IAA Students Attend Maryland Small Farms Conference

January 17, 2014

Well before the sun rose on a November Saturday, IAA students along with faculty members Jason Entsminger (Agricultural Business Management) and Meredith Epstein (Sustainable Agriculture), embarked on an opportunity to engage in collaborative learning with small farmers from around the state.

Thanks to the generosity of the Small Farm Institute – a partnership between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the USDA Office of Advocacy and Outreach –  and support from University of Maryland Extension, the students and faculty were able to attend the 10th Annual Maryland Small Farms Conference.  Held on the campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, the conference offered participants three tracks of workshop sessions, a trade fair tailored to small farmers, a keynote address, and  networking opportunities.  The three tracks--New and Beginning Farmers, Alternative Agriculture, and Farm Business and Management--went hand-in-hand with IAA courses.

Throughout the workshops, the students saw concepts learned in their IAA classes applied in new and meaningful ways. “Speaker after speaker spoke to the importance of the relationships that can be made during direct sales, the fundamental (and often forgotten) need for a strong and evolving business plan with key performance indicators to evaluate efficiency of operations, and even specific issues such as the 4 Ps [of marketing],” said Heather Wheatley (Ornamental Horticulture and Agricultural Business Management), “many of the speakers spoke almost verbatim from lessons in our coursework [at the IAA].”

For the UMCP students, the conference highlighted the importance of their IAA studies and the value of an IAA certificate. They even heard IAA alum Ben Beale present on his work with the Beginning Farmer Success Program.

The conference also offered information that will help IAA students in their careers.  Joe Shaffer (Agricultural Business Management), who hopes to start his own bison farm, said he learned about technology that can help beginning farmers identify and research potential agricultural property on which to start a new enterprise. Gabe Gammill (Turfgrass Management), noted how, even though the conference was about agriculture, he came away with new knowledge about how he can price the services and products in his family’s artificial sports turf business more accurately.    

 “The conference provided information, inspiration, and affirmation for me that I am absolutely choosing the right way of life for my family, and that the future of agriculture is bright,” said Wheatley. Beyond the day’s official events, participating in the conference together did something more: students built professional bonds with each other.

Attending the conference were students Heather Wheatley (Ornamental Horticulture and Agricultural Business Management), Joe Schaffer (Agricultural Business Management), Nick Harmer (Ornamental Horticulture), Rose-Marie Daniere (Sustainable Agriculture), Jason Shams (Government and Politics), Chris Bernstein (Agricultural and Resource Economics), Alix Vanagt (Agronomy), and Gabriel Gammill (Turfgrass Management).