Small Landowners’ Seminar Educates on Success with Local Agriculture

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Whether you want to grow garlic to sell to the wholesale market or set up a booth at your local Farmers Market, the Montana Farm Bureau Small Landowner Informational Session on Nov. 8 offered advice from local farmers involved in small acreage farming.

The commodity panel consisted of Julie Pavlock- garlic; Living River Farms with Beau McLean and Christopher Green – poultry processing, and Lee McAlpine – Ciderworks hard apple cider. 

Along with garlic, which makes up half of their crop, Julie Pavlock’s Foothill Farm in St. Ignatius grows diverse vegetables on 70 acres. The farm works closely with the Western Montana Growers Cooperative. 

“This opportunity lets small farmers provide produce to schools, grocery stores and restaurants. The co-op has made a huge difference on our farm. We focus on growing a small range of quality products on five acres where we have two high tunnels (similar to greenhouses). Our vegetable production makes up half of our income. The other half goes to garlic, which we grow for seed. We have a great market.” Pavlock notes that for 45,000 garlic cloves planted, the yield is four tons of garlic.

Pavlock admits labor at certain times of year is the challenge. “We try to be more efficient, but the lack of labor prevents us from expansion.”

McClean and Green, Living River Farms, were both raised on farms and formed a keen knowledge of what consumers would like to see in the food they purchase and eat. “We conducted a simple internet market analysis, and discovered what people wanted,” McClain shared with the audience. “We formed a poultry company that uses pastured poultry. Pastured poultry is not free range, but involves moving poultry houses around on different parts of the pasture. This allows us to graze cattle first, then use the chickens to reduce pests, worms and scatter the manure (fertilizer) around.”

McClean and Green, along with Homestead Organics Farm, have been developing a poultry processing plant south of Hamilton they hope will be a reality in spring 2016. 

Following the commodity speakers were marketing experts who discussed setting up at a farmers market, marketing with a Community Supported Agriculture model, and how local groceries stores compete with local foods.

Erin Turner, Turner Family Farms, explained several steps to marketing home-grown products. “Have a presence on media websites, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,  then develop a niche, know your clientele, stay current on food trends and remain community oriented. We are big on educating youth about agriculture in our community. We have a fourth grade class plant pumpkins and they harvest them as fifth graders,” Turner explained. “We have a passion about educating kids about agriculture. It builds clientele, as well.”

Amy Pavlock not only has a thriving CSA, but works with the Western Montana Growers Co-op (WMGC). The WMGC is a coalition of growers in the Flathead, Jocko, Mission and Bitterroot Valleys whose goal is to provide the market in the region with fresh, quality products from local farms. 

Pavlock explained the first step of having a small ag business is to understand your product. “What crops do you prefer to grow? Do you have a distributor? Remember, when it comes to meeting the demands of a wholesaler, they want continuous quality and consistency,” said Pavlock. “Distinguish your products from other products, have pretty packaging and a logo.”

“Once people know your logo and name, they will look for it. Get your label out there,” she says. Pavlock strongly advises asking grocery stores what they want and when they want it. “Restaurants are different, so be sure to talk to grocery managers as well as restaurants before you plan your growing season,” Pavlock advised.

Pavlock, like Turner, uses Facebook for marketing. “It allows me a great way to talk about my farm or ranch at selected media outlets in a positive light.”

The financial panel included Walt Anseth, Montana Department of Agriculture; Sheila Rigby, Farm Service Agency; and Joey Hennes, Northwest Farm Credit Services. The three entities work together to provide loans for beginning farmers. 

“We have what we call Jump Start loans that can offer money for a down payment, operating expenses or for purchasing capital items,” noted Hennes. You’ll need a balance sheet, credit report and three years of tax returns if you want to apply for that loan.”

Sheila Rigby, FSA, explained the Farm Service Agency helps beginning farmers, and offers loans for “farm gardens” or farms that grow for the Farmers Market.  

The Small Landowner Informational Sessions kicked of the MFBF Convention taking place November 8-11 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. Other sessions this week include speakers on beekeeping, Country of Origin Labeling, applications for GMOs, cattle embryo transfer and more.

A bull and heifer show is planned for the Hilton Garden Inn parking lot on Monday, Nov. 9, enabling conference attendees and the general public to see fine livestock from area breeders.

 

 

Source:  Montana Farm Bureau Federation

 

 

High Tunnels by USDAgov, on Flickr
Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License   by  USDAgov 

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