2024- Blacksburg
2024 Details!
Blacksburg, April 19 and 20
Friday, April 19 (12:30 pm - 6:00 pm): Farm Business (Cottage Law, labeling regulations, marketing, and taxes)
$35 per participant
Saturday, April 20 (9 am - 3 pm): Three Tracks to Choose From
Value Added (food preservation, bee keeping, fermenting, beer, wine, and cider production)
Market Gardening (Produce safety, flower and vegetable production, and cover crops)
Agroforestry (alley cropping, silvopasture, mushrooms, and ramps)
$50 per participant
Want to attend both days? Registration fee is $75
Tentative Schedule: Friday, Agribusiness
Location: Sinkland Farms (3060 Riner Rd, Christiansburg, VA 24073)
12:30 Registration
1 pm: Welcome, Intro, Housekeeping
1:10: Cottage Laws, Regulations
2:30: Break
2:45: Best Practices for Insurance
3:15: What Lenders want to see for a loan application
3:45: Break
4:00: Marketing
5:30: Value Added Producer Grant Information
6 pm: Break for Dinner at Rising Silo Brewery
Tentative Schedule, Saturday: Value Added Track
8:30: Meet at Hotel/Load into Vans
9:00: Beliveau Winery Tour
10:30: Millstone Kitchen Tour
11:15: Basics of Beekeeping
12:15: Labeling and Packaging your Product
1:15: Producer Panel
2:20: Wine Lab
3:00: Wrap up and Head Home!
Tentative Schedule, Saturday: Market Gardening
8:30: Meet at the hotel (Holiday Inn and Suites, 1020 Plantation Rd, Blacksburg, VA 24060), carpool/caravan to Kentland Farms (5250 Whitethorne Rd, Blacksburg, VA 24060)
9:00-9:15: Welcome
9:15: Market Gardening Intro
9:45: Food Safety
10:15: Networking Break
10:30: Vegetable Production
11:15: Flower Production
12:00: Lunch
1:00: Pest Control
1:30: Soil Health/Cover Crops
2:00: Kentland/Homefield Farm Tour
Tentative Schedule, Saturday: Agroforestry
8:00: Meet at the hotel (Holiday Inn and Suites, 1020 Plantation Rd, Blacksburg, VA 24060), carpool/caravan to Catawba Center
8:30 Leave for Catawba Center
9:30: Introductions
9:40: Agroforestry at the VT Catawba Sustainability Center (Dr. John Munsell)- Overview of Agroforestry, CSC context and history, CSC demonstrations and new projects in the works
10:25: Agroforestry in Action (Stesha Warren, ASD): Forest farming overview, silvopasture overview, alley cropping overview and CSC demonstrations
11:15: Break
11:30: Stone Root Farm Agroforestry Case Example and Lessons Learned (Dana Beegle)
12:15: Lunch
1:00: VT Catawba Sustainability Center Field Tour
1:25: Silvopasture
1:45: Swale System
2:05: Riparian Buffers
2:25: Mushroom Production
2:45: Forest Farming Shade Structure
3:00 Optional Ramp Visit/Conclusion
Hotel Information
We have a room block set up at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Blacksburg. The cost is $139+tax per night. We currently have 20 rooms blocked off.
Once you put in the dates, it should give you the discounted rate option.
Virginia Cooperative Extension is a partnership of Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments. Its programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, military status, or any other basis protected by law.
If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services, or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact VCE-Greene at
434-985-5236/TDD* during business hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to discuss accommodations 5 days prior to the event. *TDD number is (800) 828-1120.