By Lawrence Powell
Spectator
NovaNewsNow.com
From grapes to cheese and from mink to milk, a day-long farm forum set for Cornwallis on March 27 will have enough inspirational topics, speakers, and networking sessions to keep participants busy listening, learning, and thinking until the cows come home.
Changing Practices in a Changing World is an Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency mini conference that brings together farmers from a variety of fields and allows for inspirational ideas and innovations to rise to the top. The hope is to go home with renewed optimism and the tools to till up a prosperous agricultural future.
Organizer Terry Thibodeau said the conference was designed to inspire and inform local producers by featuring a wide variety of guest speakers from the agricultural industry.
The conference runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 27 at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre’s James Horsfell Hall in Cornwallis and starts with comments from Paul LaFleche, deputy minister of agriculture for Nova Scotia and immediately launches into a long list of speakers who have been there and done that.
The Itinerary:
-- 9:40 a.m. Welcome. Paul LaFleche, Deputy Minister, Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture. Introductory Remarks.
-- 9:50 a.m. Speaker: Richard Rand, Fox Hill Cheese, From Seed, to Grass, to Milk, to You
-- 10:20 a.m. Speaker: Robert Bourgeois, Verger Belliveau Orchard, Integrating an On-the-Farm Marketing Plan for Growth
-- 10:50 a.m. BREAK - NETWORKING
-- 11:10 a.m. Speaker: Jim Lamb, Meadow Meat Market, Staying Competitive in the Abattoir Business
-- 11:40 a.m. Speaker: Stanley Boudreau, Mink Farmer, The Transition from Hogs to Mink
-- 12:15 p.m. LUNCH -- NETWORKING
-- 1:15 p.m. Speaker: Karen and Brendan Enright, Annapolis Highland Vineyards, Attracting Visitors to a Rural Vineyard
-- 1:45 p.m. Speaker: Norbert Kungl, Selwood Green Farm, Organic farming & Keeping Farm Markets Happy
-- 2:15 p.m. BREAK - NETWORKING
-- 2:30 p.m. Speaker: Andrew Morine, Oak Lake Dairy Farm, From a Regular Day Job to Running a Farm
-- 3:00 p.m. Speaker: Gerald Post, Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture, Closing Remarks
Cost for the conference is $20 and includes meal and coffee.
To register: Space is limited and pre-registration is suggested. Simply email or call Terry Thibodeau at (902) 638-3490.
The conference is sponsored by the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency, Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, and Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development.
