Become a Pollinator! Guide to On-Farm Plant Breeding and Seed Saving

Speakers: Lucas Nebert, OSU Organic Agriculture Program; Jim Myers Oregon State University; Brigid Meints, OSU Organic Agriculture Program; Todd Anderson, OSU Organic Agriculture Program; Andrew Still, Adaptive Seeds; Crosbie Walsh, Gathering Together Farm; Emma Landgraver, OSU Vegetable Breeding Program; Caleb Hale, OSU Organic Agriculture Program

Come learn from OSU and farmer plant breeders about on-farm plant breeding and seed saving! This session will cover the basics of pollination biology of diverse crops and tips & tricks for breeding and saving seeds on your farm. There will be hand-pollination demonstrations for a variety of vegetables, legumes, small grains, and perennial fruits. Afterwards, you will have the chance to try your own hand-pollinations on a variety of plant species.

Credit and Insurance Available for Small Farms

Speakers: Kira Sabin, Farm Service Agency; George Harris, AgWest; Kelly Kapple, Country Financial; Nick Davidson, AgWest

This session will help small farmers understand the availability of lending and insurance opportunities that are available for them.

Economics of pastured poultry and how to achieve profitability

Speakers: Mike Guebert, Program Director Oregon Pasture Network; Steve Knox, Fog Hollow Farm

Do you know how to set your prices for your pastured poultry products to make sure you pay yourself and make a profit? If you are just guessing, or setting your prices based on what others charge, there is a good chance that you are losing money with every sale. In this session, you will learn how to use two new tools that will allow you to input your actual costs, and which will then calculate the price you need to charge – no guessing required! You will also get tips on how to reduce those costs and streamline your operations. Mike Guebert is the Program Director for the Oregon Pasture Network and has raised poultry on his own farm in Corbett for over 20 years
Steve Knox has owned and operated Fog Hollow Farm in Walton since 2017, where he raises over 6000 chickens and ducks per year for both meat and eggs.

Hands-On with Soil Moisture Sensors. Build, Learn, and Integrate: A Practical Workshop for Experienced Farmers

Speakers: Teagan Moran, Heidi Noordijk & Evie Smith all of the Oregon State University Extension Service Small Farms Program

Space is limited to 24 registrants. There is an additional charge of $50 for this session.
Each participant will receive $400 worth of equipment to take home, including: 4 Watermark soil moisture sensors, 1 hand-held digital reader, and all supplies needed to assemble the sensors for installation. This session is designed for producers who are ready to move from curiosity to implementation and will benefit from hands-on experience with soil moisture monitoring tools.
Ready to take the next step in soil moisture monitoring? This hands-on session is designed for producers with 3+ years of farming experience who are ready to integrate soil moisture tension sensors into their management systems. In this session participants will assemble their own sensors, learn how they work, and explore practical strategies for incorporating them into diverse farm workflows. From irrigation timing to drought resilience, this session will help you understand how to use sensor data to make informed water-related decisions on your farm. Thanks to Irrometer Company, Inc. for their generous sponsorship of this workshop.
Session Highlights:
● Guided sensor assembly (materials provided – you get to take home a kit with four sensors and a digital reader)
● Overview of sensor function and placement
● Introduction to water management decision making using sensors
● Troubleshooting tips and workflow examples

Leasing or Purchasing Land: What is Right for your Farm Business?

Speakers: Natalie Danielson, Co-Executive Director, Friends of Family Farmers; Riley Avery, Farm Viability Lead, Friends of Family Farmers; Silvia Cuesta, Farmland Navigator, Friends of Family Farmers

In this session, Friends of Family Farmers is taking a deep dive into leasing vs purchasing farmland to help farmers identify the best path for their farm business today. Owning farmland has long been painted as the American ideal, one that many are not in the position to realize, or at least not at first. This doesn’t mean you need to abandon or delay your farming dreams! Most farmers lease land at some point, or even throughout their careers. We will guide participants through the pros and cons of leasing vs purchasing and how to make the right decision for your farm business. We will review resources for determining land needs, financial realities, the land search, due diligence, and contract or agreement building. We will also examine farm business scenarios to get a better sense of the business and personal decisions that should be taken into consideration. Farmers and aspiring farmers will leave with a better understanding of the ins and outs of leasing vs purchasing as well as resources and tools to help them navigate their land access decisions. 

Season Extension Basics

Speakers: Korrie and Robert Hooper operate Farm For Our Lives on the bank of the Alsea River; Shannon Rauter, Oregon State University Small Farms Program

Extending the growing season with high tunnels and low tunnels is a great way to generate extra farm income but can come with a steep learning curve. Join Rob and Korrie Hooper of Farm For Our Lives and Shannon Rauter of OSU Extension to discuss tunnel design considerations, temperature management, and best practices for incorporating high and low tunnels into diversified vegetable and cut flower farms.

Selling to Schools: Avoid Common Roadblocks

Speakers: Abigail Blinn, Regional Food Sales Lead, Kitchen Sync Strategies; Amy Gilroy, Trade Development Manager, Oregon Department of Agriculture; Kayla Koether, Director of Regional Growth, Kitchen Sync Strategies

Have you tried to sell your products to a school, but hit roadblocks? Come learn how to approach school buyers and successfully start (and grow) sales with schools and other institutions. This session will help you see sales from the customer’s perspective, understand their needs and evaluate when a school might be a good fit for your farm. We’ll start with an overview of school sales for those new to the market and then dive into advanced content for folks with more experience in Farm to School or wholesale. We’ll cover practical how-tos: What should you know about a school lead before initiating a sales call? What questions should you ask them? What information should you prepare to share about your logistics and food business? And crucially, how will you communicate your product availability? In answering these questions, we’ll help you understand the sales systems and processes you can adopt to better serve school customers, touching on their relevance for other institutions as well. Finally, we’ll share how to craft a school pitch that factors in state incentives for local food purchases to help you close the deal. 

So, you bought an orchard?

Speaker: Todd Anderson, OSU Organic Agriculture Program

A deep dive into the steps to design an organic orchard from scratch or rehabilitate an existing planting This 60-minute session will introduce the essential steps for restoring or establishing an organic orchard for small-farm and market-scale operations. We will cover key considerations in site selection, site preparation, and the evaluation of whether to retain or remove existing trees. The session will also focus on foundational strategies for organic, nutrient, pest, and disease management, as well as species and cultivar selection. In addition, we will explore how intercropping, agroforestry practices, and livestock integration can be incorporated into orchard systems to enhance productivity and ecological resilience. Time will be reserved for discussion and interaction with both the speaker and fellow participants. 

Tools for Collaborative Farming

Speaker: Dan Brisebois, Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm & the Seed Farmer Podcast

Do you farm with other people? Whether as partners, co-farmers, or employees? How can you balance running an efficient & effective productive farm while letting people think independently and creatively? Dan will share 20 years of experience farming in a worker co-op and the key tools to make it easier to farm in collaboration with other people.

Wildfire Resilience for Small Farms

Speakers: Katie MacKendrick, Ecologist and Fire Practitioner, Co-coordinator, South Willamette Prescribed/Peoples Burn Association, and Owner/Operator, Fritillaria Botanicals LLC; Noah Marquis: Striving Steward, Trees to Soil LLC, Co-sustainer, North Valley PBA, Ingrid’s willing accomplice, Dilley Commons; Jen Warren, Statewide Program Coordinator for the Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Unit, Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM); Tao Orion, OSU Horticulture

Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day fires burned over a million acres across the state. In 2024, 1.8 million acres burned in Eastern Oregon alone. Understandably, wildfire risk weighs on a lot of minds. During this panel discussion we’ll hear from fire ecologists and prescribed burn coordinators, from community organizers and statewide risk reduction program managers, some of whom also farm. They will highlight mitigation strategies and provide historical and ecological context for fire, healthy fire, on the landscape. We’ll also share resources for technical support, financial assistance, and recovery, and close with Q&A.

Pricing Info For 2026

• Registration $85 per person until Feb. 3rd
• After Feb. 3rd $100 per person
• At the door registration may NOT be available due to venue capacity.