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Agricultural forum to focus on best business practices
The forum for Rural Innovations will highlight programs, projects or possibilities to enhance profitability in rural and agricultural programs.
Topics at the March 14 forum in Winchester will showcase innovative ideas that will help current agricultural business stay in business.
"Farmers are dealing with high-priced land," said Gary Hornbaker, resource coordinator for Loudoun County Department of Economic Development. "We want to promote and maintain rural businesses in this general area."
The target audience for the conference is farmers, landowners, rural business owners, local officials, educators, and economic development and planning professionals.
Charles Planck of Wheatland Vegetable Farm will be a part of a panel discussion on innovative approaches to farm labor assistance.
Planck will discuss how Wheatland finds labor at different times of the year. Placement offices, Web sites and the word-of-mouth were techniques used in the past.
Wheatland farmers also have expertise with working with amateurs by using hands-on explanations.
"You get to see the whole cycle as a worker," said Planck. "Workers have experience with seeding, transplanting, mulching, weeding, selling and marketing."
Planck said one of the benefits of the forum is that farmers can discuss who is doing what in the area.
Planck said that although topics change every year, the focus is always directed toward agricultural businesses dealing with the types of soils and climate found in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Farmers from Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick and Loudoun Counties in Virginia and Berkeley and Jefferson Counties in West Virginia are expected to be represented at the forum.
Jon Turkel, program supervisor for Frederick County Parks & Recreation Department, will speak about bio-diesel production and its use on a working farm.
Bio-diesel has three main advantages; mechanical, ecological and economical, Turkel said. It's better for car and farm equipment's engine than regular fuel, it reduces greenhouse effects and it is less expensive as it can be made from soybeans grown on a farm.
Turkel said that bio-diesel is preferable for school buses to reduce the toxins that the students inhale.
Turkel said the process of creating the fuel is a matter of crushing the seed crop for the oil, mixing it with methanol and lye, which produce bio-diesel. Glycerine is a byproduct that can be used as a feed enhancer, as it's livestock edible.
Turkel proposes farmers produce the oil themselves to reuse for fueling engines.
Bio-diesel is unmodified diesel that can be a substitute for home heating or as a hand solvent. It is non-toxic and biodegradable.
However, he said it has some irregular cold properties as it doesn't perform as well in winter, and tends to gel.
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