2011 California Small Farm Conference

"Small Farms: Bright Futures" was the theme for the 2011 conference, held March 6 – 8 in San Jose. The conference included five day-long field courses and 25 workshops. View the conference website for more information.

Presentations

Below are PDF copies of some PowerPoint presentations given by faculty and staff from throughout the University of Calfiornia, during the conference.

• Processed food regulations (227 kB)
  – Shermain Hardesty, director, UC Small Farm Program
• Developing values-based distribution networks with retail buyers (128 kB)
  – Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst, UC Sustainable Agricultural Research & Education Program
• Strategies for success (226 kB)
  – Karen Klonsky, specialist, UC Davis Agricultural Research & Economics
• Just getting started with Twitter and social media monitoring tools (2 MB)
  – Matthew Fidelibus, associate specialist, UC Kearney Agricultural Center
• Intro to Facebook for farmers (2.6 MB)
  – Brenda Dawson, communications, UC Small Farm Program
• Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) in caneberries and strawberries (2.4 MB)
  – Mark Bolda, farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Santa Cruz
• Invasive pests: Light Brown Apple Moth and more (6 MB)
  – Steve Tjosvold, environmental horticulture farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Santa Cruz
• Building soil health for crop production and the environment (1.1 MB)
  – Richard Smith, farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties
• Cultivating mushrooms on small farms (2.3 MB)
  – Maria de la Fuente, farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension San Benito and Santa Cruz counties
• Food safety basics for small farms (3.2 MB)
  – Jennifer Sowerwine, Environmental Science, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley
• Asian Vegetable Primer (handout instead of presentation, 8.1 MB)
  – Aziz Baameur, farm advisor, Small Farm Program and UC Cooperative Extension San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties

Pedro Ilic Awards

The 2011 Pedro Ilic Awards were presented at the conference banquet March 7 to outstanding farmers Allan and Mineca Griggs of Shasta County, and outstanding agricultural eduator Holly George of UC Cooperative Extension in Plumas and Sierra counties. Find out about this year's Pedro Ilic Award honorees or about the Pedro Ilic Awards.

Small Farm Handbook debuts

The 2nd edition of the Small Farm Handbook made its official debut just in time for the conference. The book was used during workshops at the conferences, with information about financial management, marketing and sales, postharvest handling and safety, growing crops, raising animals and labor management. The Small Farm Handbook can be ordered online.