Weekly Events & Opportunities in Sustainable Farming & Foods

Introduction to Enterprise Analysis

December 16th. 11:30am Central. Take a look at how to isolate your income and expense records to analyze the different enterprises you operate. Learn how to determine which enterprises are making or losing money. https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2009421&password=M.6F6B15E4CB7C3A84CB5ABB5B38FE2C

Critical Economic Decisions when Raising Heifers

December 16th. 12pm Central. Jason Karszes will discuss some key items every dairy farmer should consider in heifer raising. He will cover the costs involved, factors that influence those costs, the economic impact of the replacement program on the dairy farm's performance, and several other factors to consider in a replacement program. https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/dairexnetwebinar/

Farm Rental Rates: Setting Them and Paying Them

December 16th. 12:30pm Central. Learn about the different ways to set rental rates for your own property or to evaluate the rates that are offered to you as a tenant. We can’t get into the details of each negotiation but we can at least learn about the basic methods that can be used when setting rates or paying them. https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2009421&password=M.80D1A5C43B7CD5980466E241ED810F

Landlord/Tenant Lease Workshop

December 16,  Norfolk. December 17, Oshkosh. See http://bit.ly/1bJwrqn for more info.

Health Concerns for the Overweight Horse

December 17. 6pm Central. This webcast will discuss health concerns for both under and overweight horses, with an emphasis on the overweight horse. Most horse owners understand the potential issues with horses being too thin, but may not be aware of the issues associated with the other extreme. Following this session, horse owners will be able to assess if their horse is over or underweight, and have strategies to manage their overweight horses. http://www.myhorseuniversity.com/resources/webcasts/overweighthorse

Community Supported Agriculture Legal Issues Webinar

December 17. Farm Commons is hosting a series of eight webinars over the Winter of 2013-2014 that will help farmers resolve the most common legal concerns. This evening webinar will discuss the unique employment law, insurance, zoning, and volunteer worker legal issues encountered through CSA. Farmers will learn how address these concerns. http://farmcommons.org/webinars/

Connecting Sustainable Farmers to Emerging Health Care Markets – A Farmer-Focused Presentation

December 17th. 1:30pm. Hospitals and hospital systems represent a sizable potential market for sustainable farmers, and interest in increasing purchases of local, sustainably produced food among hospitals and hospital systems is growing. However, limited hospital resources and the complexity of food purchase contracts and agreements at many hospitals have prevented farmers from accessing this market in any significant way to date. To assess the current and potential health care food markets for North Central region sustainable farmers, IATP compiled and analyzed purchasing data from three participating health system collaborators for all food and beverage purchases, including those that meet sustainability criteria outlined in the Green Guide for Health Care. https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/249036730

Legal & Financial Clinic

December 17th, Valentine. December 18th, Norfolk. December 19th, Lexington. Call the Farm Hotline at 800-464-0258 to sign up.

Marketing for Profit: Tools for Success

December 17 or 18. Online. Farmers' Market Federation of New York is offering a series of free webinars for direct marketing farmers. Each webinar is offered twice. The topic for this session is "You Are What They Think You Are! Selling the Product," with Dave Bellso, President of DesignWorks Advertising. http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/work-shop-programs/webinars/registration.html

Do Cover Crops Help Your “Bottom-Line”?

Wednesday, December 18th. Nebraska City. See more meeting and contact info at bit.ly/1fJc4ze.

Solar Webinar

December 18. The Farm Energy Working Group at the University of Northern Iowa is presenting a free webinar on solar power in Iowa.http://www.uni.edu/ceee/energy/farm-energy-working-group/farm-energy-working-group

Sweet Onions--Cultural Practices and Brand Marketing

December 18th. 1pm Central.  Penn State and Cornell University have teamed up to present a series of webinars on critical production issues. This series provides timely updates in commercial and small fruit production for commercial growers, extension educators, and industry representatives in Pennsylvania, New York, and surrounding states. $10 per webinar or $35 for entire series; includes access to handouts and webinar recordings. In the first session, extension educators Christy Hoepting (Cornell) and Lee Stivers (Penn State) will cover variety selection, planting, soil and water management, harvesting and curing of sweet Spanish onions. We will also explore aspects of branding sweet onions as a marketing tool. http://extension.psu.edu/vegetable-fruit/winter-webinars 

Molecular Mechanisms of Disease - Works in Progress Seminar Series

December 19th. 4pm. Amita Daverey (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Postdoctoral Associate w/Sri Kidambi lab) and Bao Hu (Chemistry Postdoctoral Associate w/Steve DiMagno lab) will present. Whittier Building in Lincoln on the UNL City Campus. Room: 136. Open to public. Contact: Melanie Simpson, 402-472-9309, msimpson2@unl.edu

Upcoming

Great Plains Growers Conference & Trade Show

January 9-11. St. Joseph, Missouri. The Great Plains Growers Conference is made possible by six land grant universities and Extension services from the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. This event includes a keynote address by conservation tillage pioneer Steve Groff. There will be pre-conference, all-day workshops on beekeeping, high tunnels, tree fruit, soils, and farm to school.http://www.greatplainsgrowers.org/

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!