Thursday, January 7, 2016
Greenhouse/hydroponics8:30 AM - Introduction
Cary Rivard, KSU 8:45 AM - When is a Greenhouse a Greenhouse? Kimberly Williams, KSU It sometimes seems that we are swimming in a sea of terms associated with greenhouse-type structures that mean different things to different people. Kim offers a fun-filled overview of crop production structures and systems that sorts through the confusion and clarifies how terms related to growing crops under cover have specific meaning. And she'll tie these terms to lots of grower resources that provide more in-depth coverage. 9:15 AM - Greenhouse Structures for the Fruit and Vegetable Grower Chad Gooley, Stuppy Stuppy Greenhouse representatives will talk about Stuppy's structure offerings for the fruit and vegetable grower. What best meets the need and how Stuppy can accommodate your needs. 10:00 AM - Growing Vegetables in Upright Polybags Spencer Ring, Ring’s Grow & Soil One way to grow vegetables in polybags that works. The presentation includes the use of PowerPoint to show examples of the growing method. 10:30 AM - Break 10:45 AM - Growing Fabulous Greens in the Depths of Northern Latitude Winter Sue Wike & Tom Prieve, Paradox Farm, MN Farmers Wika and Prieve grow fresh, delicious greens with minimal external inputs in the middle of Minnesota winter. They will discuss the culture, science and technique of utilizing passive solar for deep winter greens production. 11:30 PM- Grower Panel Discussion Sue & Tom Wika, Spencer Ring, Andrew Mefferd 12:15 PM- Lunch 1:15 PM - What Happened to My Plant?! Karen Tifft, Greenhouse Vegetable Consultants, LLC 2:00 PM - Vegetable Varieties for Hoophouse and Greenhouse Production Andrew Mefferd, Johnny’s Seeds Vegetable varieties developed for growing in greenhouses and hoophouses have some special adaptations that are different from those for field growing. These traits can mean the difference between a great crop and no crop at all. Come find out what traits are important in each species, focusing on the most popular protected crops including: tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, greens, peppers, eggplant and basil. This will help you choose varieties for your own greenhouse or hoophouse growing. 2:30 PM - KSU Greenhouse Production Research Update Kimberly Williams, KSU Three short research updates will touch on on-going research with herb or vegetable crops in greenhouse production at Kansas State University: the physiological disorder of intumescence, using organo-mineral and organic fertilizers for transplant production, and using organic fertilizers in hydroponic systems. 3:00 PM - Break 3:15 PM - Protected Culture Production Improvements on One Drop Farm Andrew Mefferd, One Drop Farm 4:00 PM - Aquaponics, Raising Fish and Plants Together JD Sawyer, Colorado Aquaponics In this presentation we will cover the basic principles of aquaponics, the significant benefits it provides and the potential for aquaponics to scale up as a method of sustainable farming and food production in both rural and urban environments. Mushrooms9:00 AM - Morel Mushroom Identification Certification Part 1
Mark Gleason The workshop is designed to help morel hunters obtain legal certification to sell morel mushrooms in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. 10:30 AM - Break 11:00 AM - Morel Mushroom Identification Certification, Part 2 Mark Gleason 12:00 PM- Lunch 1:00 PM - Cultivating Shiitake Mushrooms for Personal Use Lonnie Messbarger & Jason Braunecker Lonnie and I will present basic information on how to cultivate Shiitake mushrooms for personal use. We will explain the step-by-step process on how to properly cultivate Shiitake mushrooms and what they can do with them after harvest. 1:45 PM - Mushrooms of the Midwest Stan Hudson, MMS Provide an overview of common poisonous, edible, and other mushrooms of the Midwest. 2:30 PM - Break 3:00 PM - Growing Mushrooms at Wakarusa Valley Farm Conor Brown &/or Mark Lumpe We will describe how we have been growing mushrooms since 2003 and how mushroom growing and vegetable growing interact here at the farm. We will also describe our substrate that we developed with the assistance of a SARE grant. 3:45 PM - Q & A Session 
Tree Fruit
9:45 AM - Fruit Spray Practices Lyle Ditmars, Ditmars Orchard, IA This presentation will cover fruit tree spray practices from a practical perspective. 11:00 AM - Break 11:30 AM - Pest monitoring and Options for Peach Pest Control Donn Johnson, University of AR Review the biology and monitoring methods for the major peach pests. Hand out an efficacy chart of recommended insecticides/miticides.Make growers aware of changes in the new 2016 Midwest Fruit Pest Management Guide. Discuss with growers pest management alternatives for lesser and greater peachtree borers if EPA bans use of Lorsban. 12:15 PM - Lunch 1:30 PM - Sprayer 101 Wayne Peterson, Midwest Growers Supply, MO Review different types of sprayers and choosing the right one. Review different types of applications rates and understanding how it relates to your sprayer 3:00 PM - Break 3:30 PM - Brown Marmorated Stink Bug - A New Insect Pest for Tree Fruits Jaime Piñero, LU
|
Soil Health & Management9:00 AM - Soil Amendments
Touria Eaton, Lincoln University 9:45 AM - Soil Health Allen Philo, Midwestern Bio-Ag This presentation will be looking at our definition and understanding of soil health with special attention payed to microbe plant interactions, and the role of proper soil mineralization. 11:00 AM - Break 11:30 AM - Soil Health (cont’d.) Allen Philo 12:15 PM- Lunch 1:30 PM - Albrecht Soil Analysis - Was Dr. Albrecht Correct? Tim Reinbott, MU Bradford Farm Interest in Dr.Albrecht's method of determining soil fertility needs is gaining attention. His method was based on a balance of nutrients particularly calcium, magnesium, and potassium rather than sufficiency as most soil test laboratories use today. This talk will explain Dr. Albrecht's concepts in layman's terms and present data from studies that examine his concepts. Also, an overview of the principles of soil health and how these concepts fit into Dr. Albrecht's concepts. 2:15 PM - Soil Health 101 Joel Gruver, Western Illinois University This presentation will provide an accessible introduction to the science and practice of soil management. The presentation will focus on the concept of soil health and explore practical opportunities for monitoring and improving soil health within the context of organic vegetable production systems in the Midwest region. 3:00 PM - Break 3:30 PM - Soil Health 101 (cont’d.) Joel Gruver 4:15 PM - 2015 Cover Crop Observations; an On-Farm Perspective Paul Conway, Vegetable Farmer, KS This presentation will cover how summer and fall cover crops benefit vegetable rotations and what benefits cover crop options have. Scaling up production9:30 AM - Welcome/Opening Remarks
Marlin Bates, KSU 9:45 AM - Ten Key Considerations to Successfully Scale Up Your Farm Cindy Fake, UCCE Getting bigger doesn't just mean growing more. To scale up your farm, you need to make some tough decisions. Your role as the farmer will change as you spend more time on the “business of farming“ management, record keeping, and economic analysis and less on “farming”. This session will help you identify the choices you need to make to transition from where you are now to the scale you need to be. 11:00 AM - Break 11:30 AM - Building Economic Viability Into Your Farm Cindy Fake Nothing could be more boring than record keeping, right? Wrong! Come and learn how you can use simple record keeping and economic analysis tools to improve the financial health of your farming operation. They will help you analyze your costs of production and marketing, and the productivity of your labor, which takes the guesswork out of setting prices and allows you to make better crop production choices. Most importantly, these tools will help you build an economically viable farm that you can sustain into the future. Now that doesn't sound boring, does it? 12:15 PM- Lunch 1:30 PM - Scaling Up Production Anthony Flaccavento, RuralScale Growing for farmers markets or CSAs requires raising a very wide diversity of products in relatively small quantities, in order to keep customers interested. Growing for food hub or wholesale markets on the other hand, typically involves growing much more of a few things, in order to improve on farm efficiencies and meet lower prices. On his farm in Abingdon, VA, Anthony has been growing for both types of markets for many years. He will share some planning, budgeting and decision-making tools he has developed from this experience. 2:15 PM - Preparing for Scaling Up, Grinnell Heritage Farm’s Example Andy Dunham, Grinnell Heritage Farm, IA Scaling up a vegetable enterprise requires a lot of thought and preparation. There are numerous strategies that you can employ to make sure that your scaling up experience go smoothly and that you build infrastructure that will serve you well going forward. From visiting other farms of similar size and scope to doing plenty of online and phone research with different companies to ensure that you install the appropriate infrastructure, there are number of things that you can do to make the most of your scaling up experience. 3:00 PM - Break 3:30 PM - Building Production Efficiencies to Improve Your Profitability Cindy Fake Work smarter, not harder, by building systems on your farm. Explore ways to systematize your small farm to increase your efficiency. When you are more efficient, you can get more done, and when you get more done, you make more money! 4:15 PM - Production Cost Reductions-What Can You Control? Rusty Lee, Grower, MO A farmer's perspective of strategies to reduce costs of vegetable production from seeding to shipped product.
Honey Bees 9:00 AM - Problem Recognition in Bees Lawrence John Connor, Wicwas Press, LLC Common bee diseases, pests and parasites. Particular emphasis on American foul brood and varroa mites, including monitoring and sampling. IPM methods of control will be discussed. Common errors of over treatment, treating for the wrong pest and related issues are covered. 10:30 AM - Break 11:00 AM - Queen Management in Existing Hives Lawrence John Connor A review of queen problems, from production errors, mating errors and failing queens. Laying workers and Drone layers are included. Emphasis on 'fixing' certain types of errors 12:15 PM- Lunch 1:30 PM - Queen Rearing Lawrence John Connor Introductory method of raising few queens with and without grafting. 3:00 PM - Break 3:30 PM - Forage Plants for Pollen and Nectar Production Lawrence John Connor | ||||||||||||||||||||||