Winter Speaker Series for the Homerville Wholesale Produce Auction Growers

Winter Speaker Series for the Homerville Wholesale Produce Auction Growers

Summary

Youth, whether Amish, Mennonite or neither, need more agricultural opportunities to encourage them to stay in the farming business.

To create a series of three winter meetings with respected Amish and Mennonite speakers from eastern Pennsylvania and Canada, and to attract vegetable producers to these meetings.

The producer developed educational materials and presentations to deliver his message to Amish, Mennonite, and area people from similar cultures.

Topics covered in sessions included: vegetable production effects on culture and family structure, greenhouse management, plasticulture practices, transplanting, double-cropping, and drip irrigation. The audience also learned about the production of strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, fall decoration, vine crops, cole crops, early sweet corn, tomato, and eggplants.

Twenty-six vegetable producers spoke to more than 500 meeting attendees, 300 of whom were local growers. Local community members provided several informal meetings in their homes. The community auction attracted 316 Amish producers who grow 12 to 500 pounds per acre.