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The 2009 Small Farms Conference, scheduled for Feb. 24-26 at the Morgantown Ramada Inn, will include a concurrent “Better Process Control Acidified Foods Training” Feb. 26-27 for agribusinesses that produce pickles and other food items that require specific pH levels to ensure their safety. The acidified foods course will run from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. each day. Registration is separate for the conference and the acidified foods course.
While the conference will focus mainly on financial matters such as energy costs and building demand for local products, the acidified foods course is an opportunity to earn certification in acidified foods processing from industry-leading experts from Virginia Tech, who will test participants and report the names of those who pass to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
And participants can save some money in the process.
“Certification is required if you’re going to make this type of product,” said West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) Food Marketing Specialist Teresa Halloran. “This training is being offered at a very reasonable price. You would pay many times as much for this course on your own.”
Cost of the course is $175 for West Virginia residents and $275 for out-of-state residents. For a brochure and registration form, visit, http://www.wvagriculture.org/images/Marketing/BPCSchool-AFTbrochure.pdf.
Checks should be made payable to WVDA, and mailed to West Virginia Department of Agriculture, Marketing and Development Division, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25305, attn: Connie Tolley or Jean Smith. Registration deadline is February 18 and the course is limited to 50 participants. For more information, call Connie Tolley at 304-558-2210, or e-mail ctolley@ag.state.wv.us.
A block of rooms has been reserved for Small Farms Conference and Acidified Foods Course participants at a special rate of $72 a night. Participants should make their own reservations by calling 304-296-3431. Funds for the course were provided through the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and the USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
The small farms conference will feature sessions on agritourism, no-till farming, low-input vegetable farming, the role of meat animals on a small farm, value-added wool operations and an “Ask the Vet" workshop. Lewis Jett, WVU Extension Horticulturalist, has designed a production track addressing tomato and melon grafting, hoophouses and polyculture.
Each break and meal during the conference will be prepared from locally produced food thanks to the efforts of the event organizers and the Ramada Inn. More information and registration materials for the Small Farms Conference is available at www.wvu.edu/~agexten/sustanag/events/SF2009_Home.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org.
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