Pricing your Product.

Robin Tunnicliffe, Saanich Organics and Claire Jutras, Earth Candy Farm

Juniper Room

Sponsored by Peninsula Country Market

This workshop will get into the nitty gritty of pricing your vegetables and cut flowers for sale. What do you need to consider when you price your product? You need a price that values your product appropriately, but the temptation can be to sell it cheaper to make the sale. Learn how you can price your product to get the price you need for success. Robin Tunnicliffe owns and operates a mixed vegetable farm on 10 acres and is a co-owner of Saanich Organics, selling vegetables through farmers markets, CSA and wholesale. Claire Jutras has been growing for 13 years on Salt Spring Island and has been developing a flower business at Earth Candy Farm for the past 10 years, growing for wholesale clients, a farmstand, and local events.  She is passionate about the business of flowers and making small scale organic flower farmers profitable, so that they can continue to do the work they love. 

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The Livestock Calendar and Animal Health

Lorea Tomsin, Country Wool

Oak Room

Sponsored by Fern and Roe

Lorea Tomsin of Country Wool wears many hats in the world of sheep: shearer, wool crafter, purebred breeder, lamb producer, direct marketer, hauler, mentor and industry volunteer. In this workshop, Lorea will guide you through a calendar for meeting the health and nutritional needs of a flock to keep them on track with the high production possibilities they have. She will also be speaking to sheep breed selection for purpose driven success in today's market.

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Understanding Soil Biology

Brook Hayes, University of Victoria

Poplar Room

As farmers, we know healthy soil is essential to growing healthy food, but how do we know if the soil is healthy? What are the biological relationships that help feed our plants? How do we know if we have a healthy soil ecosystem? Brooke will introduce you to the microscopic world of soil: the interconnected web of fungi, bacteria, nematodes and other microorganisms and how we as farmers can support this complex ecosystem and allow it to work for us. Brooke Hayes is a PhD candidate and Director of the EcoSoil lab at the University of Victoria, where she is studying the relationships between soil health and farmer health.

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Scaling up Your Vegetable Farm

Shawn Dirksen, North Star Organics, Sol Kinnis, City’s Edge Farm

Dogwood Room

Are you ready to scale up your production? Growing your business can be scary and risky, but it can also be exciting and profitable. What are some of the questions you need to ask yourself? And what do you need to know that you don’t know to ask until you’ve done it? Shawn Dirksen of North Star Organics has grown his farm from one acre at Haliburton to a 10-acre organic operation, with a half acre of greenhouses, six acres of field crops and two acres of berry crops. Shawn has a lot to share about the challenges and benefits of scaling up. Sol Kinnis of City’s Edge Farm is in the process of scaling up from one acre to three, and brings her own experience and questions she needs to know before embarking on this next journey. Listen and join in on this discussion of what it takes to scale up.

Afternoon 2:15pm -3:30pm

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Scaling up your Poultry Business

Thomas Hyde, Mill Bay Processors

Juniper Room

This workshop will delve into poultry farming rules, outlining the in's and out's to scaling-up (a how-to), and a brief overview of the current market state in the South Island. Thomas will go over all aspects of running a poultry operation: from chick pick-up, to distribution of a processed product and all the stages in between. Thomas Hyde of Mill Bay Processors is a poultry farmer with a vision of increasing food security on the island and has built a state-of-the-art facility to help make that happen. Come hear his vision for the Island in 5 years and how you can be a part of it.

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Harvesting of Cut Flowers

Eiddwen Thomas, Cartref Gardens

Oak Room

Sponsored by Victoria Box and Paper

This workshop will include harvest time, techniques and care of flowers after cutting. Blooms discussed will include zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers, roses, ranunculus. peonies, rudbeckia, sweet peas, snapdragons, cerinthe and others. Eiddwen Thomas of Cartref Gardens brings us her passion and wealth of knowledge as a cut flower grower. She has been a commercial cut flower grower for over 20 years farming on less than an acre in North Saanich. Flowers have been sold previously at a roadside stand, Peninsula Country Market, Sidney Market, and other events. Cartref Gardens is a founding member of the Island Flower Growers Cooperative where flowers are now sold wholesale. Eiddwen also does floral design for weddings and events and has held workshops including wreath making and floral design. She has spoken at the Peninsula Garden Club, the Metchosin Garden Club and the Victoria Flower Guild. Cartref Gardens has done a series on growing cut flowers for the Panorama Rec Centre and at the Horticultural Centre to the Pacific where Eiddwen also managed the volunteer cutting garden.

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Plant Breeding and the CANOVI Trials.

Lisa Willott, Farm Folk City Folk

Poplar Room

The Canadian Organic Vegetable Improvement (CANOVI) is a multi-year collaborative project that engages farmers in breeding and identifying vegetable varieties that suit their needs and are well-adapted to Canadian organic farms. Come hear about: the setup and software used in variety trials; examples of trial results from carrots, radicchio, rutabagas; what variety trial results do & don’t tell us; how variety trials can help us cope with climate change; and about exciting farmer led developments in carrot breeding. We’d love to hear how future variety trials or participatory breeding efforts could serve your farm and community. Lisa Willott has been working on small-scale farms for over 15 years, with 7 of those focusing on seeds, and working with FarmFolk CityFolk since 2021.   

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Attracting and Retaining a Local Crew and Managers

An Employer & Employee Panel Discussion

Dogwood Room

We all know that labour recruitment and retention is a complex part of farming and there are many external and intrinsic factors that affect our ability to keep an effective workforce. Despite that, some aspects of labour retention are within our control. This panel opens up the conversation with a panel of farm employers and farm workers. What tangible actions can a farmer take to keep their employees coming back each season? What makes a healthy happy workplace? We will finish this session with a question: what can the South Island Farmer’s Institute do to help address the issue of labour recruitment and retention.

Afternoon 3:45pm - 5pm

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Collaborative Wholesaling: Buy One Local. 

A facilitated planning session.

Juniper Room

Do you have produce you want to sell wholesale, but not quite ready to do it alone? Do you already sell wholesale, but are looking for more buyers? In this discussion, we bring together farmers, the South Island Farm Hub and potential buyers to plan a pilot project to get one large wholesale or institutional buyer to commit to one vegetable being entirely local for the season. 

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Cut Flowers that Stand up to Extreme Conditions. 

Amy Sanderson, Stillata Plants

Oak Room

Growing cut flowers during heat domes, drought or other climate extremes can be risky and resource intensive. Amy Sanderson brings us her horticultural expertise with low water and drought tolerant plants to introduce some new varieties for use in fresh and dried bouquets. We will also discuss planting practices and maintenance strategies for helping plants cope with challenging conditions.

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Crop Planning for Mixed Vegetable Growers

Heather Stretch, Saanich Organics

Poplar Room

This workshop will cover what you need to know about crop planning, whether this is your first year at growing or you need to up your planning skills. Heather Stretch, owner of Northbrook Farm and a co-owner of Saanich Organics has been organic farming since 2001. She will share her strategies and methods for building a crop plan that aligns with your business goals and the space you have for growing, while considering crop rotations and overall crop management in an organic system. Bring your questions and ideas, there will be time for information exchange.

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Hiring Through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: A Farmer's Perspective

Cammy Lockwood, Lockwood Farm

Dogwood Room

Finding local labour can be challenging, so many farmers are taking advantage of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to bring in experienced workers from other countries. Cammy Lockwood of Lockwood Farm has done just that and it was a long road to get there. Cammy shares her experiences and lesson learned along the way.