Training for New Farmers

Training Series for New Farmers: Vegetable Production 

Starting Tuesday, February 2 we are offering a 12-session series of online workshops for new farmers, focused on vegetable production and covering a diverse set of topics to start (or enhance) your farm enterprise. The training series will not be recorded, attendance is ‘live’ only.

When: February 2 – April 24 (see full calendar below), mostly Tuesday / Thursday evenings 6-9 pm

Where: Online via Zoom
Pre-requisites: None
Language: English 
Cost: 12 workshops plus a review of your farm enterprise plan for $500 
(Some subsidized spots for those with serious financial barriers)
To take one to three workshops contact Carmen (working Wed-Fri) through info@justfood.ca

For questions or more information contact: phil@justfood.ca

To register, please send an email with your contact information to Carmen (works Wed-Fri) at info@justfood.ca and e-transfer the workshop fee ($500) to financials@justfood.ca

Trainers:
Mat Levinson – Capital Greens
Phil Mount – Flat Earth Farm
Dan Van Vliet – Van Vliet Horticulture
Simon Neufeld, MSc, CCA – Chief Agronomist, Earth Alive Clean Technologies Inc.
Moe Garahan – Just Food Community Farm+ Guest trainers 

Full 2021 Calendar – Training Series for New Farmers: Vegetable Production 

1. Tuesday, February 2 (6-9 PM)
Organic certification and record-keeping 

2. Tuesday, February 9 (6-9 PM) 
Crop planning and production (includes organic record-keeping, planning for pest control)

3. Thursday, February 11 (6-9 PM)
Introduction to Farm Business Planning (includes CSA model)

4. Tuesday, February 16 (6-9 PM) 
Best practices for Starts and Transplanting; Equipment / irrigation supplies and sourcing

5. Thursday, Feb 18 (6-9 PM)
Marketing, pricing and sales

6. Tuesday, Feb 23  (6-9 PM)
Accessing Land; Land tenure agreements

7. Thursday, Feb 25 (6-9 PM)
Soil fertility through organic production practices

8. Tuesday, March 2 (6-9 PM)
Financial Planning, Investment Strategies and Farm Taxes

9. Tuesday, March 9 (6-9 PM)
Intensive vegetable production techniques (including pest control)

10. Tuesday, March 23 (6-9 PM) 
Post-harvest handling

11. Tuesday, March 30 (6-9 PM)
Farm Safety

12. Saturday, April 24 – 10-3 
Small-scale farm infrastructure & equipment use – on site at Just Food Community Farm 

Start-Up Farm Program

Spots are available at the Just Food Community Farm for those interested in incubating a plant-based farm enterprise idea for the 2021 season (4 spots) and/or an artisanal poultry business (1 spot) for the 2022 growing season.

Pre-requisites:  Completion of Just Food’s New Farmer Training Workshops  (See above). If you have taken an equivalent, please email phil@justfood.ca for verification.

For those interested in artisanal chicken incubation, please send a documnet outlining relevant background information and experience to phil@justfood.ca

Language of support:  English 

Details here: https://justfood.ca/start-up-farm-program/

Farmer Training Topics Coming Soon…

This Winter: 

  • Value-add Food Processing 
  • Greenhouse start-up
  • Livestock production

This Summer:

English as Second Language New Farmer Training 

(including supports in French and Arabic)

If you are interested in these, please contact comms@justfood.ca

More details coming soon!

Start-up Farm Program

Just Food established the Start-Up Farm Program to support new farmers in the Ottawa region. By offering access to land, shared infrastructure/equipment, and training, the program aims to enable more people in this region to start their own successful farm business.

> Read More about Just Food’s Start-up Farm program