2008 Sustainable Agriculture Conference
Friday Farm Tours
Friday, October 31, 9:00 – 4:00 PM at Local Farms
Tour 1 – Sustainable Fruit & Vegetable Production & Marketing
Happy Berry Farm – The Market at Keowee Towne – Cliffs Community Organic Farm
First stop is Happy Berry Farm in Six Mile, SC Meet Walker and Ann Miller, and learn about fruit and vegetable production on the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Established in 1979, the farm is on a site that has served as the eastern capital of the Cherokee Indians and a cotton farm. Today, the Walkers specialize in wonderful blackberries, blueberries, and figs. From there you will travel to Salem to The Market at Keowee Towne. Enjoy a healthy, delicious lunch while learning about this unique store and its attempt to bring top-quality products to its surrounding community. The tour concludes with a visit to the Cliffs Community Organic Farm. Learn how sustainability has been included in the planning for some of the most upscale developments in the region.
Tour 2 – Sustainable Dairy Production & Marketing
Split Creek Farm & Dairy – Happy Cow Creamery – Milky Way Dairy
Start your morning at Split Creek Farm & Dairy in Anderson where you will meet Evin Evans and her staff. They will show you how they produce their award winning goat’s milk, cheeses, and other wonderful products derived from their four-legged partners. From there you will travel to Happy Cow Creamery in Pelzer for lunch and a tour of Upstate SC’s beloved on-farm milk-bottling operation. Tom Trantham and his staff will share how a farm on the edge of failure went through a “Cow d’état” to become a thriving business and an asset to the surrounding community. Then it is on to the Milky Way Dairy of L.D. Peeler in Starr where an increasingly popular product is being bottled: raw milk. Here you will not only be able to observe the challenges of raw milk production, you will also discuss the issues around this product and its benefits.
Tour 3 – Sustainable Livestock & Farm Animals
Bar T Ranch – Grits and Groceries – Western Starr Farm – Draft Horse Demo
See all of the latest techniques for pastured beef at Bar T Ranch in Honea Path, SC. Rancher Richard Taylor will tell you the story of how a youth spent in the family beef business encouraged him to take another path. Today he provides his community with less processed, healthier choices. After touring his operations, enjoy his product during lunch at Grits & Groceries in Saylor’s Crossroads. From there, head on down to Starr, SC, where you will tour Western Starr Farm, the sustainable sheep operation of Terry and Tara Wyatt. Here you will witness the various aspects of lamb and wool production. Afterward, you will be treated to a demonstration of draft horses and other working farm animals in a facility in Anderson.
Tour 4 – Insects – Promoting Beneficial Helpers & Discouraging Pests
Bee Well Honey Farm & Market – Clemson Student Organic Farm
Head out to Bee Well Honey Farm and Market in Pickens, SC to meet Kerry Owen and his staff. Kerry will explain how he manages over 400 hives, and then processes and markets his honey. From there the tour will travel to the beautiful Clemson Heirloom Vegetable Garden at the SC Botanical Garden. At this unique garden, bug enthusiast and organic farmer Patryk Battle will discuss and show beneficial insects and their habitat. He will also lead a discussion on colony collapse disorder. Lunch will be provided either at the garden or a nearby restaurant serving local food.
Friday Workshops
Friday, October 31, 9:00 – 4:00 PM at the Civic Center
Organic Certification Workshop
Presenter(s): Jim Riddle and Brad Stancill
Thinking about getting certified but haven’t taken the next step? Wondering what it really means to get certified? This 6-hour hands-on workshop will get you to the next level by walking you through the entire certification process. Items covered include an overview of the National Organic Program standards, the certification process, the organic farm plan, how to pick a certifier, record-keeping templates, approved materials, and cost-share opportunities.
Participants are encouraged to bring their field histories, farm maps, input labels, and specific questions about the certification process, organic standards, and approved materials, so that they can leave the workshop confident that they can complete an organic farm plan and apply for certification. Registration fee includes six hours of instruction and lunch. There is a materials charge for the notebook. (See conference registration page 27). Space is limited.
JUST FOR EXTENSION AGENTS
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Friday, October 31, 9:00 – 12:00 PM* at the Civic Center
“Development of a Practical Organic No-till System: Research Results from Rodale Institute’s Farming Systems Trial”
Presenter(s): Jeff Moyer, Farm Director, and Paul Hepperly, Research Director; Rodale Institute
This workshop will highlight research from Rodale Institute’s ongoing Farming Systems Trial, the longest running trial comparing organic and non-organic farming in the U.S. The Rodale Institute has designed a unique farming system that incorporates the benefits of no-till technology into an organic farming strategy based on the basic biology of cover crops. This system uses intensified cover crop management and a piece of equipment called a roller/crimper, to reduce the number of field operations for organic corn production from nine (under standard plow-tillage) to two, with an increase in yield. Speakers will discuss key components of the organic no-till system, including proper use and timing of the roller/crimper attachment. They will also discuss how to overcome challenges with cover crop kill timing, moisture dynamics and planter engineering, and how organic no-till corn and soybean systems can out-yield organic plow-till and conventional systems with minimal inputs and energy costs.
*Lunch included from 12:00- 1:00 PM.
Friday, October 31, 1:00 – 4:00 PM at Greenbrier Farm, Easley, SC
Extension Agent Farm Tour to Greenbrier Farms
Hosts will be Joyce Palmer and Jim Smith
This is a special tour for North and South Carolina extension personnel to visit a successful and highly diversified and sustainable farming operation in the Upstate. Greenbrier Farms located in Easley, SC raises free-range Senepol/Angus beef cattle that are grown without animal by-products, growth hormones or antibiotics. The meat, known for its tenderness and flavor is marketed locally. Greenbrier also has pasture-raised goats, sheep, llamas and chickens. In addition to the livestock operations you will see an on-site poultry processing facility, a small dairy and farmer’s market/events facility with brick ovens for bread making. A new state-of-the-art solar greenhouse for season extension vegetables is under construction and should be completed by the tour date. The farm is protected under a conservation easement through the USDA/NRCS Grassland Reserve Program. Your tour guides will be Greenbrier Farms owner Joyce Palmer and experienced organic farmer Jim Smith who is helping Joyce with horticulture crop production and marketing. |
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