|
|
Upcoming Women in Ag Conference Focuses on Local
Foods
By
Laura Skillman
LEXINGTON, Ky., (Sept. 12, 2007) – Women involved in agriculture
or those interested in agriculture, rural living and local foods
are invited to attend the annual conference of the Kentucky
Women in Agriculture, Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 in Lexington.
Kentucky women have always played an important role in
agriculture, and in 1999 the Kentucky Ag Women’s Leadership
Network was established to enhance those efforts. In 2003, the
group incorporated and became known as Kentucky Women in
Agriculture, Inc. The group meets annually to focus on ways to
empower women through education, involvement, and action. The
focus of this year’s meeting will be “Local Foods – Growing Our
Heritage” and will include workshops, presentations and
roundtable discussions.
“We wanted to tie the past to the present with our theme for
this year’s conference,” said KWIA President Jenny Inman.
“Locally grown food has been gaining more media and market place
in recent years. It has always been a very important part of
where agriculture has been and what agriculture is today.
Locally grown food is the staple of our agricultural heritage.
Pre-conference workshops will be conducted on Oct. 31 and have
limited availability. The Kentucky value-added workshop is a
full day of learning about the state’s value-added products. It
will include stops at the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea,
Acres of Land farm, Three Toads Farm and Valentine’s Ice Cream.
Registration is $25 and is limited to the first 42 registrants.
Producers wanting more information about risk management may
want to attend the workshop on risk-assessed business planning
for small producers. It is designed for anyone trying to improve
the financial outcomes of their agricultural enterprises and
will include fundamental steps of business planning, how to
develop an enterprise budget and basic financial and accounting
management practices. Marion Simon from Kentucky State
University will conduct the workshop which is supported by a
grant from the USDA-CSREES Southern Region Risk Management
Education Center. Registration is $10 including lunch and
materials and is limited to the first 20 registrants.
The home-based microprocessor workshop is designed to provide
information on food safety, sanitation and home canning
procedures. It is required for home-based microprocessor
certification. More information can be found at
http://www.ca.uky.edu
/micro/. The registration fee is $50 including lunch
and is limited to the first 25 registrants.
Conference activities begin Nov. 1 with a full slate of
activities for participants. Featured speakers include Lucy
Breathitt, a leader in the effort to conserve open space and
farmland in the bluegrass, and Cynthia Bohn, Equus Run Vineyards
owner, winemaker and vineyard manager.
Concurrent sessions will run throughout the day offering
participants options such as pioneer foods, preserving barns,
enriching your life: cooking for your family, selling to
restaurants and retailers, quilted barns, building female
leadership and legislative and farm bill updates. Other sessions
include historical artifacts and crafts, nutrition label making,
finding your niche – a success story, selling to restaurants and
retailers, estate planning with retirement options and
presentations by the Kentucky Historical Society “Diary of the
Depression” and “Tobacco Tales.”
A statewide candidates’ forum is set for 4 p.m. followed by A
Taste of Kentucky Proud reception featuring products from around
the state.
Nov. 2 events include roundtable discussions on Annie’s Project,
composting, the 2010 World Equestrian Games, slow foods,
heirloom seeds and plants, marketing goats, U.S. Department of
Agriculture programs, sustainable agriculture, MarketMakerKY.org,
high tunnel production and season extending techniques and
qualifying for federal, state and local grants.
A computing made easy course will be offered at the same time as
the roundtable discussions. Advance registration is required and
limited to the first 24 registrants.
The conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza-Campbell House
in Lexington. Special KWIA conference rates are available if
reserved before Oct. 1. Call the hotel at 877-227-6963 and ask
for the KWIA rate.
Participants should pre-register for the conference by Oct. 1 to
avoid late fees. Fee information and registration forms, as well
as a full itinerary for the conference can be found at the
http://www.kywomeninag.org. For other questions
regarding the conference contact Inman or Ashley Osborne at
info@kywomeninag.org or call 877-266-8823.
|
|
Contact: Ashley Osborne, 859-257-2505
|
|
The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
Questions/Comments,
e-mail the
webmaster
Copyright © 2001-2006 University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture,
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |
News Home
Other Headlines This Week
More
News
Atom (RSS) Now Available
for those
using news aggregation programs
College News
|
