FALLON – In the midst of a challenging economy, the 2012 Nevada Small Farm Conference looks to agriculture to help communities rebuild local economies.
Western Nevada College will host this year’s Nevada Small Farm Conference, Thursday – Saturday, March 8-10, at the Fallon Convention Center and Western Nevada College Fallon campus. The event includes four pre-conference workshops, two days of farming seminars, and a Friday evening reception. A variety of topics will be covered, including marketing local beef, small-scale cheese operations, organic farming, hops and barley production, food distribution, business planning and more.
Developing local food systems is a priority of the conference. Speakers from the 2011 conference will return to continue talks aimed at developing a system for small farms to compete in today’s industrial food system. US Foods and the Great Basin Community Food Co-op, two organizations at the forefront of these efforts, will highlight their operations. US Foods produce specialist Mike Catalano attended the 2011 conference and later visited local farms, resulting in US Foods working to ensure that Reno customers have access to local produce.
“The Nevada Small Farm Conference has been the launching pad for making local produce available to all our customers,” Catalano said, “US Foods looks forward to our continued relationship.” The company returns to the conference this year as a sponsor.
The Great Basin Community Food Co-op will talk about its new online ordering and distribution system for small farms. The program debuts with the opening of the newly expanded Co-op this spring.
Sponsoring organizations include Western Nevada College, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, Nevada Department of Agriculture, Whole Foods Market, Friends of Nevada Organics, US Foods, Nevada Natural Resources Conservation Service, Assemblyman Tom Grady, NevadaGrown and Great Basin Brewing Company.
For conference details, registration information and fees, visit WNC’s web site, www.wnc.edu/sci, or contact Ann Louhela, 775-351-2551, or [email protected].
