- Even when our country isn’t in the grips of a snowpocalyspe, annual January temperatures make winter farming as slow as molasses. But while fields fill with snow and markets sell little more than stored roots, hothouse sprouts and meat that’s lucky it’s already frozen, farmers stay busy in another way: learning. Winter is high time for agricultural conferences—and increasingly, these meetings of the minds are open to the public. Which means people like you and me can get schooled on everything from seeds to sauerkraut, even if the only overalls you own were purchased at Beacon’s Closet. I’ve been to plenty over the years, and even though I don’t own a tractor, they’ve fed me in more ways than one.
- Out East, the Long Island Agricultural Forum returns for its 33rd year in Riverhead on Thursday and Friday, January 16 and 17, covering everything from poultry and plants to what the Affordable Care Act means for family farmers.
- Visit Edible Manhattan to read about four other conferences.
