Can't make it for the entire conference? 

You can still participate in the Thursday workshops and farm tours below.  

<<< Click here to register  >>>

Join one of Texas’ most sought-after permaculture teachers, Kirby Fry, for a workshop and farm tour! For over 25 years Kirby has been teaching permaculture design, leading a wide variety of permaculture installations, and managing sustainable building projects. Join TOFGA for this special opportunity to learn from a true leader in the permaculture realm! We will be touring a site that was designed and implemented over the past year near Leander.  The address is 9 Windemere E Leander TX 78641.  It is about 15-20 minutes driving from the conference location in Georgetown. Please register through the website ahead of time, or you can meet us there and pay on-site to enjoy the workshop.

Preparing for and Accessing Credit for your Farm - FREE, 9am - 12pm 

Credit is an important, but often dangerous tool for farmers to manage. Many farmers never have the opportunity to talk with a banker without a loan application on the table. This interactive workshop will feature role plays and discussion, covering how to communicate with your banker, including:

• Getting off on the right foot - how to develop a relationship with your banker.
• How to think like a banker - how the banker will evaluate your application, and the critical numbers they are looking for.
• The important ratios to understand and be able to communicate
• Avoiding cross-communication; how to give your banker the information they are asking for.
• The elements of a successful pitch - making the case for your loan, with the opportunity to practice your pitch with feedback from bankers.
• What goes wrong - the mistakes that bankers see farmers make that can cost them their farms.

For beginning and experienced farmers alike, this is a rare opportunity to talk with experts in farm lending outside the pressure of an application, and a rare view into the other side of the table. Come ready to participate.

Presenters: Scott Marlow, RAFI-USA and Gary Matteson, Farm Credit Council

Belle Vie Farm Tour - $15, 1 - 3 pm 

Join Aubrey and Perrine for a tour of their pastured pork and duck operation. Walk the pastures to see the benefits of rotation of poultry and pigs first hand, and learn about how they’re supplementing their animal feed by sourcing organic grain directly from growers and milling on-site to more economically feed 100% organic. There’s also a small commercial kitchen for value-added products for farmers market sales. Join TOFGA as we visit this beautiful and economical family farm operation in Thrall, TX, just 50 minutes east of Georgetown.

Please register through the website ahead of time, or you can meet us at the farm and pay on-site to enjoy the farm tour.

Here are directions to the farm, as it can be a little tricky to find: The address is 4200 CR 481, Thrall, TX 76578. Please Google Map this, but do know that it will often tell you to take a small dirt road just before you get to the Belle Vie called CR 312 or Aidina Church Rd. Do not take this road. Proceed further down CR 481 and you will see a red gate on the right hand side.

Dynamic Marketing with Keynote Speaker Michael Ableman - $30, 1pm - 4 pm

Join TOFGA’s 2018 Banquet Keynote Speaker for an engaging workshop and discussion!  Find out how to get the best return on your farm products while educating, entertaining, and creating lasting relationships.  Join this workshop to ignite, refresh, and re-inspireyour engagement in wholesale, retail, and restaurant sales. For veterans and beginners alike.

Upping Your Record Keeping Game - $25, 1:30p - 4:30p 

We all know record keeping is not very exciting. But, records can be critical to improving the bottom line of the farm, making decisions, and building a viable farming operation. The workshop will include:

• Farm goals and how they relate to record keeping needs
• Records needed for compliance Whole Farm Revenue Protection, FSMA food safety “qualified exempt" compliance, and organic certification
• Using records to make good decisions on your farm

Presenter: Susie Marshall, TOFGA and GROW North Texas.

Produce Safety Workshop - $15, 8:30am - 5pm

New regulations are making it imperative that good food safety practices become a part of farmers daily lives. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) brings additional responsibilities to most fruit and vegetable growers. This course will provide the information needed to help growers navigate the new FSMA Produce Rule regulations. Participants completing the entire 7 module course and documentation will receive a certificate from the Association of Food and Drug Officials. Take-home material will include a Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training resource manual. Instructors Coleen Thornton and Ravi Jadeja are trained by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance and qualified to instruct the FDA-recognized training. Coleen is a farmer and food safety consultant of Heaven Sent Food and Fiber with over 300 hours of farm audits. Ravi is an Assistant Professor and Food Safety Specialist at Oklahoma State University with 11 years of food safety training and consulting. This workshop is based upon work that is supported and made possible by a grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-70020-25787.