Local growers will dig into everything from compost piles to climate-resilient farming this weekend at the first Southcentral Growers Conference in Homer.
The conference runs Friday evening and all day Saturday at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kachemak Bay Campus. Organizers say it’s open to anyone growing food in Alaska, from backyard gardeners to commercial farmers, and includes both in-person and online sessions.
One of the event's organizers, Carey Restino, owns a local farm and works for the college’s agriculture program. She said interest in farming has grown steadily in recent years, especially after the campus launched its high tunnel program.
“We see a ton of interest. And there's lots of new people moving to the area who don't know anything about growing in these conditions. So we're trying to meet a wide span of needs with this conference,” Restino said.
This is the inaugural event of its kind, and Restino said that the range of experience attendees bring will help shape future conferences. Topics include managing unpredictable weather to pricing farm products and maintaining healthy soil.
“Small scale agriculture has come so far in the last 15 years or so in terms of our understanding of what we can do on a human scale. So that applies to everyone, from a backyard grower to a commercial grower on a small scale here,” Restino said.
The schedule also includes a keynote and hands-on demos in the campus high tunnel. Restino said people are signing up to attend remotely from around the state and a few are joining in person from beyond the Kenai Peninsula.
The conference is free to attend. More information and a link to RSVP are available on the event’s website.
