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Veterans in Ag: Specialized Tools for Small-Scale Intensive Production

Saturday, March 28, 2020 at 10:00am to 3:00pm

Equicenter Inc. ​3247 Rush Mendon Road Honeoye Fall, NY 14472

The Cornell Small Farms Program's Farm Ops project is working with the Canandaigua VA Medical Center's Whole Health Program to provide 1-day focused trainings at no cost to New York state veterans who are enrolled at a VA facility. This program is also open to spouses of NYS veterans.

Training Topic: Specialized Tools for Small-Scale Intensive Production

Small-scale intensive production, aka micro-farming or market garden farming, is a tractor-less, cropping strategy for high-yield production (per/ft2) on low acreage without the need for large capital investment. It (often) involves raised beds, closely spaced plantings, minimal tillage, and a selection of low-tech hand tools and appropriate machinery to increase farmer efficiency. While not considered large capital investments (compared to a tractor), there are a number of these tools that come at a higher price-point and evaluation of these “high-end” tools should be considered to determine IF or WHEN, with regard to your operation, the efficiency-savings they provide justifies their sticker cost.

 This training will include the following:

  • Intro to small-scale intensive production and guided overview of The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower's Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming text * 

  • General tool discussion with veteran-veggie-farmer (of 10-years), Dean Koyanagi

  • Presentation and demonstration of higher-end($) tools

  • Hands-on interaction and participant-testing of tools

*Participants will receive a copy of this text

This workshop will be held at the EquiCenter Farm, and lunch is provided. It is recommended that participants arrive 15-20 minutes prior to get coffee, tea, and snacks and get checked-in and settled.

Register Here

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