2025 California Small Farm Conference

Name: North Bay Regional Gathering
Start: 2025-02-27T12:30:00-0800
End: 2025-02-27T18:30:00-0800

Welcome to the 37th annual California Small Farm Conference, a week-long event featuring over 40 online workshops as well as a dozen in-person gatherings around the state. Whether you’re a beginning farmer or a seasoned grower, a local food advocate or a farmers market manager, you’ll find something here for you. This year’s theme, "Rooted in Place", honors the vital relationship between farmers, communities and the land they steward.

Check out the schedule below for event times and locations. Click "Reserve Tickets" to register. Admission is on a sliding-scale, to ensure everyone can attend. Please select the amount you’re comfortable paying. Enjoy the conference!

Interested in sponsoring this event? Learn more here

Thursday February 27, 2025 12:30pm - 6:30pm PST

Green Valley Farm + Mill - 13024 Green Valley Rd, Sebastopol, CA 95472

Join us at Green Valley Farm + Mill, just outside Sebastopol, CA, for the North Bay gathering of the CA Small Farm Conference. This event, open to anyone working within the small farm community, will feature an afternoon of educational workshops, panels, farm tours and networking events followed by a happy hour social.

FULL SCHEDULE
ARRIVAL & WELCOME
12:30 PM - 1:00 PM

SESSION ONE
1:00 - 2:15 pm

Farm to School & Institutional Sales: Lizzy Elliott, CDFA; Meerae Park, CDFA; Tim Galarneau, UCSC Center for Agroecology; Michael Jochner Food Service Director Morgan Hill Unified School District
Dry Farming Techniques: Yvonne Socolar, Research Scientist, UC Berkeley; Caiti Hachmyer, Red H Farm; Zuriel Bernier, Bernier Farm
Farm Tour: Green Valley Farm + Mill & Brambletail Homestead (repeated at 4pm)

SESSION TWO
2:30 - 3:45

Rodent Pest Control: Clare Riesman, SRJC Shone Farm; Breanna Martinico, UC Cooperative Extension
Selling to Food Banks: Samiha Hamdi, Fresh Approach; Juila E Van Soelen, UCANR, North Bay Food Systems Advisor; Erika Carstensen, Redwood Empire Food Bank; Maria Houlne, CA Association of Food Banks
Pricing for Different Markets & Knowing Your Cost to Grow: Arabelle Schoenberg, CAFF; Vince Trotter, UCCE Sustainable Ag Coordinator & Agricultural Ombudsman; Lily Schneider, Kitchen Table Advisor

SESSION THREE
4:00 - 5:15 pm

Selling Wholesale & Working with Food Hubs: Dylan Stein, FEED Cooperative; Haerah Baird, Mendo-Lake Food Hub; Ben Hartmen, Pacific Produce; Farmers Jessica Rentsch, Caroline Radice & Samuel Tookey
Farmers Markets & Other Direct Sales: Ariel Vaughan, Agricultural Institute of Marin; Kelly Smith, Agricultural Community Events Farmers Markets; and Julia Van Soelen Kim, UCCE
Farm Tour: Green Valley Farm + Mill & Brambletail Homestead (repeated at 1pm)

HAPPY HOUR WITH FOOD & DRINKS
5:30 - 6:30 pm

NOTE: Snacks, drinks, and lite bites (tamales!) during happy hour will be provided. Warm layers and farm-appropriate attire encouraged. Make sure to add this event to your personal schedule on Sched to receive updates.

EVENT PARTNERS:

Community Alliance with Family Farmers
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Agricultural Institute Of Marin
Southwest Regional Food Business Center, University of California, Santa Cruz

Organizer

Layla Aguilar

Ecological Farming Program Manager, CAFF

Arabelle Schoenberg

Bay Area Regional Lead, Farmer Services, CAFF

Evan Wiig

Communications Director, CAFF

Evan Wiig is the Director of Membership & Communications for Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and the founder of The Farmers Guild. A community organizer with a passion for regenerative agriculture, he's not only worked on farms and ranches across California, but previously... Read More →

Speakers

Héktor Calderón-Victoria

Regional Food Systems Specialist, UCSC: Center for Agroecology & USDA

Tim Galarneau

UCSC Center for Agroecology

Yvonne Socolar

Research Scientist, UC Berkeley

Yvonne's research interests lie at the nexus of agriculture and climate resilience. She studies how diversified management practices influence plant-soil-microbe interactions to promote farms’ ecological and economic well-being, particularly in the face of water limitations.