Food Webinars and Teleconferences- January 2015

Organic Field Crop Production & On-farm Breeding

Hosted by: The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14 FROM 3:00 PM TO 4:30 PM ET

This unique webinar will provide both technical, agronomic information regarding field crop production best practices and strategies, as well as an overview and results-to-date of our participatory plant breeding program. This webinar will benefit anyone interested in pursuing on-farmbreeding, as well as those looking to generally improve their field crop farming systems. We’ll hear from Anne Kirk (Participatory plant breeding project coordinator, University of Manitoba) and Dr. Martin Entz (Agronomy professor, University of Manitoba). The following topics will be covered: Crop rotations for organic crop production; Choosing the right green manure crop; Overview of the participatory plant breeding program; Results from an evaluation of farmer selected wheat populations.

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Character Capital: FarmWorks – Investing in farm businesses

Hosted by: Food Secure Canada and FarmStart

TUESDAY JANUARY 22 FROM 1:00 PM TO 2:00 PM ET

Part of the Webinar series on the New Farmers Initiative. FarmWorks Investment Co-operative is a Nova Scotian for-profit cooperative that allows community members to invest in local farm businesses. Linda Best will share her experience of how FarmWorks was established and how they finance new farmers. Christie Young of FarmStart will join us to help show the applicability of the FarmWorks model across Canada. This will be instructive for anyone interested in farm and social finance.

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Quality Assurance in Ecological Seed Production

Hosted by: The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security

WEDNESDAY JANURAY 28 FROM 4:00 PM TO 5:30 PM ET

Each seed a farmer purchases and plants is an investment in the harvest, on which their livelihood depends. Farmers need to know that their seed will be high quality, and reliable. This webinar will provide information on how to provide quality assurance. Presenters will speak to such topics as: Storage criteria, viability (including moisture content and germination tests), and seed vigour; Ethics and quality assurance. This is the last webinar in the 2014-2015 series from The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security. Not to be missed!

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Lessons Learned: Effective Internship and Apprenticeship Programs

Hosted by: Food Secure Canada and FarmStart

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5 FROM 1:00 PM TO 2:30 PM ET

This webinar is for everyone interested in how best to teach the next generation of farmers. Rachel Schell-Lambert from the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA)-NY, Jordan Marr from SOIL and David Alexander from Everdale, all established and respected programs, will share their experiences in this panel discussion. There are myriad issues involved in designing and running training programs that truly prepare students to run their own farm business. Among others, identification of demographic and learning style, selection of trainers and trainees, training methods, suitable location, relationship management and liability are key aspects to consider when constructing or implementing training, internship and apprenticeship programs.

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