Michigan Family Farms Conference continues to grow!

January 24, 2008: “New Times, New Opportunities” was more than just a conference theme on January 19 when as nearly 400 participants from all across Michigan, and even as far as Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, flocked to Battle Creek for the at the 2008 Michigan Family Farms Conference.

“This is the biggest conference we’ve ever had,” said Scott Corrin, who is the MIFFS programs administrator and serves on the event’s planning committee. “It just keeps getting bigger and better each year, and it’s exciting for us to see that growth.”

Last year’s conference, also at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, attracted around 220 participants. This year, both conference participant numbers and diversity boomed as the conference, which was created to serve multicultural and limited-resource farmers, celebrated its five year anniversary.

The conference focused on more than just keeping family farms in business. Sessions organized into six tracks – alternative energy, marketing, production, management, Spanish-speaking and grant-writing – helped farmers address nearly every issue one might face in today’s world of agriculture, from rising energy prices to marketing opportunities to conservation and business plans.

Each session offered unique perspectives on topics across the board, led by experienced individual or panels representing arms, agencies and organizations from all around the state. These individuals, the experts in their fields, had a wealth of information to offer and were accompanied by a “farmer’s experience” individual who knew the ins and outs of each topic, who was working and living it. Together, these people offered a unique and comprehensive mix of technical, practical and hands-on experience and information.

There to share his own experiences was keynote speaker David Kline, an Amish farmer from eastern Ohio who, in addition to successfully managing his family farm, is a bishop, naturalist, writer and the editor of Farming Magazine. He has also authored “Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer’s Journal” and “Scratching the Woodchuck: Nature on an Amish Farm.”

“Without good food, there is no good life,” said Kline as he reminded participants that everyone is connected to agriculture. He stressed that sustainability, land stewardship and community support are vital to producing good food and that farming is more than a job or a hobby – it is a livelihood. To keep that legacy alive, he stressed that we must romance today’s youth into agriculture to keep it alive, vibrant and growing.

Addressing these tough topics and inspiring farmers to keep growing has been the main focus of the conference for five years now. The Farm Research Cooperative and the USDA Risk Management Agency have partnered each year to make this conference happen, bringing together a diverse group of farmers, experts and resources to make sustainable, profitable agriculture a reality for farmers of all ages, ethnicities and production practices.

Other partners and sponsors for the event included Michigan Food & Farming Systems (MIFFS), the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency, National Agricultural Statistics Service (Michigan office), the Potawatomi Resource, Conservation and Development Council, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture, Cornerstone Ag, the Eastern Market Corporation and the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm, who donated fresh, local and organic salad greens for the conference lunch.

If you weren’t able to make it to the conference, or were there and wished you could take home all of the resources, check out the session presentations, which are posted for viewing and downloading. For more information on the conference, contact (517) 432-0712 or miffs@msu.edu.

Check out session presentations...

Check out the brochure!

See the Save the Date card...

See the Conference Flyer...

Read about previous years...