Workshops and training for the aspiring farmer.

Beginning Farmer Workshops

CCF hosts and organizes workshops for beginning farmers, usually one per summer. For example, we have hosted an all-day event, co-organized by CCF, the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the UVM Extension System’s Women’s Agriculture Network. The purpose of the workshop was to provide beginning farmers and growers with practical information on managing mechanical systems on horticultural farms. Specific systems examined were greenhouses, irrigation and cultivation. About 40 people from around the state and a few from neighboring states attended.

On‐Farm Composting for Organic Growers

Sunday, May 17, 1-3 pm. Presented by Tom Gilbert, Executive Director of Highfields Institute Hardwick, VT. A free workshop for new and aspiring farmers sponsored by the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Group (SARE), and hosted by Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center in East Thetford, VT.

This half-day workshop will provide an intensive opportunity for growers to learn about effective on‐farm composting strategies to improve product quality and farm efficiency.

Through this workshop growers will gather the skills to: effectively manage weed seeds and pathogens in their raw materials, comply with VOF and NOP standards, and produce a high-quality compost efficiently while protecting natural resources. This will be a demonstration-based workshop.

Topics will cover:

• siting composting operations on the farm;
• developing a compost recipe;
• pile monitoring, and pile management;
• opportunities for utilizing food scraps for composting;
• disease management with compost use;

The workshop will center around the Cedar Circle Farm composting system site, from which participants will have the opportunity to see the operation inaction, as well as learn from its strengths and opportunities for improving it.

Sign up by calling Cat at Cedar Circle Farm: 802-785-4737, or email growing@cedarcirclefarm.org. Download a brochure.

On-Farm Training for Aspiring Farmers

Our goal for our farm workers, who aspire to have their own operations, is for them to gain skills in:

• greenhouse production
• integrated pest management
• planting field crops
• cultivating, weeding, fertilizing (cover crops, compost and organic fertilizer)
• harvesting, processing
• marketing and education

In addition, the apprentice should become more adept at problem-solving, project planning, and working as a team member. We advise workers to stay at CCF for several years and to take beginning farmer classes that are available through the University of Vermont, NOFA/VT, and various agencies as well as to attend state and regional conferences.

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