What Works! Rural Entrepreneurship & Community Development in the Northeast 
is taking place September 28-30 in Burlington at the Wyndham Hotel.

We are offering several workshops that might be of special interest to the 
ag community so please help us spread the word...

Registration materials and more detailed information available at 
www.regonline.com/whatworks

Some of the topics include:

Potential for Expanded Agriculture in the Northeast--Assessing Trade-Offs 
Between Biofuels Production and Animal Agriculture.  Our research will 
empower farmers and other rural landowners to make informed decisions on 
alternate uses of their farm, forest, and open-space lands. A burgeoning 
technical literature on biofuels production and animal agriculture will be 
summarized and interpreted in the context of rural communities in the 
Northeast. Trade-offs between efforts to exploit biofuel production 
potential and maintaining, expanding, or diversifying animal agriculture 
will be assessed.
Presenters: Nelson Bills, Professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; 
Michael Baker, Beef Cattle Extension Specialist, Department of Animal 
Sciences, Cornell University

Getting Farmers onto the Land and Keeping Them There: Models, Opportunities 
and Lesson's Learned.  Alternative enterprises and agritourism hold great 
promise for enhancing farming's profitability and integrating agriculture 
into sustainable community development strategies. The first half of the 
session will feature Intervale, a unique and practical community based 
non-profit organization that is a collective of programs and ventures. 
Presenters will share the history, growth, and success of Intervale's 
programs that help start-up farmers realize their dreams. The second half 
of this session will feature farmers and agencies that support on-the-farm 
tourism development throughout the Northeast.
Presenters: Lindsey Ketchel, Intervale Farms Program Director; Sharon 
Fialco, Intervale Success on Farms Program Coordinator; Lisa Chase, 
University of Vermont Extension and Vermont Tourism Data Center; Karen 
Fortin, Carman Brook Farm; Beth Kennett, Liberty Hill Farm; Diane Kuehn, 
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Stu Nunnery, Rhode 
Island Center for Agricultural Promotion and Education.


Farm Viability Enhancement Programs in the Northeast. Effective business 
planning is important to farmers.  On-farm consultations concerning 
specialisttechnical assistance needs to be identified by the farmer and 
their consultants working together to develop a business 
plan.  Participating farmers share the process from their point of view, 
and share their overall evaluation of the Farm Viability Enhancement.
Presenters: Richard A. LeVitre, University of Vermont Extension; Allen 
Matthews, UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Ethan Parke, Vermont 
Housing Conservation Board; R. David Smith, Farm Viability Institute, 
Cornell; Participating farmers


Ecopreneurship in Rural America: Strategies for Creating Environmental 
Enterprises. This roundtable conversation session will examine strategies 
for assisting rural eco-entrepreneurs who are actively creating more 
environmentally sustainable business practices and innovating greenbusiness 
products and services. While there has been some interest in 
eco-entrepreneurshipin both Europe and the United States, there has been 
limited research on the development of outreach programs aimed at assisting 
rural entrepreneurs trying to launch green business enterprises.  This 
roundtable discussion will attempt to clarify the most important conceptual 
and programmatic issues facing those conducting research or developing 
outreach programming in this emergent field of study.
Presenters: Dr. Frank X. Higdon, University Park, PA; Dr. Jack Matson, 
University Park, PA


Growing Home: Food and Agriculture-Based Entrepreneurship in the Context of 
Community.
Drawing on examples from the food and agriculture arena, this session will 
address the importance of pursuing entrepreneurship development in the 
context of overall community-level development.  Participants will: Be 
introduced to the concept of "food and agriculture-based community 
development"; learn about examples of food and ag-based entrepreneurship in 
the context of community; and learn about limitations to indicators 
designed to measure food and ag-based rural development, and how these 
limitations impact the way entrepreneurship development is supported.
Presenters: Heidi Mouillesseaux-Kunzman, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Integrating Agriculture into Community Development. In this session Duncan 
Hilchey of Cornell introduces 2 projects that combine increasing the 
profitability of local farms with building local economies. Topics include 
an introduction to Market Scapes, a GIS technology that maps regional food 
systems as well as a look at the potential for creating agricultural 
heritage areas.
Presenter: Duncan Hilchey, Community, Food, and Agriculture Program, 
Cornell University


Cultivating Agency Collaboration to Encourage Farm Business Planning. 
Presenters will address how several agencies and non-profit organizations 
are collaborating to encourage business planning among farmers and 
agricultural entrepreneurs. Through collaboration, service providers have 
been able to leverage financial resources and staff capacity, bring to the 
table a diversity of expertise, and extend outreach  to clients through a 
business planning course for agricultural entrepreneurs. The session will 
include a facilitated discussion on the challenges and opportunities to 
multi-agency collaboration to serve farm clients. Participants of the 
workshop will be encouraged to share their experiences working in 
collaboration with other groups.
Presenters: Deb Heleba, UVM Extension / Center for Sustainable Agriculture; 
Steve Paddock, Vermont Small Business Development Center, Brian Norder, 
Vermont Food Venture Center





Mary Peabody, UVM Extension Specialist
Community Resources & Economic Development &
Director, Women's Agricultural Network

617 Comstock Road, Suite 5
Berlin, VT  05602-9194

Phone:  802-223-2389 extension 13
or tollfree: 866-860-1382 extension 13
Fax:    802-223-6500

E-mail: [log in to unmask]


"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." Anais Nin