UMES Extension’s 2023 Small Farm Bus Tour will be heading south from Sept. 6-7 for select stops in Virginia and North Carolina. The tour, organized out of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Small Farm Program, will showcase farming operations that serve as examples of direct to consumer marketing, sustainable agricultural practices and alternative crop production.
“The main objective is to share information among small farmers in the Mid-Atlantic in order to provide them with strategies to help their agricultural businesses achieve or maintain profitability,” said Berran Rogers, coordinator of UMES Extension’s Small Farm Program and organizer for the event. “The tour is aimed at small-scale and beginning farmers, but is open to all who can benefit from the opportunity.”
Some of the tour stops, include Twisted Willow Farm (Elizabeth City, N.C.), Nadeau Farms (Elizabeth City, N.C.), Sanctuary Vineyards (Jarvisburg, N.C.), Choo Choo Farm and the Mighty Thundercloud Edible Forest (Birdsnest, Va.).
The two-day tour starts (7:30 a.m.) and ends (6:30 p.m.) at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus. Registration includes bus transportation to featured farms, educational packets, light refreshments and one night hotel accommodation on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Registration is open by visiting https://umes2023farmbustour.eventbrite.com/. Fees are $80 for a single registrant and $120 for a party of two. The deadline to register is Sept. 1. For special accommodations, email smallfarms@umes.edu or call 410-621-5450, Ext. 101.
UMES Extension’s Farm Bus Tour is funded in part by the “Increasing Farmers Access to Resources and Management Solutions” (IFARMS) initiative.
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photos submitted below are from the 2022 UMES Farm Bus Tour
