December 14, 2007

OLATHE, Kan. - Two day-long workshops Jan. 10 will precede the 2008 Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference Jan. 11-12 in St. Joseph, Mo.

One pre-conference offering will be a new short course on community-supported agriculture (CSA) — a subscription-based approach to marketing produce. The other will be an update on managing high tunnels, which conference organizers are calling "essential equipment for the market farmer."

Both workshops will open with an 8 a.m. registration in the Ramada Inn and end at 4 p.m.. A link to the workshop and conference pre-registration brochure is available on the Web at http://www.hfrr.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=513.

Leading the CSA school will be producers who have succeeded in organizing and maintaining the approach. CSA requires a "community" of member-buyers to buy a share of a market farm's annual production before the growing season even begins.

"We hope to help people learn how to avoid the organizational pitfalls that can plague a CSA grower. We'll also be covering everything from getting started to handling harvested produce. The course should be useful for growers who'd like to improve an existing CSA setup, as well as those considering the idea," said Rebecca Graff, who with Tom Ruggieri manages Fair Share Farm in northwest Missouri.

In addition to Graff and Ruggieri, the workshop's leaders will include Elizabeth Henderson of Peacework Farm in western New York State. Henderson has been in the CSA business 15 years and is coauthor of the recently revised and expanded CSA classic for consumers: "Sharing the Harvest."

Rounding out the leader team will be Chris Blanchard of Rock Spring Farm in northern Iowa.

Each CSA workshop participant will receive a 40-page training manual and a CD of crop planning guides. During the workshop, participants also will get direct training on such subjects as:

deciding whether a CSA is right for you; understanding why some CSAs work and others don't; considering a cooperative of growers; deciding what and when to plant; defining a member share; developing a budget and prices; finding members and establishing a core group; selecting among distribution options; using the Internet; dealing with legalities; and managing labor.

The high tunnel workshop's lead speaker will be Alex Hitt, co-owner of Peregrine Farm near Chapel Hill, N.C. Hitt and his wife, Betsy, won the Southern Region's 2006 Patrick Madden Award for Sustainable Agriculture. During a National Public Radio piece about the award, NPR reported:

"The farm — which has had up to five acres in production during its 25-year history — now grows 160 varieties of flowers and 80 kinds of vegetables on just three-and-a-half acres. It's a prime example of how a small, environmentally sound farm can work — and be profitable. [Alex Hitt says] `When we refine what we do and ... get smaller, we actually make more money."

The Hitts have been erecting 16 x 48-feet high tunnels — sometimes on rails — since 1997. They started the endeavor to reduce outbreaks of foliar tomato diseases, but soon found the tunnels also could expand the flower varieties Betsy grows. Each tunnel has been bringing in about $1,000 per crop.

After Hitt's session, entitled "High Tunnels at Peregrine Farm: A Different Look at the Old Tunnel," the workshop will include the following topics and speakers:

• "Managing Soils in High Tunnels: Survey Results and Recommendations" — Sherry Knewtson, Kansas State University Research and Extension agronomy.
• "Basics of High Tunnel Production" — Eldon Everhart, Iowa State University horticulture.
• "Pest Scouting and Sustainable Vegetable Pest Management in a High Tunnel" — Linda Naeve, Iowa State University integrated crop management (IPM).

The final hour of the high tunnel workshop will be a discussion panel of growers.

The registration fee — which includes materials, refreshments and a meal — is $60 for the CSA short course and $50 for the high tunnel workshop. More information about either one or the Great Plains Vegetable Conference itself is available by contacting K-State Research and Extension's Ted Carey at 913-854-2335, Ext. 120 (e-mail: tcarey@ksu.edu) or Christy Dipman at 785-532-6173 (cdipman@ksu.edu).

Kathleen W. Ward
KSU Extension