MORRISTOWN, Ind. — Sixteen farmers were recently awarded scholarships to attend the Indiana Small Farm Conference, set to take place March 1–3 at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds in Danville, Ind. The farmers received free registrations to the event through a scholarship program funded and administered by Indiana Farmers Union (INFU; www.indianafarmersunion.org).
Ten of the 16 Indiana farmers received free registration to the event from funds provided by Indiana Farmers Union. These farmers included:
- Rachel Beyer of Bloomington, Ind.
- Stacy Clupper of Van Buren, Ind.
- Julie Dessauer of English Lake, Ind.
- Adam Dilley of Greenwood, Ind.
- Jill Jones of Greenfield, Ind.
- Ryan Knowlton of Walkerton, Ind.
- Anne McShane-Massie of Crown Point, Ind.
- Donna Schwartz of North Wawaka, Ind.
- Damian C. Stanziano of Franklin, Ind.
- Timothy Stowers of Nashville, Ind.
The remaining six farmers were awarded scholarships thanks to other grant monies donated to the scholarship fund. These farmers included:
- Jarrod Dortch of Indianapolis.
- Marty Henderson of Lansing, Ill.
- Vivian Muhammad of Indianapolis.
- Jessica Murnane of Columbus, Ind.
- Lynn Nicholson of Roanoke, Ind.
- Chuck Pease of Anderson, Ind.
The Indiana Small Farm Conference serves as the annual educational and farmer-to-farmer networking event for the Indiana small and diversified farm community. The conference was developed in response to a gathering of Indiana small farmers and stakeholders at the Purdue University campus in the fall of 2011. The Purdue Small Farm team hosted the inaugural conference in 2013 and has had continued success thanks to the support of Indiana farmers and organizations. The conference now hosts over 500 attendees, 50 exhibitors and several national speakers. For more information about the conference, please visit https://www.purdue.edu/dffs/smallfarms.
— Indiana Farmers Union