january 12 - 14, 2017
2017 keynote
We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker will be
Jean-Martin Fortier, author of "The Market Gardener: A Successful Growers Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming". "The Market Gardener" was winner of the 2015 American Horticulture Society book award.
With his wife, Maude-Hélène Desroches, he runs Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an internationally recognized 10-acre micro-farm in Quebec, Canada. With only 1½ acres cultivated in permanent beds, the farm grosses more than $100,000 per acre with operating margins of about 60 percent, enough to financially sustain his family. The focus at la Grelinette has been to grow better, not bigger, in order to optimize the cropping system, making it more lucrative and viable in the process.
According to Jean-Martin, "The goal is to increase production and have more of a life every year. When we produce more, we want to work less."
Jean-Martin provides beginning farmers with a solid framework to be successful with their own farms. From soil preparation to crop rotation strategies and dealing with insect pests, discover how his manages the farm without the use of a tractor or any heavy machinery. He will share his journey in developing a successful farm, along with tools and techniques for successful, profitable, human-scale vegetable growing. Jean-Martin's farming strategy places a strong emphasis on intelligent farm design, appropriate technologies and harnessing the power of soil biology as key components of successful farming.
Jean-Martin Fortier, author of "The Market Gardener: A Successful Growers Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming". "The Market Gardener" was winner of the 2015 American Horticulture Society book award.
With his wife, Maude-Hélène Desroches, he runs Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an internationally recognized 10-acre micro-farm in Quebec, Canada. With only 1½ acres cultivated in permanent beds, the farm grosses more than $100,000 per acre with operating margins of about 60 percent, enough to financially sustain his family. The focus at la Grelinette has been to grow better, not bigger, in order to optimize the cropping system, making it more lucrative and viable in the process.
According to Jean-Martin, "The goal is to increase production and have more of a life every year. When we produce more, we want to work less."
Jean-Martin provides beginning farmers with a solid framework to be successful with their own farms. From soil preparation to crop rotation strategies and dealing with insect pests, discover how his manages the farm without the use of a tractor or any heavy machinery. He will share his journey in developing a successful farm, along with tools and techniques for successful, profitable, human-scale vegetable growing. Jean-Martin's farming strategy places a strong emphasis on intelligent farm design, appropriate technologies and harnessing the power of soil biology as key components of successful farming.
2017 Great Plains Growers Conference is
sponsored in part by SARE
