DECATUR, Ill. — Small farms make up 88% of all farming operations across the U.S. according to the USDA. This winter, University of Illinois Extension is working to help the small farm community grow with a weekly Small Farms Winter Webinar Series. These free, one-hour presentations will provide local food producers practical knowledge on leading practices in new and emerging topics that will help their operations improve profitability and sustainability.
“Each year, we try to determine topics for small farms that will help them grow a new crop, expand their operation, and implement new management practices,” said Grant McCarty, Local Foods Systems and Small Farms educator for Jo Daviess, Stephenson and Winnebago counties. “You can register online to listen to all of them or pick and choose.”
Tomato production, agroforestry, industrial hemp production, bee keeping and digital marketing are some of the topics covered in the 2019 series. Sessions are every Thursday noon to 1 p.m. now through April 4.
To listen to the webinars, participants must sign up at go.aces.illinois.edu/SmallFarmWinterWebinar and a link will be sent to their email. On the Thursday of that webinar, participants will sign in remotely from a home computer, tablet or smart phone using the link. You can also watch the videos once they are posted on YouTube at bit.ly/ILLocalFoodsYouTube. For more information, contact Doug Gucker at (217) 877-6042 or dgucker@illinois.edu.
— University of Illinois Extension
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