The Power of Food Hubs: Strengthening Local Food Systems

This year’s keynote session will focus on the transformative role food hubs play in strengthening local food systems, fostering community connections, and creating equitable opportunities for farmers and consumers alike.

Food hubs play a pivotal role in connecting farmers to markets, building community, and fostering sustainable food systems. This session explores how food hubs operate, their impact on local economies, and the ways they support farmers and consumers alike.

Through stories and insights, learn about the challenges and successes of running a food hub and how they can serve as models for strengthening local food networks. Whether you’re a farmer, consumer, or advocate, discover how food hubs can transform the way we grow, distribute, and access food in Alabama and beyond.

Herbal Crops for Human Resilience

There is no doubt that we are in a time of maximum stress- our nervous system has not had time to evolve the coping mechanisms for the 24/7 onslaught of information, notifications, and bright flashing screens. Add to this climate restabalization and a farmer’s dependence on the benevolence of Mother Nature and it’s no wonder we see so many farmers moving to other careers. But what if you could grow crops to help yourself and others foster a more resilient nervous system? The great new is the plants are here to support us! In this lecture we will cover some of my favorite easy to grow plants for nervous system strengthening, how to grow them, their herbal virtues and benefits, and how to preserve their medicine. Plants discussed will include holy basil, milky oat, and skullcap. So come sip a cup of nervous system restoring, ecosystem restoring, locally grown tea with us while we chat!

In a world of constant stress—from the demands of technology to the unpredictability of climate shifts—farmers face unique challenges to their well-being. But what if the land you tend could also nurture your nervous system?

Join this lecture to explore easy-to-grow plants that support nervous system health, including holy basil, milky oat, and skullcap. Learn how to grow, harvest, and preserve their medicinal benefits while fostering resilience for yourself and your community. Enjoy a cup of locally grown, nervous-system-restoring tea as we discuss how these plants can help restore balance in both body and ecosystem.

Urban Roots: Soil Challenges and Solutions

Urban agriculture offers tremendous opportunities, but degraded soils pose a major challenge. This interactive workshop will dive into the most common soil issues affecting urban agriculture such as soil contamination, compaction, and nutrient depletion, all of which limit food production in urban environments.

In addition to identifying the challenges, this workshop will also highlight solutions. We will showcase Atlanta’s Grows-A-Lot Program, an innovative initiative that provides urban growers with access to underutilized city land, while working to improve soil health and fertility.

Participants will learn about practical strategies and will have the opportunity to engage in group discussions, share their own experiences, and explore collaborative ways to address these challenges in their own urban agricultural projects.

From Garden to Table: Engaging Communities in Hands-On Cooking with Local Produce

Join the Schoolyard Roots team for a hands-on journey through the joys of cooking with fresh, local produce! In this interactive, hands-on session, we’ll guide participants through three fun and approachable stations, each featuring one of our favorite kid-approved recipes. Designed for young cooks in grades K-5, these activities introduce kids to essential cooking skills and flavor combinations, building their confidence and enthusiasm for fresh vegetables and herbs.

At each station, we’ll share practical tips and classroom-tested strategies for involving kids in food prep, encouraging tasting, and adapting recipes to suit a variety of ages and preferences, including tips on how to set up a mobile kitchen anywhere. Discover the power of experiential learning and how hands-on cooking can deepen kids’ connections to their food, reinforce classroom lessons, and inspire lifelong healthy habits. Whether you’re an educator, parent, or food enthusiast, you’ll leave this session with fresh ideas and inspiration to cultivate culinary curiosity in young learners!

Natural Farming Basics

In this approach, we will focus on developing natural farming solutions using locally sourced materials from the farm. The IMO compost plays a crucial role in revitalizing the soil, helping to restore the microbial balance, and working synergistically with the KNF solutions. This process not only nurtures a healthy soil ecosystem but also creates a thriving habitat for small animals and microorganisms, fostering their growth and prosperity. These tiny creatures are essential for maintaining soil health, enhancing nutrient cycling, and supporting sustainable farming practices.

How to Use Social Media and Communications to Promote Your Farm Business

Together we will discuss how to promote your farm business, nonprofit, or food hub using social media marketing and communications. We will learn how to use social media and communications as a tool to promote your business and events, tips and tricks to making social media promotion easier, how to gain more followers and interest in your business, and how to be intentional when creating your content. Social media can be intimidating for some but it is also an opportunity to storytell and communicate your mission. This workshop will be a mix of practical lecture, planning, discussions, and Q & A.

Cookies and Bookies

This session dives into essential business basics, including gross vs. net profit, fixed and variable costs, and methods for projecting profit, such as per bed or CSA share. We’ll also create a safe space to discuss finances openly, from managing debt to paying yourself as a farmer. While these conversations can feel uncomfortable, sharing knowledge helps us all become better business people.

Bring your financial numbers, tracking tools, or strategies if you’d like to join the discussion and gain valuable insights from fellow participants. Together, we’ll grow stronger, more sustainable businesses!

Coordinated Crop Planning: Bringing Grower & Buyer Together To Optimize Next Season’s Sales

Are you a farmer looking to improve and expand your market opportunities?

Are you a local food aggregator or buyer looking to streamline your purchasing?

Coordinated Crop Planning is a communication structure that brings together growers and buyers to better plan for the season ahead, increasing market access and minimizing risk for farmers. Join us as we discuss CCP and its potential opportunities and challenges. We will then lead an exercise to help you reflect on how CCP can best be applied to your individual farm business.

Growing American Ginseng

Southern Appalachian ginseng is some of the highest sought-after ginsengs in the world. The taste is bitter/sweet with undertones of sour. It is considered a true adapatogen and has been studied for its benefits on the immune system and to help reduce the effects of stress. American ginseng also has an effect on the liver/gallbladder, thyroid, heart, and the reproductive system. In this class, we’ll focus on how to grow American ginseng as a wild-simulated plant. Growing American ginseng in this fashion allows the grower to sell the plant at wild-harvested prices rather than domestically grown prices. We’ll discuss how to start the plant from seed, preferred soil types, and special needs.

Exploring Regenerative Organic: Considerations, Challenges, and Support

This session begins with a 30-minute presentation on Rodale Consulting services and the key considerations for becoming certified organic. Learn about the certification process, benefits, and challenges, as well as resources available to support your journey toward organic farming.

Following the presentation, participate in a 20-minute open discussion with fellow growers about the realities of farming organically in Alabama. Share your experiences, ask questions, and explore solutions to common challenges faced by organic farmers in the region. Perfect for those considering certification or seeking to strengthen their organic practices.

Economic Wild Food of Alabama

This session begins with a 30-minute presentation on Rodale Explore the diversity of Alabama’s wild food species with the greatest economic potential as market crops. These species thrive in our state’s natural ecosystem, creating the potential for significant outputs with relatively low input. We’ll learn to identify, forage, and process both familiar favorites and hidden gems efficiently!

Pastured Poultry

From hatch to freezer: an introduction to pastured poultry.

GRAZE: Panel Discussion

How to improve your success, navigate hurdles, and integrate best practices for successful relationship-building with chefs & restaurants.

Rotational Grazing and Fencing

This workshop combines practical knowledge and strategic planning to help farmers master fencing and rotational grazing. Learn how to set up effective fencing systems tailored to your land and livestock, along with tips for troubleshooting common challenges.

Natural Farming Basics

In this session, participants will discover the Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) initiative in Alabama, which has brought gardening experiences, farming opportunities, and fresh local foods to thousands of children across the state. The Farm to Early Care and Education initiative encompasses a range of strategies and activities designed to enhance access to healthy, local foods through local procurement, gardening projects, and food and agriculture education. These efforts aim to enrich the quality of educational experiences in early childhood settings, including preschools, child care centers, family child care homes, Head Start/Early Head Start, and programs in K-12 school districts.

IPM: Plant Health Care for Organic Pest Management

Organic Broccoli Production: Growing Health-Promoting Glucosinolates with Nature

Lessons we have learned in 8 years of broccoli crops and how we grow it currently. Specifics on spring/fall timing, fertility through cover crops, variety trial results, why stress-induced anthocyanin coloration is a favorable trait, optimum storage, and interbeing with pest/disease. Plus economics: analysis of our broccoli cost of production, how we collected the data and approached the calculations, and how it hopefully guides us to fair pricing.

Community Composting in Alabama: Discussion of Best Practices and Opportunities to Grow

In this session we will have a group discussion about current efforts in community composting and ways to advance these efforts. Community Composting is any composting system larger than household/backyard. We will discuss the use of local resources as valuable organic material for food production, beautification and more.

Starting a Successful Traditional-Style CSA

A detailed walk through of starting a CSA including: pros and cons of selling through a CSA, traditional vs. free choice or market style CSA, finding and retaining members, site selection for delivery spots, crop planning for a CSA as opposed to farmers market, management software, post harvest and delivery considerations, and helping members (and the farmer!) enjoy the CSA experience.

CRAFT General Assembly

This is a session to learn about Alabama’s Collaborative Regional Alliance of Farmer Training, a sustainable farming skills training program led by farmers for farmers, and have a say in how this year ahead will go. During this session, you’ll hear about upcoming programing and the goals of the program from Steering Committee members and ASAN staff. There will be ample time for feedback and questions- this is our yearly general assembly!

Earthworm Castings For Stress-Free Soil & Plant Resiliency

A presentation describing the applied use of earthworm casting inputs as living, fertile stress adaptogens, in order to synergize soil building and plant health. (Warning this practice may reduce needs for the following; fertilizer use and cost, farmer stress, and the use of products that end in “cide”.)

Tour of Mark’s Farm: Exploring Camp McDowell’s On-Site Agriculture

Join us for a guided tour of Mark’s Farm, Camp McDowell’s vibrant on-site farm. Explore the fields, meet the livestock, and discover the daily operations that make this farm a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture.

Along the way, learn about the innovative practices used to care for the land and animals, and if you’re feeling adventurous, test your grit with some feats of strength! This tour offers a unique, hands-on opportunity to experience farm life while connecting with the people and practices that make it thrive.

The Trading Post: Swap, Share, and Connect

Located in front of Mark’s Farm, the Trading Post is a space for farmers to engage in the timeless tradition of bartering and sharing. Bring seeds, tools, crafts, books, or any other farm-related items you’d like to trade with fellow attendees.

It’s a great opportunity to exchange resources, ideas, and stories while building connections within the farming community. Whether you’re looking to share your surplus or find something new, the Trading Post is the perfect place to celebrate collaboration and sustainability.

When to Call a Vet

This session will cover basic handling and presentative care for food animals as well as common injuries and diseases, including; symptoms, home treatments, and signs for when to call a vet. The presentation will cover bovine, caprine/ovine, swine, and poultry.