Value Added & Processing Workshops

Building Community Around Food: Dynamic Strategies to Engage Eaters and
Turn Them Into Advocates
Saturday 8:00 AM
Melissa Danielle, Honeybee Holistic, and Nicole Taylor have worked independently and
collaboratively to connect Farmers to Eaters and create opportunities for Eaters to engage in food beyond mere consumption. In this session, we will explore community building concepts and events such as GRUB parties, food crawls, cook-offs, and Farmer's Balls that connect participants to local food, taking them on and off the field.

Marketing to Restaurants
Saturday 1:00 PM
When it comes to marketing to restaurants, personal relationships are everything. Sharon Nagle, Firefly Farm, and Jeff Christiana, New York Wine and Culinary Center, will discuss these relationships from both sides of the equation, offering tips for producers interested in selling to restaurants or improving their relationships with the chefs who purchase their produce. 

Food Safety: Best Practices for Farmers Markets & CSA
Saturday 2:30 PM
There’s been a good deal of discussion about food safety when it comes to the wholesale market, but much less guidance for direct marketers. Join Diane Eggert, Farmers Market Federation, and Amanda Rae Root, Jefferson County CCE, for a discussion of food safety best practices for farmers markets and CSA distributions. Some simple steps can go a long way towards ensuring that you’re providing your customers with the highest quality produce out there. 

Extreme Makeover: Farmstand Edition
Saturday 4:15 PM
Are you ever a little embarrassed when you go to set up your display at market? Are you sure that you could improve your sales if you spruced up your display? Well then, this is the workshop for you. Join Mark and Kristin Kimball, Essex Farm, and a few willing guinea pigs for a discussion of farmstand design in a game show atmosphere. 

Cooperative Marketing of Vegetables
Sunday 8:00 AM
When it comes to accessing larger wholesale and institutional accounts, cooperative marketing of product can offer an inroad for smaller producers. Kathlyn Terry, Appalachian Sustainable Development, will discuss the strategies that her organization uses to help start and maintain relationships between small producers and large retailers. 

Incubators and Shared Use Kitchens for Start-up Food Processors 
Sunday 9:30 PM
Katherine Gregory, Mi Kitchen es su Kitchen®, and Beth Linskey, Beth’s Farm Kitchen, have a wealth of experience and tips to help those individuals and groups who are interested in starting a community shared-use facility or taking their new product to a co-packer. They will be joined by Bob Bleistein, Classic Coverage, who will share key points on liability insurance based on his background in both food businesses and the insurance industry.