As I said yesterday, I’ve attended the Practical Farmers of Iowa Conference the past 2 days. I’m back to the farm now, tired but with a head swimming full of thoughts.
Where to start? The morning began with 3 keynote speakers. Richard de Wilde of Harmony Valley Farm, Doug Gunnink a grass-finishing beef expert, and Brent Hansen of Hansen’s Dairy. Each talked briefly about their business and some of the key lessons they’ve learned and strategies for success. Very inspirational!
Then it was time for another workshop. I attended the Iowa Food Cooperative Update. PFI has been working to launch a food cooperative based on models in Nebraska and Oklahoma. I’m hoping that this will be a marketing avenue for our products. They’re still finalizing the details.
After the delicious all-Iowa lunch I attended a roundtable discussion on dealing with the current high input costs in pork production. I didn’t really come away with any concrete ideas to bring home and try, but the discussion that emerged during the session made it worth being there. There were 3 niche pork companies at the table – Eden Natural, Niman Ranch, and Organic Valley. Interesting to have them all in one place.
Then there was time for “cluster meetings”, which were basically special interest groups such as beef & dairy, consumer members, fruits & vegetables, etc. I didn’t attend one of these, but took that time for some networking.
The last session I attended was “Current Patterns in Marketing Local Products”. This was another roundtable where attendees could ask questions of other attendees or offer advice and suggestions. Learning from other farmers is the best!
These were the sessions I attended, but during each round there were anywhere from 4 to 8 different workshops being conducted. Definitely something for everyone. In my case I sometimes had a hard time choosing which workshop to attend! There were some fantastic experts for graziers there. Made me wish we had more than 10 acres to graze!
So if you’d like to see the full offering of this year’s workshops, here’s a link to the conference brochure. Check it out and plan to attend next year!
2 years ago:
Mmmm, bratwurst
Sounds like a very worthwile event. I SO admire what you and your family are doing.
squire – it’s definitely a very worthwhile event, for both farmer and consumer.