Area small farm clinic planned for April 9

Ag Educator

Area Purdue Extension agriculture educators will offer an evening program for small farmers on Wednesday, April 9.

The program will take place from 6-8 p.m. at Ivy Tech Center for Workforce Development, located at 1700 E. Industrial Drive, just south of Terre Haute.

The goals of the clinic are to improve small farm networking opportunities, enhance small farmer husbandry and management skills and update producers on timely farm topics.

The program features concurrent program sessions so as to offer flexibility to allow producers to choose what topics they want to learn more about.

Small farms are typically defined as farms with annual sales of less than $250,000 per year. An increased interest in agriculture and foods systems, interest in supplementing family income, continued interest in the local food movement and baby boomers looking for new career opportunities are just some of the reasons folks want to learn more about small farm agriculture.

The April 9 small farm clinic will feature six break-out sessions that will allow each person to attend two programs of their choice during the evening. A short general session will be followed by presentations on backyard poultry, soil management, pasture management, commercial vegetable production, farm recordkeeping and starting a food business.

Area Purdue Extension educators will provide informational resources, technical knowledge and lead a spirited discussion of topics that are timely to each of the breakout sessions.

Each participant can select the two sessions they find most useful to their small farm.

A program fee for the small farm clinic is $5 per family to cover the cost of program materials.

All breakout sessions should be useful to many 4-H families. To help us better plan the program, please register with the Clay County Extension office by Friday, April 4.

Program flyers are available at area Purdue Extension offices. Registration fees can be directed to:

Purdue Extension

Clay County

6656 N. S.R. 59

Brazil, IN 47834

Small farms will be busy this spring with new flocks of poultry, seeds to plant, soils to be evaluated, pastures to be renovated, and records to be kept.

Plan now to attend the Purdue Extension Area Small Farm Clinic on April 9 to help your small farm improve in 2014.

Upcoming Events:

March 10 -- Leader Lesson "Your Emergency Clean up Bucket List", 1 p.m., Extension Office Classroom

March 14 -- 4-H Beef Weigh-in, 8 a.m. -- noon, Fairgrounds

March 15 -- Putnam County Ag Day - Fairgrounds

March 17 -- Putnam 4-H Enrollment Deadline for availability of all projects

March 28 -- Cover Crop Field Day -- Ewing Il

March 29 -- Breast Cancer Awareness Events, 8 a.m.-noon, 12 Central Square

April 3 -- Cover Crop Tour for Fruit and Vegetables Alto Pass Il

April 5 -- Garden fest -- Boone County Fairgrounds

April 9-- Area Small Farm Clinic - Brazil