Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers
Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers are looking to help new and small farmers succeed in 2020.
The Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association is offering a full slate of workshops to help new and small growers during this year’s annual conference.
CFVGA spokeswoman Marilyn Bay Drake says this is the second year the conference will feature a special small-farm track.
Bay Drake: A lot of times growers just getting into the business feel overwhelmed and their issues may be a little different or maybe the same issues but they look different for a beginning or small farmer than they might for an established farm. So we have 4 different workshops. It is an entire track throughout the 2 day conference that are going to deal with food safety plans, farm management practices, record keeping and also produce pricing strategies. A full agenda there for that conference.”
She says in addition Colorado small farmers are being offered a free membership in the CFVGA at the conference. The USDA’s definition of small farms are those that gross less than 250-thousand a year. The CFVGA classifies small farms in Colorado as those that gross 100-thousand dollars or less each year.
The 6th annual conference takes place February 24 and 25th in Denver.
Bay Drake says there will also be a full session on hemp, “the good the bad and the ugly” as they have seen a lot of growers who have potential to add hemp to their operations and have seen a lot of interest in hemp.