CLEMSON, S.C. — Buying and eating locally grown foods helps the economy and the environment of communities and the Clemson Sustainable Agriculture Program is ready to help South Carolina fruit and vegetable farmers learn how to meet the growing demand for locally and regionally grown fruits and vegetables.
A workshop, Wholesale Success, is scheduled for Nov. 6 at the Coastal Research and Education Center, 2700 Savannah Highway, Charleston, and Nov. 9 at the Madren Conference Center, 230 Madren Center Drive, Clemson. The workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at both locations. A separate Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course for growers who must meet the requirements of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at the Charleston location.
This training is focused on helping farmers adopt best practices in produce post-harvest handling, packing, food safety and business management said Geoff Zehnder, Sustainable Agriculture Program coordinator.
“The goal of the training is to build the capacity of farmers to meet the burgeoning demand for locally/regionally grown fruits and vegetables,” Zehnder said.
Atina Diffley, an organic farmer and lead trainer for the FamilyFarmed Wholesale Success Program, will be instructor for the workshop. Diffley’s areas of expertise include post-harvest handling, brand-name marketing, greenhouse management, and organic farming systems. She is a co-author and editor for Wholesale Success: A Farmers Guide to Selling, Postharvest Handling and Packing Produce. In addition, Diffley presently serves on the boards of the Organic Seed Alliance and the Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture. From 1985 to 2008, she and her husband Martin ran the Gardens of Eagan, an urban-edge, organic vegetable farm, which he started in 1973 as one of the first certified organic produce farms in the Midwest.
This workshop is being provided at no cost thanks to special grant funding from the USDA Southern SARE Professional Development Program. Seating is limited to 60 seats in Charleston and 40 seats in Clemson. Pre-registration is required. Training includes a Wholesale Success manual, instruction and lunch. To register, go to: http://bit.ly/WholesaleSuccessTraining.
To register for the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course, go to: http://bit.ly/ProduceSafetyAllianceTraining.
— Denise Attaway, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; Public Service and Agriculture, Clemson University
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