RANDOLPH CENTER, Vt. — The chairman of Stonyfield Organic will be the keynote speaker at the 2019 Vermont Organic Dairy Producers Conference, March 14 in Randolph Center.
Gary Hirshberg will share his perspective on the history of organic dairy farming and current challenges and future opportunities for farmers at the annual conference that will take place at Vermont Technical College’s Judd Hall. Hirshberg is the co-founder of Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry, New Hampshire, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer, and the author of Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World.
The conference will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with registration and exhibits open at 9 a.m. It is sponsored by University of Vermont (UVM) Extension’s Northwest Crops and Soils Program in collaboration with Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont’s Organic Dairy and Livestock Technical Assistance Program.
Registration is $25 and covers lunch and all conference materials. Registrations will be accepted until March 7 online at www.regonline.com/2019organicdairy or by mail. Checks should be made payable to University of Vermont and mailed to UVM Extension, attn: Organic Dairy Conference, 278 South Main St., Ste. 2, St. Albans, VT 05478.
Other featured speakers include Dr. Larry Tranel, an Iowa State University economist, on the economics of grazing dairy heifers, low-cost parlors and robotic milking machines, and Linda Tikofsky with strategies to help maximize milk quality on the farm. Tikofsky is with Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health US, Inc., which is headquartered in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Wade Miller, a farm development manager with Organic Valley in La Crosse, Wisconsin, will describe his experiences with organizing and hosting farmer discussion groups to help producers evaluate and improve management of their operation. Producers also will hear about the latest organic dairy research at UVM, the University of New Hampshire and other regional institutions and participate in roundtable discussions.
For more information, contact Susan Brouillette at (802) 524-6501, ext. 432. To request a disability-related accommodation to participate, please call by Feb. 21.
–UVM Extension
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