Scaling Up Your Farm for Wholesale Success

Tuesday, December 4, 2018
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Historical Society of Cheshire County
246 Main Street, Keene
Dinner will be served - FREE
Register now!

Andy Pressman and Daniel Prial of NCAT/ATTRA and Nada Haddad of UNH Extension have teamed up to offer this free, hands-on workshop focused on the issues related to "scaling up" a farm business.

This workshop explores the opportunities and challenges of selling into 'intermediated markets' such as grocery stores, restaurants, food hubs, as well as schools, universities, hospitals, and other institutions. 

The workshop will begin with brief introductions followed by a chance to explore what it means to be selling to restaurants, food hubs, local groceries/coops and institutions. Workshop leaders will deliver short presentations about what it means to sell into these markets and present growers with the resources needed to be successful.  A free dinner will be served between the workshops. 

Presentation topics include:

• Scaling up, Food Safety, GAP, lower price/unit but greater volume

• Benefits of intermediated Markets

• Challenges: storage, facility, infrastructure, grading, quality, insurance, GAP, compliance, zoning, local regulations

• NCAT will present results of a nation-wide survey of producers and buyers
  

Panelists:

• Richard Berkfield, Food Connects

• Jeanny Aldrich, SODEXHO

• Craig Thompson, Mayfair Farm

• Emily Schwerin-Whyte, WS Badger
  
  

NCAT is planning to broadcast the workshop through Facebook Live if you cannot attend the event.

REGISTER NOW!

Monadnock Farm Tour

Farmers are opening their barns, coops, hoop houses, and pastures to foster a better understanding of their day-to-day lives working to bring food to our tables. 

NEW THIS YEAR -- farm fresh sandwiches, salads, gelato, turnovers, pies, cookies & more...Monadnock farmers offer farm made lunch and goodies for all to purchase! 

• Branch & Blade Popup Beer Garden

• Hay wagon rides

• Pig training demos

• Farm & Hoop House tours

• Draft horses, alpacas, calves, miniature horses, bantam chickens, goats, sheep & pigs

• Fruit ale tasting at Granite Roots Brewing

• Pudding plant tours at Echo Farm

• Alpaca fiber-making demos & clothing

• & More

The goal of the Monadnock Farm Tour is to provide rich experiences that are educational and fun for consumers while infusing much needed income into the pockets of local farmers. 

PARTICIPATING FARMS:

• Alyson's Orchard(Westmoreland) -- BBQ from Kirbys Q, sandwiches, snacks, wagon rides, & PYO fruit

• Archway Farm(Keene) -- Branch & Blade Beer Garden & farm sausages!

• Crescendo Acres(Surry) -- Alpaca fiber-making demos & products, alpacas, mini-horses, chickens & more

• Draft Gratitude(Winchester) -- Meet rescued draft horses!

• Earth Haven Farm(Marlborough) -- Horse drawn hayrides, handspinning demos, farm oil paintings, beefalo

• Echo Farm Pudding (Hinsdale) -- Tour pudding plant & free samples

• Foggy Hill Farm(Jaffrey) -- Crooked Creek Hollow sausages & farm veggies! Cut flowers, eggs, honey & more

• Granite Roots Brewing(Troy) -- Monadnock Berries' fruit-infused ale taste-testing!

• Inn at East Hill Farm(Troy) -- Face painting, pony rides, arts & crafts, animals & more

• Inn at Valley Farms (Walpole) -- On-going organic & no till gardening Q & A. Homemade cookies!

• Monadnock Agricultural Center(Marlborough) -- Tours on the hour of community of independent farm operations on Maple Homestead Farm.

• Old Ciderpress Farm(Westmoreland) -- 74 varieties of PYO apples! 1870 cider press, farm made pies, turnovers & more

• Phoenix Farm(Troy) -- Pig training demos, BBQ chicken & pork & more!

• Stonewall Farm(Keene) -- Cow milking, gelato tasting, yogurt, cheese & more!

• Sun Moon Farm(Rindge) -- Sandwiches made with farm baked bread and produce, salad, fresh cut flowers & more

• Tracies Community Farm(Fitzwilliam) -- Farm Tours on the hour, produce, ice cream, honey & more!

• Walpole Valley Farms(Walpole) -- Farm tours: 11am & 2pm only. Lunch at Farm to Table restaurant, The Hungry Diner.

• Windyhurst (Stuart & Johns, Westmoreland) --Lunch at Sugarhouse, ice cream maple syrup, candy, sugar and spread!
  

PUT ON A HAT, BUG DOPE & JOIN US!

Cost for the Monadnock Farm Tour is $5/individual or $10/car.  Buttons can be purchased at farmsduring Farm Tour hours only and will get you into all farms on tour.  All proceeds go to pay for next year’s Monadnock Farm Tour. 

Download map/brochure! 
Download flyer! 
Download biking route!

CHILDREN'S FARM TOUR ACTIVITIES:

• Visit with alpacas, trained pigs, miniature and draft horses, bantam chickens, goats, calves, and sheep

• Milk cows, collect eggs, make cider

• Numerous scavenger hunts

• Make it & take it crafts

• PYO flowers, berries, apples

• Collect 3 farm stamps and turn in passport for a FREE kiddie cone from Walpole Creamery!

FARM TOUR RULES:

• No Pets Allowed

• No Visiting Farms After Hours (unless specified)

• No Entering Farm Homes

TIPS FOR TAKING THE TOUR!

• Bring a cooler! You'll be able to buy produce, eggs, cheese, meat and other farm products at most of the farms

• Plan on visiting 3 to 4 farms, budgeting 1 hour for each

• Use Yer Head and Yer Foot! Please take time to use the hand sanitizer provided at each farm after petting an animal. Some farms may ask you to disinfect your shoes to prevent farm-to-farm transmission of germs that might stick to your shoes

• Bring sunscreen, hats, bug dope, water and cash!

Put your money where your mouth is and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMER! 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS - Gem Graphics, Walpole Creamery and the Cheshire County Conservation District. The Monadnock Farm Tour is paid for in part by a grant from the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food.

The Monadnock Farm Tour is organized by MFCC and the Monadnock Travel Council. 
 

EVENTS AROUND THE
MONADNOCK REGION, AUGUST 24 - 26, 2018

Friday, August 24, 2018
Borromeo Quartet- Peterborough Town House, 7:30pm

Saturday, August 25, 2018
Monadnock Farm Tour! 11am - 4pm, farms throughout the region

Sunday, August 26, 2018

• Monadnock Lyceum presents award-winning author, Kate Braestrup. "Stories of Motherhood and Ministry", 11am - 12pm, Peterborough.

• "Abenaki at the Trading Post" Fort No. 4 -- an open air, independent, museum, 10am - 4pm, Charlestown

Feast on This! Film Festival

November 8 - 10, 2018
Venues throughout the Monadnock Region
 

Community Discussion with Shawn Jasper, Commissioner of Agriculture, Markets & Food

Sierra Hubbard, a Keene Sentinel reporter, captured the concerns of local farmers in their conversation with our newly appointed NH Commissioner of Agriculture, Shawn Jasper, in our second 2018 quarterly forum. 
Read the article here. 

Shawn jasper, NH Commissioner of agriculture addresses concerns of local farmers. Pictured righ to left (Commissioner Jasper, Jack Rixey of TRACies community farm, Beth Hodge of echo farm puddings and bruce wooster of picadilly farm.