Two conferences were hosted with 16 educational hours to achieve the educational objectives. The conferences covered several topics with the focus being: 1) animal health and disease prevention, 2) biosecurity planning and implementation for disease outbreak, 3) traditional marketing and exploration of alternative marketing avenues, 4) writing and fulfilling contractual obligations for production and sales, and 5) market diversification.
The target audience included small ruminant producers, small acreage farmers, "local food farmers," operators looking to diversify enterprise mix or transition to alternative production, and land owners with idle land in Alabama and Tennessee. There were program participants from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia (222 total participants).
Producers were expected to: 1) institute a herd/flock health program and develop/implement a biosecurity plan, 2) develop a marketing plan, and 3) evaluate contractual arrangements.
Based on post conference surveys, the estimated conference impact was $327,611.