The UMES 21st annual Small Farm Conference helped position farmers for success

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The 21st annual UMES Small Farm Conference was held on Friday, with the help of farmers, keynote speakers, and researchers.

UMES Small Farm Outreach Coordinator, Berran Rogers said this is helpful for all the farmers who attend. “If there are no farms, there’s no food, you think about climate change and the effects of COVID-19 there are always issues of food security and food safety.”

Rogers hopes this conference will bring together people to help network. “And so, this conference is addressing that by connecting them with resources, connecting them with other farmers that are doing similar or alike things that can help them on their journey to be able to farm.”

Some of the topics included in the information sessions are crop management, the production of berries, and the beekeeping business. Kelly Jackson, who is the owner of Emily’s Produce spoke at the conference, she was honored to get the opportunity.

“Being invited to speak at a conference like this one is very rewarding. We get to collaborate with other farmers, entrepreneurs, and agritourism businesses. I not only learned a lot but hopefully, I instilled that in the presentations of today.”

Jackson hopes for more conferences just like this one, “I just think farmers need more conferences like this, we need to have a space where we can collaborate, network, and have a space to be the best business owners we can be.”