Please join us for our winter advisory meeting, join the team and provide input for the 3rd Annual WNY Tree Fruit Conference on February 4-5 in Rochester. Please pre-register by December 2th.

Fruit and vegetable growers and others interested in learning about produce safety as well as growers who are covered by the FSMA Produce Safety Rule or who anticipate being covered in the future should consider taking this course.

The PSA Grower Training Course is one way to satisfy the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement outlined in § 112.22(c) that requires 'At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.'

Unit 1: Introduction to Business Planning and the Business Plan (Liz Higgins)

• Session 1: The 30,000-foot view, what are you trying to accomplish? What resources do you have?

Join us for a free webinar on electric weeding in organic perennial crops.

Unit 1: Introduction to Business Planning and the Business Plan (Liz Higgins)

• Session 2: Introduction to Project Management

GRANT MONEY FOR YOUR FARM? IT'S POSSIBLE! THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

Speakers: Mario Miranda Sazo (CCE LOFP) and Dr. Debbie Aller (Cornell CALS) 

Unit 1: Introduction to Business Planning and the Business Plan (Liz Higgins)

• Session 3: How Business Planning Becomes a Business Plan

GRANT MONEY FOR YOUR FARM? IT'S POSSIBLE! THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

Unit 2: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Farm (Bonnie Nelsen)

 Session 4: Your Market and Your Competition

GRANT MONEY FOR YOUR FARM? IT'S POSSIBLE! THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

Speakers: Dr. Greg Peck (Cornell CALS) and Dr. Randy Worobo (Cornell CALS)

Unit 2: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Farm (Bonnie Nelsen)

• Session 5:  Revenue and Product Mix to Achieve Your Goals

For the 2nd year in a row, we'll be having the Western NY Fruit Conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Rochester!  It will be another 1 1/2 day conference. Again, this replaces our traditional "LOF Fruit Schools" and our participation in the Empire Producers Expo in Syracuse. The program will run all day on Tuesday (Feb 4) and Wednesday morning (Feb 5). There will be two Pest Management sessions Tuesday morning, followed by Business and Soil Health afternoon sessions. Wednesday will have 2 morning sessions (Marketing/Fruit Quality and Precision Ag),  ending with lunch at noon.

Becker Forum will focus on key labor issues and trends.

Unit 2: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Farm (Bonnie Nelsen)

• Session 6: Marketing Plan and Evaluation of Marketing Efforts

GRANT MONEY FOR YOUR FARM? IT'S POSSIBLE! THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

Speakers: Liz Higgins (CCE ENYCHP), Josh Morgenthau (Fish Kill Farms), Jim Bittner (Bittner-Singer Orchard, and Kevin Clark (Rose Hill Farm)

Unit 3: Developing a Financial Plan for Your Farm Business (Steve Hadcock)

• Session 7: The Basics of Financial Statements

GRANT MONEY FOR YOUR FARM? IT'S POSSIBLE! THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

Unit 3: Developing a Financial Plan for Your Farm Business (Steve Hadcock)

• Session 8: Enhancing Confidence in Your Numbers

Please join us for our advisory meeting, join the team as they share their current and future projects and programming. Please pre-register by noon on February 24th.

Thursdays: February 27 - April 3, with two additional Monday webinars on March 17 and March 24

Tree fruit are an important component of the agricultural and homeowner landscape. This course, which offers eight live webinars for its 2025 offering, trains beginning tree fruit growers in fundamental concepts in orchard planning and management.

GRANT MONEY FOR YOUR FARM? IT'S POSSIBLE! THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU HOW!

Speaker(s): McKenzie Schessl (Cornell AgriTech) and Samantha Willden (Cornell AgriTech)