Full Event
Schedule
AND EVENT DETAILS
Day 1
9:00 - 11:00 - Registration Open
11:00 - 12:30 - Session 1 (3 Tracks: Marketing and Branding, Growing Practices, Workshop & Hands on Events)
12:30 - 12:45 - Break
12:45 - 2:00 - Lunch and Keynote - Diane Flynt
2:00 - 2:15 - Break
2:15 - 3:45 - Session 2 (3 Tracks: Marketing and Branding, Growing Practices, Workshop & Hands on Events)
3:45 - 4:00 - Break
4:00 - 5:30 - Session 3 (3 Tracks: Marketing and Branding, Growing Practices, Workshop & Hands on Events)
5:30 - 6:00 - Tasting Event: Exclusive Buy Preview at The Station
6:00 - 7:00 - Appalachian Cellar Tasting Event at The Station
Day 2
8:00 - 9:00 - Registration Open + Continental Breakfast and Coffee
9:00 - 10:30 - Session 4 (3 Tracks: Marketing and Branding, Growing Practices, Workshop & Hands on Events)
10:30 - 10:45 - Break
10:45 - 12:15 - Session 5 (3 Tracks: Marketing and Branding, Growing Practices, Workshop & Hands on Events)
12:15 - 12:30 - Break
12:30 - 1:45 - Lunch and Keynote Panel: Natasha Zoe, Paul Ronk, Duane Brown
1:45 - 2:00 - Break
2:00 - 3:30 - Session 6 (3 Tracks: Marketing and Branding, Growing Practices, Workshop & Hands on Events)
FULL SCHEDULE
Day 1: Friday, April 3
TRACK: Marketing and Aggregation/Distribution
11AM - 12:30PM
Presenters: Jenn Brown, Natasha Zoe, Audra O'Dell
Session Title: Stronger Together: How Cooperative Power Builds Bigger Markets
You don’t have to scale alone.
This dynamic panel brings together members and leadership from Mountain State Co-Hops to unpack what cooperative membership actually looks like — and what it delivers.
We’ll talk candidly about:
• How co-ops increase market access
• Shared distribution and aggregation advantages
• Pricing leverage and reduced input costs
• What membership means in real dollars and real support
• What’s new and expanding for members in 2026
If you’ve ever wondered whether cooperative membership could strengthen your farm or food business, this is your chance to hear from the people living it.
TRACK: Growing Practices
11AM - 12:30PM
Presenters: Diane Flynt
Session Title: Rethink Your Orchard: Apple Variety Selection for the Mid-Atlantic and Upper South
Variety selection might be the most important decision you make as an orchardist, and it starts long before anything goes in the ground. Different apple varieties come with dramatically different growing requirements, disease resistance profiles, harvest windows, and productive lifespans, and choosing the wrong one for your site, your soil, or your intended use can cost you years. This session gives you a practical, working knowledge of the full range of varieties suited to the Mid-Atlantic and Upper South climate, with real guidance on what each variety actually demands from you as a grower. You'll learn which varieties are built for cider production, which hold up for long-term storage, which thrive in our particular climate conditions, and which ones will quietly break your heart if you're not prepared for their quirks. Whether you're putting in your first orchard or filling gaps in an existing one, leave this session knowing exactly what you're planting and why.
TRACK: Outdoor Workshop/Field Trip
11AM - 12:30PM
Presenters: Julie Schaer - The Potager Farm a Certified Organic Farm
Session Title: Build your own Mushroom Take Home Kit.
Mushrooms are nature's recyclers. This workshop will walk you through the steps from spore to skillet to grow gourmet mushrooms. Then grab a recycled container to build your own delicious mushroom kit to go!
TRACK: Marketing and Aggregation/Distribution
2:15PM - 3:45PM
Presenters: Sierra Cox, John Riggs, Cyndi Kirkihart, Jenn Brown.
Session Title: Routes, Relationships & Regional Reach: Designing the Next Generation of Food Distribution.
Food is being moved across our region every day — often inefficiently, redundantly, and without coordination.
Through a collaborative planning effort in West Virginia, partners explored how to better align aggregation, distribution, and logistics assets statewide. The conclusion was clear: centralized hub software and route tracking can unlock major efficiencies — but only if built collaboratively.
This session begins with a short overview of the planning findings, then shifts into participatory design for the next phase of implementation. Together, we’ll explore how a shared logistics platform could:
• Increase route efficiency
• Reduce transportation redundancy
• Improve asset utilization
• Strengthen trust-based partnerships
• Expand into a Mid-Atlantic aggregation network
If your organization handles product movement, storage, aggregation, or purchasing, this is your invitation to help shape the infrastructure.
TRACK: Growing Practices
2:15PM - 3:45PM
Presenters: Dr. Brooke Comer
Session Title: Start With the Soil: Building a Nutrient Management Plan That Actually Work
Healthy soil is not an accident. It is a plan. And Dr. Brooke Comer, professor of Sustainable Agriculture at Shepherd University and soil health researcher with a PhD in Horticulture from Michigan State, is here to help you build one. In this workshop, Dr. Comer breaks down the science of soil health in a way that is practical, accessible, and immediately actionable for working farmers. You will gain a deeper understanding of what is actually happening beneath your feet, how nutrient cycling works, what your soil is telling you and how to listen, and which tools and strategies, including cover crops and organic amendments, can move the needle on your operation. You will leave with more than knowledge. You will leave with the beginning of a real action plan tailored to where your farm is right now and where you want it to go. Because at the end of the day, everything you grow starts here.
TRACK: Outdoor Workshop/Field Trip
2:15PM - 3:45PM
Presenters: Mary Godinez
Session Title: Cut, Join, Grow: A Hands-On Apple Tree Grafting Workshop
There is something almost magical about taking a cutting from one tree and coaxing it into becoming part of another. Grafting is one of the oldest skills in agriculture, and for orchardists, it is also one of the most powerful. It is how you preserve a rare heirloom variety that might otherwise disappear. It is how you topwork an underperforming tree into something more productive. It is how you take control of your rootstock, your tree size, and your harvest timeline in ways simply not possible any other way. In this hands-on workshop, you will learn the foundational techniques every orchardist should have in their toolkit, including whip and tongue grafting, cleft grafting, and bud grafting, with honest guidance on when to use each method and why. You will leave with grafted trees in your hands and the confidence to keep doing it on your own farm. No prior experience necessary, just show up ready to get your hands dirty.
TRACK: Marketing and Aggregation/Distribution
4:00PM - 5:30PM
Presenters: Daniel Finlsey
Session Title: Labeling Workshop
Your label does a lot of heavy lifting, and it has to catch the eye, tell your story, and play by the rules. Join Chief Creative Officer Daniel Finsley for a practical, fun session on label design that goes beyond making things “look nice.” You’ll dig into how to create product labels (or collections) that feel cohesive, connect with customers, and actually reflect who you are as a maker. This workshop will also walk through labeling requirements and best practices, with real-world examples of how to build them into your design without killing the vibe. You’ll leave with fresh ideas, practical tips, and a clearer path to labels that balance creativity, clarity, and compliance.
TRACK: Growing Practices
4:00PM - 5:30PM
Presenters: Nathan Ratchen & Michelle McKenzie - Bellair Farm
Session Title: Integrating Pastured Poultry and Vegetable Production
What if your chickens could make your vegetables better, and your vegetables could make your chickens healthier? Bellair Farm has spent a decade figuring out exactly that, and they're ready to take you on a deep dive into the real, messy, rewarding world of stacking poultry with vegetable production. In this session, they'll walk you through managing large-scale laying flocks, the cover crops and foraging strategies that keep birds thriving, and the food safety essentials every producer needs in their back pocket. And they won't just share the wins. You'll hear the hard-won do's and don'ts that only come from someone who has made the mistakes so you don't have to. Whether you're a seasoned vegetable farmer curious about adding birds, a multi-enterprise operation ready to level up, or a first-year farmer just getting started with poultry, this session will meet you right where you are.
TRACK: Outdoor Workshop/Field Trip
4:00PM - 5:30PM
Presenters: Madison Hale - Tabler Farm
Session Title: Tabler Farm Tour
Some things you just can't learn in a classroom, and this is one of them. Lace up your boots and join experienced grower Madison Hale for a walking tour of Tabler Farm, Shepherd University's one-of-a-kind incubator, research, and student farm tucked right here on campus. This isn't a polished show farm where everything goes right. It's a living, working laboratory where ideas get tested, techniques get refined, and real growing happens every single day. Madison will walk you through the different plots on the property, sharing the growing techniques, soil health practices, and cropping strategies behind what you're seeing in the ground. You'll get an honest, up-close look at what it actually takes to farm this land, and plenty of time to ask every question you've been holding onto. Whether you're a seasoned producer looking for fresh ideas or a newer grower soaking up everything you can, this tour is the kind of experience you'll be thinking about long after you've brushed the mud off your boots.
Day 2: Saturday, April 4
TRACK: Marketing and Aggregation/Distribution
9:00AM - 10:30AM
Presenters: Natasha Zoe and Audra O'Dell
Session Title: Stop Stirring. Start Scaling: From Cottage to Commercial
You’ve built a great product. Now it’s time to build a real business.
This session walks you step-by-step through the pathway from cottage food production to commercial-scale manufacturing. We’ll demystify process authority—what it is, when you need it, how to obtain it, and why it can dramatically expand your sales opportunities.
You’ll learn:
• The difference between cottage food, state-regulated processing, and FDA-regulated production
• When process authority is required, and how to secure it
• What buyers expect from wholesale-ready products
• How scaling can increase margins and open regional and institutional markets
If you’re producing jams, jellies, maple, honey, sauces, or specialty foods and wondering how to grow beyond direct-to-consumer sales, this session gives you the roadmap.
TRACK: Growing Practices
9:00AM - 10:30AM
Presenters: Michelle McKenzie - Bellair Farm
Session Title: Beyond the Box: Building a CSA That Actually Works for Your Farm
A CSA sounds simple enough on paper. Customers pay upfront, you grow the food, everybody wins. But anyone who has actually run one knows the real story is a lot more complicated and a lot more rewarding than that. Getting your pricing right, managing member expectations, planning for a multi-season harvest schedule, handling the weeks when everything comes in at once and the weeks when almost nothing does, building the kind of member loyalty that brings people back year after year. It is a system that rewards farmers who get it right and humbles the ones who are figuring it out on the fly. Michelle McKenzie of Bellair Farm has spent years doing exactly that, running a thriving multi-season CSA and learning hard lessons so you don't have to. In this session, she'll pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to build and sustain a successful CSA operation, from setting prices that work for your farm and your customers, to structuring your season, to keeping members engaged and coming back. Whether you're dreaming about launching your first CSA or you've been running one for years and know it's time to level up, Michelle has something for you.
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TRACK: Outdoor Workshop/Field Trip
9:00AM - 10:30AM
Presenters: Tim Showalter Ehst - Second Mountain Farm a Certified Organic Farm
Session Title: Try Before You Buy: A Hands-On Small Farm Tool Demo with Tim Showalter
Ever wished you could try a tool before dropping serious money on it? This is that session. Join Tim Showalter for a genuinely hands-on tool demo where you won't just watch, you'll actually get your hands on the equipment and put it to work. Tim will walk you through the paper pot transplanter, a revolutionary tool that just received organic approval and is changing the way small farmers transplant at scale, as well as the soil blocker, a simple but transformative tool that eliminates plastic trays entirely and produces strong, healthy transplants ready to hit the ground running. Along the way Tim will share the techniques that actually make these tools perform, including getting your soil block mix to exactly the right consistency so your blocks hold together, proper compression technique, how to water soil blocks without watching them crumble, and how to time your transplants for the strongest possible establishment. This is practical, get-your-hands-dirty learning in the best possible sense. Come with questions, leave with confidence.
TRACK: Marketing and Aggregation/Distribution
10:45AM - 12:15PM
Presenters: Jenny Totten, Future Generations University
Session Title: In a Jam: The Nuts and Bolts of Value-Added Processing
Ready to take your product from a great idea to a shelf-ready success? This session will walk you through the essential steps of bringing a value-added product to market. We’ll break down the process of obtaining process authority, navigating labeling requirements, and setting up the record-keeping systems your facility needs to stay compliant. Along the way, we’ll share practical templates and tools designed to make the journey smoother, clearer, and far less overwhelming. Whether you’re just getting started or preparing to scale up, you’ll leave with the knowledge and resources to move forward with confidence.
TRACK: Growing Practices
10:45AM - 12:15PM
Presenters: Julie Schaer - The Potager Farm a Certified Organic Farm
Session Title: Black Gold: The Science and Art of Composting for Organic Producer
Beneath the surface of every thriving farm is a story being written in the dark, by billions of bacteria, fungi, worms, and microorganisms doing the quiet, unglamorous, absolutely essential work of turning waste into gold. Composting is the oldest and most powerful soil-building tool available to organic and regenerative producers, and yet most farmers are only scratching the surface of what their compost pile is actually capable of. Julie Schaer is here to change that. In this session, Julie will walk you through how composting really works from the inside out, covering the science of carbon to nitrogen ratios, the role of temperature in killing pathogens and weed seeds, and the difference between aerobic and anaerobic decomposition and why it matters for your finished product. You'll learn to read your pile the way an experienced composter does, recognizing the signs that tell you when it needs more air, more moisture, more brown material, or more time. Julie will also dig into some of the more innovative approaches to composting gaining traction in organic and regenerative systems, including vermicomposting, Korean natural farming inputs, compost teas, and inoculated compost techniques that supercharge microbial activity in your soil. Whether you're managing a backyard pile or building compost at farm scale, you'll leave this session with a whole new appreciation for what your waste stream is actually worth.
TRACK: Outdoor Workshop/Field Trip
10:45AM - 12:15PM
Presenters: Dr. Peter Villa
Session Title: Fish Meet Plants: A Guided Tour of Shepherd University's Aquaponics Facility
What happens when fish and plants team up to grow food together? The answer is inside Shepherd University's aquaponics facility, and Dr. Peter Villa, the man who designed the whole system, is ready to show you exactly how it works. Aquaponics combines aquaculture and hydroponics into one elegant, closed-loop system where fish waste feeds the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish. It is efficient, it is fascinating, and in the hands of someone who built one from the ground up, it is genuinely eye-opening. Dr. Villa will walk you through the design and mechanics of the system, share the science behind why it works, and give you a real look at what it takes to manage a functioning aquaponics operation. This is the kind of tour that sticks with you.
Because this experience is intentionally small and intimate, space is extremely limited. Tours will run in two groups of 12 participants for 45 minutes each. Spots are first come, first serve and must be claimed in person at the registration table when you check in at the start of the conference. If this one is on your radar, don't wait.
TRACK: Marketing and Aggregation/Distribution
2:00PM - 3:30PM
Presenters: Heather Salmon, VA-Fairs
Session Title: From Good Idea to Great Business: Strategic Planning for Farm Income
You have a great product. But do you have a plan? There is a significant difference between a farm that makes something valuable and a farm that has strategically built value-added income into the way it operates. Heather Salmon of VA FAIRS, the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation and Rural Sustainability, has spent years helping farmers bridge that gap. VA FAIRS has helped producers across the region access millions of dollars in grant funding, develop business plans that actually work, and build value-added enterprises that keep families on their farms for generations. In this session, Heather will walk you through the strategic planning process for developing or expanding value-added products on your farm, how to assess what is realistic for your operation, how to build a roadmap that connects your raw product to a finished one that commands a real premium, and what funding opportunities might be available to help you get there. Whether you have a product idea you've been sitting on or you're already selling value-added goods and ready to grow, this session will give you the framework to stop thinking about it and start building it.
TRACK: Growing Practices
2:00PM - 3:30PM
Presenters: Tim Showalter Ehst - Second Mountain Farm a Certified Organic Farm
Session Title: Small Land, Big Yield: How to Generate $200,000 on 2/3 of an Acre
Two thirds of an acre. Read that again. Not twenty acres, not two hundred. Two thirds of one acre, and Organic farmer, Tim Showalter, is generating two hundred thousand dollars from it. If that number stopped you in your tracks, good. That was the point. Because one of the biggest lies in agriculture is that you need more land to make more money, and Tim is living proof that the opposite can be true. Using proven organic farming techniques refined over years of working a small Virginia farm, Tim has built a production system that is efficient, intentional, and genuinely remarkable in what it squeezes out of every square foot of ground. In this session, he'll break down exactly how he does it. From crop selection and intensive planting strategies to the soil health practices that make high-volume production possible on a small footprint, Tim is bringing the real numbers and the real methods to the table. If you've ever looked at your land and thought it wasn't enough, this session was made for you.
TRACK: Outdoor Workshop/Field Trip
2:00PM - 3:30PM
Presenters: Amirah Mitchell - Sistah Seeds
Session Title: Saving Seeds, Saving Cultures: Hands on Workshop
Seeds are not just seeds. They are history. They are identity. They are the accumulated wisdom of generations of farmers, gardeners, and communities who knew that the power to feed yourself begins with the power to grow your own food from your own seed. Amirah Mitchell of Sistah Seeds understands this better than most, and in this session, she is bringing that mission straight to you. Sistah Seeds exists to regenerate the seeds that produce the food that preserves heritage, builds resilient communities, and creates a lasting agricultural foundation for the generations coming up behind us. Amirah will walk you through the practical skills of seed production and processing, giving you the hands-on knowledge you need to start saving seed on your own farm or in your own community. But this session is about more than technique. It is about understanding why seed saving matters, who it matters for, and what we stand to lose if we stop doing it. Come ready to be inspired, informed, and sent home with a whole new relationship to the seeds in your hands.