Photo: © Patty O’Brien www.summercrowphotos.com
Join the Kansas Rural Center (KRC) for a “Women in Farming” workshop series. The series consists of four workshops that will explore the opportunities and challenges that women farmers face.
- Workshop One: Saturday, March 14th, in Lawrence, Kansas. This workshop will focus on specialty crop production in the morning and will conclude with a tour of the women-owned Red Tractor Farm. The morning session will include topics such as food safety, crop insurance, and whole farm revenue insurance, and will feature representatives from the Douglas County Extension, Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Douglas County Conservation District (DCCD), and Kansas Farm-to-School Program (KSDE). The workshop costs $15, and includes a catered lunch, snacks and materials. Click here for registration and details. **NOTE: Please eregister by Wednesday, March 11th.
- Workshop Two: Saturday, March 28th, in Bird City, Kansas. This workshop will continue with the topic of specialty crops. The morning session will include discussion of high tunnels, season extension, food safety, organic certification, pest management, cooperative marketing, and specialty crop insurance. The afternoon includes a farm tour of Y-Knot Farm and Ranch’s 960 acres of certified organic wheat, forage, and pasture.
- Workshop Three: Saturday, May 9th, in Linn, Kansas. The morning session of this workshop will focus on business, financial, and legal risk management. Speakers include representatives from Kansas State University who will cover financial and business planning, land price trends, leasing and tenant issues. The afternoon farm tour will take place at Lucinda Stuenkel’s farm near Palmer, Kansas, where participants will learn about conservation practices like cover crops and no-till, and cattle management specifically for women.
- Workshop Four: Saturday July 11th, in Emporia, Kansas. The final workshop in this series will focus on soil health, cover crops and integrated crop and livestock farming. The afternoon farm tour will take place at Gail Fuller’s farm.
Registration and more information about the last three workshops will be made available soon. Check KRC‘s website for details, and contact Joanna Voigt at (866) 579-5469, jvoigt@kansasruralcenter.org with questions.