Sunday, July 1, 2012
Noon to 4 p.m.
Radical Root Farm at Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, Illinois 
Free
Register here                 

Click to download flyer for back-to-back events at Radical Root Farm.

Radical Root farmers Alex Needham and Alison Parker host this Organic Field Day about the benefits of "growing" your vegetable operation. The growing demand for fresh organic produce makes this the perfect time to expand! Wholesale distributors, retail stores, restaurants, farmers markets and CSAs provide excellent opportunities for market growers. Increasing the diversity of your markets improves the economic stability of your farm by increasing the outlets for your production.Then if it rains on a farmers market day, you still have your three retail stores that will buy your abundant cucumbers.

Expanding your vegetable production begins with planning for succession planting that includes a soil-building crop rotation. Choosing crops that grow well on your soil type as well as fit in with your infrastructure and labor capabilities will provide you with a more favorable economic return.

Harriet Behar, MOSES Organic Specialist, will give a short presentation about selling to wholesale accounts.Alex and Alison will lead a tour of the fields, review their equipment and provide tips for larger scale production. In the past four years, they have been slowly increasing the size of their operation and will share how they are approaching the challenge of "scaling up." Alison will discuss her fledgling, value-added herbal product business.

Radical Root Farm at Prairie Crossing is the site of an all-day workshop the day before this event. See Beginning Market Farming for details on that event.

Directions to Scaling Up Your Vegetable Operation Field Day

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