2017 Indiana Small Farm Conference
Indiana Small Farm Conference will be held from Thursday, March 2 to Saturday, March 4, 2017 in Danville, Indiana at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds. The Indiana Small Farm Conference is a three day learning and networking event supporting small or diversified farms. Information about this year’s programs, registration and lodging are available at http://www.cvent.com/events/2017-indiana-small-farm-conference/event-summary-24e5817fd2f040679885e788eb478b61.aspx
Southwest Indiana Melon & Vegetable Growers Annual Meeting
The Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers Association (SWIM) will have their annual meeting on Friday, March 10, 2017, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm (EST), at the French Lick Resort & Casino Center, 8670 W. State Rd. 56, French Lick, IN. This year’s program includes Cover crops; Precision water and nutrient management; Commercial sweet potato production; Cucurbit pests; How Dicamba on soybeans affect vegetable growers; Food safety update; Watermelon and Cantaloupe variety update, and a PARP topic Utilizing precision Agriculture. Dr. Ajay Nair from Iowa State University is an invited speaker. The detailed program is available at https://ag.purdue.edu/arp/swpap/Documents/SWIM%20agenda%202017%20final.pdf. Membership for the Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers Association is $15 per person and will be collected at the time of registration. Membership fee includes lunch on March 10 and also dinner at the winter technical meeting. Private Applicator Recertification Program credits will be available for an additional $10 per person and will be collected at the end of PARP session. Please RSVP to this meeting no later than March 1, 2017 by calling the Southwest Purdue Ag Center at 812-886-0198 or email joynerb@purdue.edu
Starlight Vegetable Growers Meeting
The annual Starlight Area Vegetable Growers Meeting will be held on Thursday, March 16, 2017, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm (EST) at the Joe Huber Family Farm and Restaurant, 2421 Engle Road, Starlight, IN. This year’s topics include Beneficial insects; Pumpkin insect management; Use and calibration of a backpack sprayer; and Drift watch. Private Applicator Recertification Program credits will be available for $10 per person. CCH will be given for Category 1, 3A and RT. Participants please register with Floyd County Extension Office at 812-948-5470. For more information please contact Gina Anderson at gmanders@purdue.edu
Michiana Vegetable & Fruit Growers Meeting
Purdue Extension and Michigan State University Extension services are hosting a daylong event that runs from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on March 21, 2017, at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds, 17746 County Road 34, Goshen, Indiana. Topics include: Marketing; Understanding soil test; Nutrient management; Insect management in fruits and vegetables; Greenhouse and high tunnel management; Tomato and cucurbit disease management. The registration fee is $30. PARP credits are available for an additional $10. Registration dealine is March 14. To access the complete agenda and registration, go to https://extension.purdue.edu/Kosciusko/Pages/article.aspx?intItemID=23932 For more information, contact John Woodmansee at jwoodman@purdue.edu
Hydroponic Lettuce Production Workshop
The department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture is hosting a Hydroponic Lettuce Production Workshop on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 8:30 am to 11:30 am (EST) in room 222, Horticulture Building at Purdue University. Topics include: Most common mistakes made during hydroponic lettuce production (Petrus Langenhoven); Nutrition, temperature and supplemental lighting for hydroponic lettuce production (Krishna Nemali); Market access (Jodee Ellett), and Tour of hydroponic lettuce research at HLA (Krishna Nemali and Petrus Langenhoven). The workshop is free, please RSVP no later than March 1, 2017 by contacting Lori Jolly-Brown (ljollybr@purdue.edu). For More information, please contact Petrus Langenhoven (plangenh@purdue.edu) or Krishna Nemali (knemali@purdue.edu).
Horticultural Business and Marketing Symposium
The symposium will be held on February 23, 2017, 7:45 am to 4:45 pm (EST) at Discovery Hall, Indiana State Fairgrounds, Suite 201, 1202 East 38th Street, Indianapolis, IN. Potential audience members of the symposium are horticultural businesses who are selling directly to customers or doing direct selling to farmers’ markets, restaurants, homeowners, etc. The symposium will offer marketing training ranging from the use of social media, risk management, conflict resolution, business coaching and differentiation strategies. Pre-registration (before Feb. 9) is $110, onsite registration is $150. Please contact Lori Jolly-Brown at ljollybr@purdue.edu or 765-494-1296 for registration. More information and event flyer is available at https://extension.purdue.edu/pages/event.aspx?intEventID=13545&ED=22533
2017 Indiana Farmers Market Forum
The 2017 Indiana Farmers Market Forum will be held on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 8:30 am to 3:30 pm (EST) at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds Conference Center, 1900 Main Street, Danville, IN. Indiana will also host a SNAP sign-up event during the Forum for markets and farmers who are interested in becoming an authorized SNAP retailer. More information about the Forum is available at
2017 Small Farms Winter Webinar Series of University of Illinois
University of Illinois Extension presents a weekly educational series for the small farm community. All the webinars are free and are recorded. Topics might interest vegetable growers include ABC of Strawberry Plasticulture Production (Jan. 19); Small Commercial Microgreen Production (Feb. 6); Food Safety Needs for Midwest Produce Growers (Feb. 23); Benefits of Mulching Vegetables (Mar. 23); Soil Management for High Tunnels (Mar. 30). Information about registration and the list of topics can be found at https://web.extension.illinois.edu/registration/?RegistrationID=15522 All the webinars are or will be available at http://www.youtube.com/c/IllinoisLocalFoods
Direct Marketing Webinars of the Ohio State University
Ohio Direct Marketing Team is hosting monthly webinars on various topics related to direct marketing. All the webinars are free and are recorded. Topics might interest vegetable growers include Social Media Strategies for Small Farms (Jan. 19); Organic, Naturally Grown, Chemical Free What do These Mean? (Jun. 15); Marketing Your Farmers’ Market (Sep. 21); Getting Market Ready for Wholesale (Nov. 16) and more. The list of topics and webinar date can be found at https://southcenters.osu.edu/marketing/direct-marketing-webinars
eOrganic Webinars
eOrganic provides a series of great webinars in organic farming practices and research. The upcoming webinars that might interest vegetable farmers include Integrated Clubroot Management for Brassica Crops (Feb. 15); Tomato Varietal Improvement (Mar. 7); Using Biofungicides, Biostimulants and Boifertilizers to Boost Crop Productivity and Help Manage Vegetable Diseases (Mar. 30); Use of High Glucosinolate Mustard as an Organic Biofumigant in Vegetable Crops (Apr. 11). Registration and more information about the webinar series are available at http://articles.extension.org/pages/25242/webinars-by-eorganic
Agribusiness Forum
Pike County Agribusiness Forum is Thursday March, 16, 2017 from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Jefferson Township Community Center in Otwell, IN. Speakers include Petrus Langenhoven, Horticulture & Hydroponic Crop Specialist, Purdue University, Darin Kelly, Good Life Farms, Hydroponic gardener, Chris Moorman, Rubicon Ag AroBox, and Kelly Hartwick, Juice Plus, Aeroponic Tower Gardens. There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required by Wednesday, March 8, 2017. To register please visit pcagribusinessforum.eventbrite.com or contact Denise Ballard at 812-354-8488 ext. 3930.