PETERSBURG – The first-ever Southeast Commercial Growers Conference will be held in Petersburg Feb. 27- March 1. The event will bring together commercial food and flower growers from across the region to swap ideas and information about how to run a successful venture in a tricky microclimate.
Marja Smets and Bo Varsano, owners of Farragut Farm, are organizing the event. Smets said one of the reasons she wanted to put on a conference was to spread local farming knowledge that’s not available in other forms.
“We’ve learned that there’s not a lot of resources out there for people who are farming here in Southeast,” Smets said. “So when you’re starting up farming, you basically are going to learn from trial and error and talking to other people.”
That’s because of the particular challenges of growing in this area versus other areas like the Matsu Valley which has a thriving agricultural scene and very different terrain.
“It’s so much harder to commercially farm here,” Smets said. “So many people are living on islands where there isn’t any soil and where they have to create it all or buy it all.”
Island living also contributes to a more fractured network of farmers and growers in the area, something Smets said she hopes the conference will help address by bringing the small, but growing, contingent of people together who are rising to the challenge.
The three-day event will allow participants to learn from one another as well as from other professionals in the field. Nine participants will give presentations during the conference on topics from homemade farm tools to running a u-pick operation. There’ll also be information on marketing, grants and other resources presented by representatives of the Division of Agriculture, UAF Extension and the USDA National Resources Conservation Service.
Smets said a big component of the conference will be giving participants the opportunity to network which they can do informally at meal times and through a round-robin event on Sunday where individuals can connect one-on-one.
Though commercial farming is a small industry in Southeast, Smets and Varson said it’s a growing one, evidenced by the interest in the inaugural conference.
“It totally took off,” Smets said. “We thought that we would get maybe 12 or 14 people participating, and we’re already up to 23 people.”
Participants are coming from across Southeast and represent a variety of different operations, including some which are still conceptual at this point.
“A lot of people who are coming aren’t doing anything. They’re just interested in maybe starting something,” Varsano said.
Smets added that the conference is aimed at helping those already in the business as well as those who’d like to be.
“We would really like to see a growth in local agriculture here in Southeast,” Smets said. “We want to show that it’s possible to do it and want to help anyone along who’s considering doing it.”
The conference is supported by a USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program grant, which includes funds for both the conference and improvements to Petersburg’s bi-weekly summertime market. Liz Cabrera of the Petersburg Economic Development Council helped secure the grant, which aims to increase access to and consumption of locally grown food, as well as to aid those producing it, according to the USDA webpage for the program.
There is no registration fee to attend and interested individuals are encouraged to attend the conference in part or full. Donations will be accepted to help cover the cost of food and venue rentals. To see a full schedule of events or for more information, contact Smets and Varsano at farragutfarm@gmail.com.
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