Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
West Virginia University will partner with the Agricultural Viability Alliance to host the 2024 National Farm Viability Conference in Charleston, WV. The conference will convene approximately 300 professionals from across the nation for peer-to-peer learning and networking with a focus on strengthening farm sustainability, building stronger and more resilient local food systems, and supporting the long-term profitability of farming and agri-entrepreneurs from start-ups to generational businesses.Our Theme, "Mountains of Excellence - Growing Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability" will focus on 1) models to improve economic efficiency and sustainability of small and medium-sized agribusiness through farm and food business planning, financial planning, agricultural financing, farmland conservation, agricultural market development, and food hub management; and 2) models to improve the successful participation of limited resources and underserved audiences across the nation through opportunities to enhance entry and farm viability, and by increasing the quality and quantity of agriculture and business technical assistance provided to them.Overall, this conference aims to increase the reach and effectiveness of national farm viability programs and practitioners by providing educational and networking opportunities to share best practices, resources, educational curricula, and training tools available to support small and medium-sized farms and agribusinesses.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
West Virginia University will partner with the Agricultural Viability Alliance to host the 2024 National Farm Viability Conference in Charleston, WV. The conference will convene approximately 300 professionals from across the nation for peer-to-peer learning and networking with a focus on strengthening farm sustainability, building stronger and more resilient local food systems, and supporting the long-term profitability of farming and agri-entrepreneurs from start-ups to generational businesses.Our Theme, "Mountains of Excellence - Growing Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability" will focus on 1) models to improve economic efficiency and sustainability of small and medium-sized agribusiness through farm and food business planning, financial planning, agricultural financing, farmland conservation, agricultural market development, and food hub management; and 2) models to improve the successful participation of limited resources and underserved audiences across the nation through opportunities to enhance entry and farm viability, and by increasing the quality and quantity of agriculture and business technical assistance provided to them.Overall, this conference aims to increase the reach and effectiveness of national farm viability programs and practitioners by providing educational and networking opportunities to share best practices, resources, educational curricula, and training tools available to support small and medium-sized farms and agribusinesses.
Project Methods
The National Farm Viability Conference (NFVC) is the nation's premier convening of agricultural service and business technical assistance providers. The target audience for the conference is professionals who provide viability related services and assistance to farm and food businesses. The 6th bi-annual conference will build on topics covered by other similar national/regional conferences, and previous NFVCs, by offering topics related to dimensions of farm and agricultural viability by offering these topics at the intermediate and advanced level.The conference will allow for a variety of ways to interact with other attendees and learn from each other by soliciting proposals in different session formats including:Workshops: Some topics are best covered with a lecture and a traditional power point presentation. Others benefit from the inclusion of activities to apply and practice what is being taught, using break-out rooms, worksheets, or discussions. We encourage sessions that incorporate creative ways to keep your attendees engaged.Moderated Panel Discussions: These sessions will bring together a small handful of farm viability professionals to share their perspectives on a hot topic.Roundtable Discussions: These sessions will help professionals pose a burning question that they would love to have a conversation about with other professionals in their field and facilitate the discussion. The purpose is to understand where the needs, current progress, and gaps are in the area of concern, and to develop collaboration around these topics.Plenary and 'Ask the Expert Sessions': Like a professor's office hours, these open sessions provide a chance for those with expertise in a particular area to field questions from the less experienced among us.Emerging Issues Sessions: The conference is committed to creating space for discussion of emerging topics that may not be ready for 'primetime' but allows professional dedicated time and space to create and strengthen networks for this work.Farm Tours: Learning at the conference is tremendously enhanced by facilitating dynamic tours of working farms and agribusinesses to learn from and share best practices on farm viability issues. This is also a unique opportunity to provide context about farm viability issues within the host state. For example, in West Virginia, there is a proliferation of networks (food hubs, farmers markers, connectivity with gov't agencies), good coordination, and alignment within and across state lines that are vital to the state's farm/agricultural viability successes.A Novel Approach to farm tours at the NFVC will continue to be the 'Reading the Farm' (RTF) Field Workshop. Originally developed by the University of Connecticut in 2006 through the NESARE (Northeast Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education) Program, it is a fundamental part of the NFVC because of its effectiveness in advancing a 'holistic approach' to farm and agricultural viability issues. The RTF workshop affords the unique opportunity to bring agricultural and business technical assistance providers together to discuss the whole-systems approach for farm viability that recognizes the complex interactions among the physical, biological, economic and social components of a farm. Service providers often have substantial in-depth knowledge of certain aspects of agriculture, but few have the opportunity to experience how these components work together to influence sustainability and viability. A secondary goal of the program is to build and strengthen networks among program participants