Agenda - 05-19-2009 - 4d - Laserfiche WebLink

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There will be enterprises demonstrated as part of the short course learning practicum, and an emphasis will be on demonstration of specialty crop production and livestock production opportunities. The educational sessions will provide all relevant information for production and marketing of individual specialty crops, including 1) enterprise planning, crop production, post- harvest handling, processing technologies, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), and value-added opportunities. Sustainable production practices will be emphasized, and management recommendations will focus on a substitution of information and management for the traditional reliance on conventional production inputs. The Good Agricultural Practices session will include information production, harvesting, post-harvest handling, grading, and packaging practices related to food safety, a critical issue facing fairness. A washing /grading /packing facility at the Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center in Hillsborough, NC can be utilized for #hese purposes. This is potentially the most important training session, because product quality and assurance is a critical factor in direct marketing systems. The PC, with the assistance of NRCS staff, will develop and install several EQIP cost share practices at the Breeze Farm to serve as demonstrations of the types of practices that NRCS and NC Soil and Water Conservation staff recommend for small-scale farming operations. Land management practices include, but are not limited to: 1) nutrient management; 2) manure management; 3) integrated pest management; 4) integrated crop management; 5} irrigation water management; 6) tillage or residue management; 7) strip-cropping; 8) contour farming; and 9) wildlife habitat management. Additional short courses will address the production of livestock and crops. Livestock are integral to small-scale agricultural systems, where diversification is important to total farm income. The new faculty will work with the Chairman and faculty of the Department of Animal Science to restructure and integrate academic classes offered in that department into small-scale agricultural coursework appropriate to a Beginning Farmer Program. Utilizing staff, land and resources available at the A&T Farm, the Breeze Farm and the SFU sites, the PC will implement associated enterprise demonstrations. Specifically; alternative . . enterprise production sessions will address specific production niches that offer potential for both new farmers and farmers seeking retraining in alternative enterprises, and could include organic, native plant, medicinal herb, and cut flower production. The focus of these sessions will be production technologies, management practices, pest identification and control, and trouble- shooting. Having training sessions when crops are actually being produced will be much more meaningful to and effective to participants than "how-to" sessions held indoors in winter months with slide presentation technologies. The PC will train participants in the use of farm equipment. Field trips will be organized by the PC so that participants have a chance to see for themselves how successful small-scale growers are producing farm goods for local marketplaces. The field trips will include visits to successful farm markets. The project coordinator and the program assistants will develop ongoing demonstration projects at the Breeze Farm that will provide models of successful farming enterprises and practices. Workshops and field days fvr socially disadvantaged and underserved beginning farmers will be held at these demonshations. With the assistance of the NRCS, permanent Best Management Practices demonstrations will be established at the Breeze Farm.