Past But Not Over – Nourishing the Future: Tilth Producers of WA Annual Conference

(Photo credit: Tilth Producers of WA)

Alternating between the eastern side of the Cascades and the west, Tilth Producers of Washington held its 2013 Annual Conference in Yakima. Every year, the conference is preceded by a Washington State University symposium.

This year the WSU Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Livestock and Poultry Production covered details on “feeds and breeds,” managing pastured poultry, raising small ruminants, and processing and marketing of small livestock.

The Symposium also featured Crown S Ranch‘s co-owners, Louis Sukovaty and Jennifer Argraves, for a discussion on how to improve cropland fertility and yield by including livestock – pastured pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens and turkeys – within a crop rotation. And Jennifer and Louis told their “Story of Grass” about feeding and finishing cattle on pasture.

Jennifer Argraves and Louis Sukovarty, Crown S Ranch
(Photo credit: Tilth Producers of WA)

Take a tour of Crown S Ranch here.

(Photo credit: Tilth Producers of WA)

Not a conference confined to the indoors, about 65 people participated in a tour of farms with tunnel greenhouses led by Kyle Craig, WSU researcher, and Jeremy Cowan, WSU Extension Regional Specialist. The three host farms were: Bella Terra Gardens near Zillah, Alvarez Organic Produce near Mabton, and Heavenly Hills Harvest near Sunnyside.

David Mas Masumoto and his daughter, Nikiko, gave the keynote address at the 2013 Tilth Producers Conference where they shared lessons learned over four generations at Masumoto Family Farm in California.

Attendees could select from dozens of workshops including – but not limited to:

  • Weed Management in Vegetable Production
  • Growing Seeds: Strategies and Regulations
  • What’s Bugging Your Farm?
  • Reduced-till Cover Cropping for Weed Management
  • Mentorship Strategies
  • On-line Marketing
  • Crop Planning Using Spreadsheets
  • Value-added Products From a Commercial Kitchen
  • Food Safety Compliance and Communication
  • Food and Farming Policy Briefing
  • Renewable Energy on the Farm
  • Market Psychology

Audio from the keynotes and many of the conference sessions is be available here.

More Reading and Resources

Missed the 2012 and 2011 Conferences? Attend them “virtually” here:

Tilth Producers of Washington: Growing Forward (2012)
WSU Symposium Organic Dryland Farming (2011)
Tilth Producers of Washington: Designing Resilient Farms for a Changing Planet (2011)

More about Crown S Ranch:

Engineering an Organic Farm
The Grazing Eco-System (Video)
Engineering an Organic Farm (Video)
Local, Direct, Sustainable, Organic – One Farmer’s Delivery Dilemma
Small Farmers Need Small Slaughterhouses

Attend the 2013 Conference “virtually” via Facebook:

Community Building at the Tilth Conference
David Mas & Nikiko Masumoto: Nourishing the Future
Tilth Conference High Tunnel Tour
Sustainable Small-Scale Livestock & Poultry Production

Published with input and photos from Tilth Producers of Washington.