2022 Indiana Small Farm Conference switches to virtual amid COVID concerns

The 2022 Indiana Small Farm Conference – Indiana’s premier annual event for the state’s small and diversified farming community – has made the decision to pivot to a virtual platform amid the state’s high numbers of COVID cases.

“All of us from Purdue Extension were looking forward to spending time with farmers, colleagues and friends this March at the Indiana Small Farm Conference,” said Nathan Shoaf, urban agriculture coordinator and conference committee member. “We waited as long as we could before making the decision to pivot from an in-person conference to a virtual one, but we determined it was the safest path forward for everyone.”

The 10th annual conference will offer free webinars and keynote speaker videos to all who register.

“We hope to interact with many past conference participants, as well as those who are attending for the first time,” Shoaf said. “Thank you to all of the farmers, vendors and sponsors who make this an incredible conference year after year.”

Malik KenyattaYakini, co-founder and executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, will keynote at 11:30 a.m. ET, March 3. Genesis McKiernan-Allen and Liz Brownlee, co-founders of the Hoosier Young Farmer Coalition, will also present keynote remarks for the conference.

Since 2013, the Indiana Small Farm Conference has featured comprehensive programming about diversified farming and local food systems, bringing together novice and experienced small-scale farmers.

“I am confident our excellent team of educators and farmers will deliver high-quality online content to help you continue to farm throughout this uncertain time,” says Mike Hoopengardner, owner of Redbud Farm and Caprini Creamery and ISFC committee member. “Please join us virtually for the 10th annual Indiana Small Farm Conference.”      

This year’s free conference offers 10 tracks from which attendees can choose sessions that best align with their farming operations and goals:

  • Vegetable Production
  • Livestock Production
  • Marketing
  • Urban Agriculture
  • Regenerative Agriculture
  • Value Added
  • Soil Health
  • Pollination Management
  • Perennial Crop Production
  • Innovations in Response to Climate Change

A detailed conference schedule will be available, and currently scheduled sessions are subject to change. For more information, or to register, visit the Indiana Small Farm Conference website at purdue.ag/sfc. Follow the conference on Twitter and Instagram at @SmallFarmPurdue or on Facebook at @PurdueExtensionSmallFarms, with the hashtag #PurdueSmallFarms.

Featured Stories

Ag Barometer
Farmer sentiment improves despite rising input cost concerns

Farmer sentiment improved in March as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer rose...

Read More
Somali Chaterji
Better driving by design: Purdue-Led NSF CHORUS Center makes autonomous systems stay safe

There were more than 1,000 crashes involving vehicles equipped with automated driving systems or...

Read More
two carpenter bees sitting on a coneflower with a blurred green background
Pollen & pollination

The eighth wonder of the world might be a hundred-million-year-old process: pollination. When...

Read More
Portrait of Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi
Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi appointed head of Purdue Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, a botany and plant pathology professor, has been named head of Purdue...

Read More
sourdough loaf being held in hands
The science behind sourdough

April 1st is mostly known for pranks, but it’s also National Sourdough Bread Day. This...

Read More
an headshot of Xiaomeng Liu in the AAPF with her differen angles overlayed in the colors red and blue
3D models of plants for research available at the Ag Alumni Seed Phenotyping Facility

Xiaomeng Liu, a computer engineer and postdoctoral scholar for the AAPF and Institute for Plant...

Read More