Volume 4
Spring
2014
Issue 2
Inside this Issue
WIA
Pre-Conference
2
Felfies
3
Maryland
FarmLINK
4
13th Annual Women In Agriculture Regional
Conference: February 20. 2014
A Big Thank you to our Sponsors!
Premier Level
MidAtlantic Farm Credit
Gold Level
Farm to Harvest
4
PNC Bank
Ag-knowledge
4
Silver Level
Inside
this issue:
Recipe
Card
6
Delaware Department of Agriculture
Weller & Associates, LLC
Bronze Level
Kids Corner
6
MDA Crop Insurance Education
Upcoming Events
6
Registration Form
7
Mid-Atlantic Common Ground
(Delaware and Maryland Soybean
Boards)
Turn to page 2 for the complete conference
schedule
Page 2
Volume 4
WIA Conference Schedule
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, Dover, DE
February 19
Pre-Conference, 1pm-5pm
2 Tracks Available to Choose from
(Agri-tourism & Health Insurance Literacy)
February 20
Main Conference 8am-8pm
8am– Registration and Continental Breakfast
9am– Welcome, Opening Remarks
9:30am– Keynote Presentation, Val Cordrey
10:10am– Breakout Session 1
- Do’s & Don’t s of Writing a Farm Business Plan
- Promoting through Social Media
- Backyard Flocks 101: Fact or Fiction
11:20am- Breakout Session 2
- From Dairy Farm to Thriving Agritourism Business
- Marketing
- Financial Planning 101
1pm– Luncheon Presentation, Laurie DeYoung
2:10pm– Breakout Session 3
- Building Trust and Confidence in Today’s Food System
- Succession Planning for Farm Businesses
-Good Agriculture Practices to Reduce Human Pathogen
Risks on the Farm
3:20pm– Breakout Session 4
- Property Rights & Right to Farm Laws
- Food Preservation 101
- Garden Smart, Garden Easy
4:30pm– Closing Presentation, Mindie Burgoyne
6pm– Reception & Harness Racing
Page 3
Volume 4
Preconference offers Two Tracks of Interest
Track 1: Agritourism
Build it and they will come. If only that worked. Come out to the
agritourism pre-conference to learn more about what other
successful operations are doing, the latest trends in tourism,
how to create the perfect customer experience and more.
You’ll walk away with some useful marketing and risk
management tips to take back to your operation or to help you
get started with your agritourism business.
February 19
1-5pm
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino
Dover, DE
Track 2: Health Insurance Literacy
Smart Choice for Health Insurance is an entrepreneurial,
comprehensive, research-based, unbiased curriculum designed by a
team of
experts led by University of Maryland Extension (UME). Its purpose is to equip consumers
with tools they need to make the best possible decision when choosing health insurance plans
for themselves and their families.
Both the currently insured and the previously uninsured – 200 million Americans in total – have
new options for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Yet research shows almost all
consumers are confused about how to purchase and use health insurance. Smart Choice seeks to
help Americans take control of their personal and family financial and
health needs.
Smart Choice empowers consumers to tackle the often-intimidating
task of selecting health insurance coverage by explaining the process in
plain language, outlining differences in plans and highlighting the
factors that may influence their decisions. Smart Choice does not
advocate for any one specific plan or source of plan but instead teaches
consumers how to make their own informed decisions.
Register Today!
Register Online : www.midatlanticwia.eventbrite.com
Prefer to Mail in your Registration? A paper registration form is included on page 7 of this newsletter.
Please print off and send it along with your payment to University of Maryland Extension.
Questions: Contact Victoria Corcoran, vgc@umd.edu or Shannon Dill, sdill@umd.edu, 410-822-1244
$5 off
50% off
Bring a Friend to WIA!
WIA Student Discount!
13th Annual Conference
13th Annual Conference
take $5 off the registration fee
50% off the registration fee
By entering “friend” in the Promotion code box
By entering “student” in the Promotion code box
Volume 4
Page 4
Creative Ways to Ag–vocate:
Felfies help people understand where their food comes from
In 2013, Oxford Dictionaries' word of
the year was "selfie". Their official
definition was "A photograph that
one has taken of oneself, typically
one taken with a smartphone or
webcam and uploaded to a social
media website." My personal
definition of the word is: photos my
younger cousins take while looking
like ducks sitting in cars are posting
onInstagram all the time.
My cousins are sick of me quacking
at them. I tell them I will quit when
they do. While I think that we have
all seen enough Justin Bieber and
Kim Kardashian poses with her butt
selfies, I'll admit, seeing a glimpse of the lives of Pope Francis, the First Family, and NASA astronauts via
their selfies, is pretty cool (certain questionable instances aside).
While no one is surprised to see Hollywood starlets posting their selfies, some might be surprised to see
a Kansas cattle rancher or Indiana popcorn grower posing theirs, but they are. It's time to meet the
"felfie" or "farmer selfie".
According to market research, more than half of farmers today are rocking smart phones. Those phones
have cameras, and if we have learned anything from Hollywood, a camera means you must take photos
of yourself. A camera with an Internet connection means you must take selfies. While the felfie seems to
have started in the UK, (farmingselfie.com) it's becoming a popular trend in America and beyond.
But before you start thinking that America's farmers and ranchers are snapping photos of themselves
while singing "You're so vain" to the cows, remember the old adage, a picture is worth a thousand words.
The felfie provides what many urban people are searching for: a view of where their food starts.
Farmers are taking to social media in droves and you'll find their mugshots on Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram. Their photos show the world their farms and day to day lives. My own felfie below comes from
a night last week in our freestall dairy barn when it was a nippy -35F (-37C) in our part of Wisconsin.
There are good conversations going on in the comments underneath photos or on Twitter with people
getting answers to their food and farm questions straight from the source.
As ag blogger Ryan Goodman said about the felfie on his blog:
“It's actually a pretty great way for farmers to mesh with a pop-culture movement and make a few
connections that lead to a little advocacy. Adding a bit of personality to our messages helps build those
relationships.”
Find the complete article at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/14/felfie-farmselfie-help-people-understand-where-food-comes-from
Page 5
Volume 4
Maryland FarmLINK announces Mentor Match
Maryland FarmLINK was created by the
Southern Maryland Agricultural Development
Commission in 2010 to fill a void. At the
time, there was no website to link up land
owners wishing to sell or lease their land in
Maryland with farmers seeking land to farm.
During website development, other farmer
resources were added, including a “personto-person” section to ask for advice, a “farm
forum” for discussions or alerts, and a
resources page. The resources page
(“Everything Ag”) has been expanded to
include workshops and events, farm
equipment for rent, a soils tutorial, a zoning
tutorial, a land preservation guide, and a
realtors’ guide for selling or leasing
farmland.
In mid-2013, Maryland FarmLINK announced the new Mentor Match Program, available at
www.marylandfarmlink.com, which pairs experienced farmers (mentors) with new or transitioning farm
owners/operators (mentees) for one-on-one training, advice and interaction. The year-long mentoring
experience is enhanced with support from the Maryland FarmLINK Mentor Team, which provides
technical assistance in farm production, business management, regulations, marketing and funding
resources. Applications to be a mentor or a mentee are accepted throughout the year. However, to
ensure your application is considered for the 2014 growing season, we suggest that you apply online as
soon as possible. This program is the product of a collaborative grant project headed up by University of
Maryland Extension and funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development
Commission.
Link to the Maryland FarmLINK website: www.marylandfarmlink.com
Ag-Knowledge :
Soybeans are an important
ingredient in making crayons.
One acre of soybeans can
produce 82,368 crayons
Volume 4
Recipe Card: Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups finely chopped rhubarb
Topping
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together in mixing bowl.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Stir in sour cream and vanilla.
5. Mix flour and baking soda together and fold into batter.
6. Stir in rhubarb.
7. Turn into greased 9x13-inch pan.
8. Topping: Mix all ingredients together until crumbly.
9. Sprinkle over top.
10. Bake 30-40 minutes until done.
http://www.food.com/recipe/rhubarb-coffee-cake-25430
Kids Corner: Show ‘em what spring is all about!
First, label bag with date and seed name.
Next, fold a paper towel so that it just fits inside the bag.
Take a ruler and measure 7 cm from the top of the bag and
staple a row of staples from one edge to the other through
the plastic bag and paper towel. If you are using very small
seeds then make the staples closer together. You will have a
mini-pocket, 7 cm deep. This is where the seeds are going to
sit.
Next carefully pour enough water into the bag so that it will
soak up through the paper towel but leave a small reservoir
of water at the bottom of the plastic bag [about 2-3 cm].
Then, take the seeds and put them in the mini-pocket so
they are sitting on top of the line of staples.
Seal up the seed bag so no air can escape or get into it. Tape it to a window.
Within a few days depending on the time of the year the seeds will begin to germinate. Children can
clearly see the growth of roots and then the shoot. As soon as the young plants reach the top of the
sealed bag they can be carefully removed and potted up
Page 6
Volume 4
Page 7
Upcoming Events
Do you have an upcoming event at your
Farm or Small Business?
February 18
Please email the information to
vgc@umd.edu so that we can let others
know!
830am - 3pm, Caroline County 4-H Park, Denton
Eastern Shore Vegetable meeting
For more information call 410-228-8800
February 26
February 19
2013 Bay Area Fruit Meeting
Caroline County Agronomy Meeting
Wye REC
5pm – 10pm, Caroline 4-H Park Denton
For more information call 410-827-8056
For more information call 410-479-4030
** nutrient management and private applicator credits
available
February 28
Date: February 26, 2014
Time: 6:30-8:45pm
Where: Baltimore County Ag Center
Cost: $40/person for 9 part series
Email: eblake@umd.edu
Phone: 410-771-1761
9th Annual Organic Production Meeting
Date: March 11, 2014
Time: 8:00-3:15
Location: Chesapeake College, MD
Cost: $25
Contact: Jenifer Rhodes
Email: jrhodes@umd.edu
Phone: 410-758-0166
Follow us on Facebook
Queen Anne’s County Agronomy Meeting
8:00am – 1:30pm, Queen Anne’s County 4-H Park,
Centreville
For more information call 410-758-0166
** nutrient management and private applicator credits
available
See you at WIA
February 19-20
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino
1131 North Dupont Highway
Dover, De 19901
Pre-Conference: $30
Main Conference: $40
www.extension.umd.edu/womeninag
For more information on this newsletter or to submit articles
contact:
Shannon Dill 410-822-1244 sdill@umd.edu
www.facebook.com/MidAtlanticWomenInAgriculture
Jenny Rhodes 410-758-0166 jrhodes@umd.edu
Victoria Corcoran vgc@umd.edu
The University of Maryland Extension programs are open to any person and will not discriminate against anyone because
of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status,
genetic information, political affiliation, and gender identity or expression.
Page 8
Volume 4
Mail in Registration Form
Registration Form
$________________ Enclosed (Check payable to Talbot EAC)
NAME:__________________________________________
ADDRESS: ____________________________________________________________
PHONE:_______________________________________________________________
EMAIL:________________________________________________________________
Please choose which tickets you are purchasing:
Main Conference $40
Health Care Literacy Pre-Conference $30
Agritourism Pre-Conference $30
Please return:
University of Maryland Extension
c/o Women in Agriculture
28577 Mary’s Court, Suite 1
Easton, Maryland 21601
410-822-1244
THANK YOU!