LIVE EVENTS Tune in at the specified times for LIVE Zoom sessions where you can chat with other, ask questions, and engage with other participants. Note, all the sessions will be recorded and available on the conference site for viewing on your own time after the Live Session. Wednesday January 6th • 9:00AM Conference Welcome • 9:00AM-12:00PM FSMA Training (Pre-Registration Required) • 10:00AM-12:00PM Exhibit Hall • 11:00AM-12:00PM Digital Business: Lessons Learned: How Farmers Utilized E-Commerce in 2020, Taidghin O'Brien, The Land Connection Join this diverse set of specialty crop farmers and value-added food producers from around Illinois, briefly hear about their experience using e-commerce overall and how 2020 affected their use of online sales platforms. Ask questions and get answers from farmers just like you about lessons learned with e-commerce. • 12:30PM-3:00PM FSMA Training (Pre-Registration Required) • 1:00PM-2:00PM Digital Business: Let's Work Through It: E-Commerce Technical Assistance, Taidghin O'Brien, The Land Connection If you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Bring your real-world questions to the panel, and we’ll workshop them with you. From broad general questions to specific ones that might only apply to you. And, if we don’t have the answer, we’ll help you find the resources that might. • 2:00PM-4:00PM Exhibit Hall • 4:00PM Networking Hour Join us for an interactive and engaging networking session. Come and see and hear from fellow industry professionals. Thursday January 7th • 9:00AM Welcome, Featuring Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton • 9:00AM-12:00PM FSMA Training Part II (Pre-Registration Required) • 10:00AM-12:00PM Exhibit Hall • 11:00AM-12:00PM Business Development: The New MarketMaker: Building a Better Digital Platform for Your Business, Taidghin O'Brien, Dar & Rich Knipe, MarketMaker MarketMaker is getting a significant upgrade and facelift, and we want to show you everything that is new! With a new profile design, an easier registration process, a more user-friendly search, and a much more comprehensive data model, the new platform will help you connect your business with consumers and businesses in your local community and across the country. • 12:00PM-1:00PM Keynote Speaker, Sarah Frey, Founder of Frey Farms Frey Farms is a Certified Woman-Owned Business founded by Sarah Frey in 1992. Today, Headquartered in Keenes, Ill, Sarah, and her four older brothers operate farms and facilities in seven states. Frey Farms distributes its fruits and vegetables throughout the country through its Sarah’s Homegrown label. With a mission to end food waste in the fresh produce industry, the family makes natural food products and beverages from imperfect or “ugly fruit”. They feature a complete line of juices through Sarah’s Homegrown Tsamma Watermelon Juice. Sarah Frey has been described by the New York Times as “the Pumpkin Queen of America”. Sarah sells more pumpkins than any other producer in the United States. Her family business, Frey Farms, plants thousands of acres of fruits and vegetables in Florida and six other states. She is the author of The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life–and Saved an American Farm published by Random House in August of 2020. Sarah will serve as Co-Executive Producer of the upcoming ABC television production of The Growing Season based on her story. • 1:00PM-2:00PM Networking Hour, Hosted by COUNTRY Financial Join this live interactive networking session with a breakout room and individualized discussion to engage with attendees! • 1:00PM-4:00PM FSMA Training (Pre-Registration Required) • 2:00-3:00PM Agritourism: Shifting Your Business in a Pandemic: What's Next?, Chris Eckert, Eckert’s Country Store and Farms Join us for a roundtable discussion with the State Agritourism Working Group to discuss what business shifts were made during COVID, lessons learned; and what is here to stay in the future. This is an open discussion session. Come ready to talk and engage with others in the industry. • 2:00PM-4:00PM Exhibit Hall • 3:00PM-4:00PM Agritourism: Building Partnerships & Cross Collaboration to Boost Sales, Jeff Hake, Funks Grove Heritage Fruits & Grains & Michelle Sirles, Rendleman Orchards Hear how farms are building partnerships with other farm and food businesses to cross- promote products; market, and collaborate. These partnerships are growing businesses and building long-lasting relationships. Join two farms LIVE as they talk about how they create these dynamic partnerships and grow their businesses. Engage in a roundtable discussion and live Q&A. • 4:00PM-5:00PM Of Special Interest: Identifying New Markets and Increasing Food Security, Steve Ericson, Feeding Illinois & Shantanu Pai, University of Illinois The state’s local food and agricultural system is an underdeveloped and only partially explored resource for Illinois food banks to access - and support - in addressing food insecurity in the state. The University of Illinois, Feeding Illinois, the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, and the Illinois Farm Bureau are collaborating to collect and collate information on the locations, types, and quantities of “surplus” specialty crops in Illinois, including potential acquisition costs. The hope is to build an infrastructure that more adequately supports a specialty crops food system and a complementary agricultural clearance program. Through a producer survey, a series of focus groups, and implementation of pilots across the state the team looks to uncover the optimal mix of incentives and program interventions to overcome the current barriers to efficient flows of fresh food produced in Illinois, to Illinois residents, with as little waste as possible. The ultimate goals are thus to improve markets, facilitate the donation of surplus, and/or foster incentivized redistribution of edible food to improve nutrition, and reduce hunger while also reducing food loss and waste. Join us as we provide an overview of the project, answer questions about the survey, and gather feedback so our collective knowledge can inform this collaborative effort. Lastly, if you haven’t already done so, please support this initiative by completing the survey offered throughout the Conference. • 4:30PM Illinois Herb Association Annual Meeting • 4:30PM Illinois State Horticulture Society Annual Meeting • 4:30PM Illinois Vegetable Growers Association Annual Meeting Friday January 8th • 9:00AM Conference Welcome & Award of Excellence Ceremony • 10:00AM-12:00PM Exhibit Hall • 11:00AM-12:00PM Vegetable Production: Vegetable Q&A with University of Illinois Extension, Bronwyn Aly, Kacie Athey, Mohammad Babadoost, Nathan Johanning, & Elizabeth Wahle, University of Illinois Take this opportunity to have live interaction and Q & A with Extension Staff to ask your vegetable production and pest management questions! • 12:00PM-1:00PM Keynote Speaker, Chris & Angie Eckert, Eckert’s Country Store and Farms The Eckert Family has been growing apples for more than 100 years in rural Illinois, near the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Proud of their farming heritage and diligent stewards of the land, the Eckert Family has cultivated and preserved their orchard business for seven generations. Hear how this seven-generation family business worked together to respond to COVID-19 and persevere. • 1:00PM-2:00PM Illinois Specialty Growers Association Annual Meeting • 2:00PM Networking Hour Join us for an interactive and engaging networking session. Come and see and hear from fellow industry professionals. • 2:00PM-4:00PM Exhibit Hall GO-AT-YOUR-OWN-PACE SESSIONS These sessions are designed to go at your own speed and allow you to view as much or little as you would like. Every title/speaker has a separate recording ranging from 30-minutes to one- hour. You can watch these on your own time over the course of the 3-days. Submit speaker questions to chat feeds in the conference and you will get a response during the conference! BACK-TO-BASICS: BEGINNING FARMER • Basics of Farm Finances for New Farmers, Paul Dietmann, Compeer Financial Just as a new specialty crop grower can’t learn everything about growing and marketing in the first year or two, it’s impossible to fully understand all aspects of farm financial management. In this workshop, we’ll introduce a few key concepts and financial statements that will put a new grower on the path to success. We’ll discuss balance sheets, enterprise budgets, and cash flow, offer tips on managing your farm’s money, and answer your questions about farm finances. • Building Your Farm Brand, Audra Wyant, Finding Eminence Farm Building your brand and identity can be crucial as you begin your specialty crops operation. Audra Wyant, of Finding Eminence Farm, will provide an overview of the decisions you need to make and what you need to think about when it comes to branding, logos, and marketing. • Flower Girls-Small Plot Successes From Farmer's Market to Wedding Bouquets, Christina Lueking, Flower Girls There is a great deal of information and excitement in starting a flower farm. But not every piece of information or picture-perfect bouquet works for every farm. We would like to share some of our successes and how we found our niche in the flower farming community. • The Basics of High Tunnel Vegetable Production, Bronwyn Aly, University of Illinois Extension Whether you have been raising field-grown vegetables for a number of years or just getting started in vegetable production, growing vegetables in a high tunnel involve some different management considerations. This presentation will highlight high tunnel management considerations including structural concepts, irrigation, crop rotation, integrated pest management (IPM), and fertility. • Considering a Vineyard: Where Do I Start?, Annie Klodd, University of Minnesota Extension In choosing new crops to grow on your farm, have you considered planting grapevines? This presentation will help you decide if grapes are the right choice for your farm, discuss ways to market and sell this crop, and go through the steps of starting a new vineyard.