The survival of agricultural businesses, family farms, and green spaces in general was a hot topic at this year’s conference by Teaming to Educate for Agricultural Mastery. The organizers of TEAM make up the nonprofit alliance that includes familiar faces from the University of Tennessee Extension program and more. Hundreds of farm owners, agriculture educators, government representatives, and businesses gathered once again for the annual TEAM conference in Powell.
“If you do not treat it as a business, you are going to fail,” said keynote lunch speaker Dr. Colt Knight of the University of Maine Extension. He and other ag educators stressed the importance of a business plan, even for small-scale family farming. He noted that while hobby farming has become popular, a fascination with farming as a lifestyle can quickly become a money-losing hobby. “Most people don’t keep records,” said Knight, “so they don’t know if they’re losing money or not.”
The University of Tennessee’s Dr. Charles Martinez led a workshop encouraging local cattle producers to closely evaluate herd management as it affects their bottom line. Other workshops included advice on market garden production, growing foods organically, and supply chain logistics.
The morning keynote speaker inspired a lively conversation about protecting family farms and woodlands from haphazard development. She is Wall Street investment banker Wilma Jordan, who has preserved and expanded her family’s East Tennessee land into the nonprofit Empower School at Valley Dream Farm. She told a diverse crowd of attendees that she has used a conservation easement to ensure her land will remain preserved and said, “if you have land, I hope you will consider it.”
If you would like to connect with TEAM organizers, you can reach them at events@team-ag.org.
Anne Brock-Rankin is Marketing Coordinator for Solar Alliance, a renewable energy company based in Knoxville. She can be reached at abrock@solaralliance.com.
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