 p.m. Elderberry: A Rapidly Growing Specialty Crop Industry in the US Midwest - Michael Gold

3:30 p.m. Wild Eating: Bringing food production back to nature - Laura Worstell

4:00 p.m. Truffle Orchard Establishment - Daniel Hellmuth

Saturday

9:30 a.m. Integrated Pest Management for Small Hive Beetles - John Nenninger

10:30 a.m. Farming with Urban Youth: Developing Eco. Literacy through a Summer Ag Course - Levi Gardner

11:00 a.m. Growing a Future: Preparing Tomorrow's Sustainable Growers Today - Dan Kenney

11:30 a.m. Creating Productive and Profitable Landscapes with Native Plants - Nadia Navarrete-Tindall

12:00 p.m. Lunch - MO Organic Assn meeting

1:00 p.m. Hoeing Hens: Using Laying Hens in Mobile Chicken Coops to Reduce Tillage, Cultivation & Weed Pressure & Increase Fertility in Vegetable Production - Pieter Los

1:30 p.m. The Effect of Commercially-added Mycorrhiza and/or Compost on Early Growth of Berry bushes - Cathy, Patricia, & Sebastian Hanus

2:00 p.m. Adding Value to Missouri Family Farm by Incorporating Aquaculture into Existing Farm Operation, Expanding Prawn & Trout Into an Existing HybridBluegill Operation in a One-Year Cycle - Joe Gaylord

2:30 p.m. Maintaining Companion Planting Techniques While Mechanizing in Diverse, Small-Farm
Vegetable Operations - Rob Faux

3:00-3:55 p.m. The Cheapest Way to Produce the Best Eggs: whole grains and pasture-raised laying hens - John Arbuckle