2014 Annual Missouri Organic Association Conference to be Held in Springfield MO

The Missouri Organic Association will be hosting the 2014 Annual Conference from Feb 6-8, 2014 at the University Plaza Hotel in Springfield MO.  This conference will provide the best education needed to impart successful farming procedures – whether your focus is on grain and row crop production, livestock production, horticultural production vegetables, fruits & berries; on sustainable production and living techniques, or perhaps looking to add skills in tractor mechanics or Welding 101 to reduce maintenance costs. Maybe you need some tips on successful marketing with training provided by some of the nation’s experts on marketing; or perhaps you are looking for new ideas for adding value to hands-on workshops.

For the first time, MOA will be hosting a 3-day Advanced Year-Round Vegetable Production Workshop with such nationally known experts as Greg Garbos & Mike Bollinger, Four Seasons Tools; Adam Montri, Michigan State University; Edwin Marty, Eat South; Joel Dufour, Earth Tools; Ben Flanner, Brooklyn Grange Farms, & Michael Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick Family Farms. Learn their tried and true methods for year round vegetable production.

Grain farmers will increase their knowledge on soil fertility, cover crops and crop rotation systems with international experts Gary Zimmer and Joel Gruver. Friday & Saturday will be focused on Alternative Crops with brokers coming to present their contracts for the upcoming year. Come network with the brokers and plan your crops and talk grain contracts for the upcoming year.

MOA will offer a Livestock Track this year with Thursday focused on organic dairy production with such international names as Dr. Hugh Karreman teaching organic holistic health treatments, Dan Giacomini presenting on nutrition and grain rations, Dr. Francis Thicke sharing his knowledge of rotational grazing systems, and Perry Clutts sharing the farmer’s perspective. Friday is particularly exciting with Dr. Fred Provenza coming from Utah to teach his internationally acclaimed methods for training cows, sheep and goats to eat weeds. Saturday is a hands-on workshop for goats and sheep farmers - with such topics as Genetic Selections, AMACHA, Body Conditioning Scoring, Foot Trimming, and Vaccinations followed by a Farmer Panel discussing ways to market goat and sheep products to the consumers.

Sustainable production methods will have its own 3-day track with such diverse subjects as Hugelkulture, Small Scale Aquaponics, Saving Heirloom Seeds, Native Plants and Essences for Health, Permaculture, Straw Bale Gardening, Grape Vine Propagation, and Food Forests.

Perhaps you are an informed consumer who is looking to become more informed about how the food you eat impacts your community’s economic viability and the correlation between the food you consume and the resulting health (or not health) of your body. If so, you won’t want to miss Dr. Don M Huber’s full-day Thursday workshop as he shares his many years of research on the correlation between GMOs and Glysophates and plant, livestock and human health. Follow that with Friday’s all day Food Policy workshop which will teach the correlation of the food we consume to the health of the body and how to be effective advocates for networking local communities with local food sources. This workshop will feature Mark Winne, a 40-year activist for local food systems and author of “Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty.”

During the days, if your mind is on overload and you need to take a break, there will be consecutively scheduled movie showings of such timely documentaries as: “The Vanishing Bees”; “The Genetic Roulette” with Jeffery Smith; “Living Downstream” by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D; “What’s Organic About Organic?;”and “The Idiot Cycle.” End each day with the special events - Thursday Night is Meet the Farmer Reception and Ask the Experts night; Friday Night is a Wine Tasting and Book Signing with several well-known authors, followed by our annual Benefit Dinner and Auction - Always a load of fun while helping to support the conference expenses. All the special events and meals are included in the price of the conference registration.

There is an Early Bird Special for registration which will end on December 15. After that the prices will go back to the original prices.

Early Bird Pricing- Ends Dec 15, 2013

Three-Day Registration - $175

Single Day Registration - $65

Buy 1 Registration - full price, 2nd registration - ½ price

After Dec, 15, 2013

Three-Day Registration - $195

Single Day Registration - $75

Children under 12 - Registration free, except for meal costs of $35 for all 3 days.

Register by clicking here or by contacting Renae Wilson, MOA Secretary/Treasurer, 141 North Street, Branson, MO, 417.598.0975.