Tony McQuail of Meeting Place Organic Farm demonstrates his Snow Scoop. Pulled by two of the Meeting Place horses. Tony and Fran McQuail are well know in organic circles, not only for their farming but also for being Holistic Management practitioners and Certified Educators of Holistic Management International.

To Register for the Conference Workshops click HERE

Tony and Fran will be speaking at the conference on

FRIDAY
Seminar ‘D’ – Advanced
FINANCIAL VIABILITY OF SMALL-SCALE FARMING.

This excellent sustainability panel is back once again with the growers talking openly about income + how they retain more of the wealth they generate on the farm.  Last year this workshop room session was full. Feedback from the questionnaires gave high marks for valuable + authentic information, plus commenting on the diversity and quality of the farmer-panelists.  This was a well-run session with lots of time for questions and answers.

This year the panel is focusing on the following themes:

***Farm Objectives – find out why these farms have chosen to stay small and what their long term objectives are.

***Scale of Farms– details on what works with small-scale farms and what does not

***Farm Management – Each farm monitors and makes decisions differently… so find out how they do it and why good management is necessary for a farm to be successful.

If you are planning to operate, or if you currently operate, a small farm and are wondering if you can make money doing it – then this workshop will be invaluable to you. The panel is made up of farmers who have been doing agriculture on a small-scale for many years.  In some cases, their experience is in decades. The scale of farming ranges from 2 acres to 150 acres. These people have different ways of increasing sales and lowering costs – some are mechanized and others rely on little mechanization – this is your choice. Amongst the farms, there is also a mix of marketing practices including CSA (community shared agriculture), farmers markets and farm-gate sales. Learn what is common to each of these successful farms and what differs. Be part of the question answer period.  By participating in this 100-person intensive seminar, you can then consider what changes will improve your own small farm financial sustainability.  Not to be missed.

A continuation of 2011′s seminar, providing solutions to multiple challenges. Topics: management (bookkeeping, office operations, record keeping); scale of operation (managing diversity/complexity); land (rent/own); CSA; communicating with clients; marketing issues (small farm synergies). Four farms will share their successes while helping attendees with their own operations.

Presenters – some of the most experienced in the Ontario-Québec area: The New Farm (Brent Preston & Gillian Flies), Meeting Place Farm (Tony & Fran McQuail), TourneSol Farm (Daniel Brisebois), [NEW] Ann Slater organic farmer, ManoRun Farm (Chris Krucker).

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SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Organic Livestock Care & Management - Holistic Grazing Management – Tony McQuail

Holistic Grazing Management with Tony McQuail

Holistic Management Planned Grazing is a system for handling our land and forage to improve the soil, increase productivity and develop healthy plant and animal communities.

The instructor is a Holistic Management Certified Educator with experience pasturing beef cattle, work horses, dairy goats, sheep, pigs and poultry over a 35 year period.

If you seek an informative, late-afternoon workshop which will answer your pressing questions, this workshop is for you.

To Register for the Conference Workshops click HERE

Some workshops have been confirmed for the 2010 Conference.
Saturday:

Sunday:

For more information please go to the Schedules page.