2025 California Small Farm Conference: Full Schedule

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!

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9:45am PST

Small-Scale Composting: Getting Started, Growing, and Building a Network

Monday February 24, 2025 9:45am - 11:00am PST

Online

Composting and compost use is an effective and scalable climate change solution that has a multitude of environmental and societal benefits, especially when implemented at community gardens and small farms. Despite state mandates for organic waste diversion from landfills to meet climate goals, adoption of composting in the state at community scale remains low and expansion of industrial composting can exacerbate air quality problems and greenhouse gas emissions. We formed a partnership among community organizations and researchers to meet this need. Our mission is to establish affordable, accessible, and scalable community-level composting knowledge and practices to transform farm and food waste into compost to grow nutritious food, mitigate climate change, and advance social justice in the San Joaquin Valley. In this workshop, we share knowledge gained and lessons learned through our partnership. We hope to equip participants of this workshop with fundamental knowledge of the benefits of composting at this scale, different models of small-scale composting, the human and natural resources needed to compost, and the tools to start community-scale composting projects and partnerships.

Organizer

Yaynicut Franco

Farm Manager / Director of Culture and Land Stewardship, Wukchumni Farms

Speakers

Eric Wellington

compost specialist, Foodlink for Tulare County

Michael Rodriguez

University of California, Merced

Rocio Perez

Central California Environmental Justice Network

Rebecca Ryals

Monday February 24, 2025 9:45am - 11:00am PST
Online

Organics

Audience New & Beginning Farmers, General Public (including non-farmers), Farm Advisors & Technical Assistance Providers

1:15pm PST

Path to Organic: How to Prepare for an Organic Certification

Monday February 24, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm PST

Online

Join us for a workshop on organic certification and inspection, featuring an experienced organic inspector and successful organic farmer. This session will provide insights into the certification process, compliance requirements, and practices for preparing for an inspection.

Speakers

Megan Robertson

Alluvial Organics

Kristen Draz

FogDog Farm

Grace Jackson

Farmer Services Regional Lead - Central Valley, CAFF

Monday February 24, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm PST
Online

Organics

Audience New & Beginning Farmers, Experienced Farmers, Farm Advisors & Technical Assistance Providers

4:45pm PST

Organic Practices for Citrus and Avocado Growers

Monday February 24, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm PST

Online

Organic production of subtropical tree crops along the coast revolves around maintaining tree health through management of irrigation, nutrients and cultural practices. Disease and pests of these trees will be discussed and practices that reduce the occurrence.

Speakers

Ben Faber

Monday February 24, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm PST
Online

Organics

Audience New & Beginning Farmers, Experienced Farmers, General Public (including non-farmers), Farm Advisors & Technical Assistance Providers

11:30am PST

Mentorship Magic! How mentorship strengthens organic & bolsters beginning farmer success

Tuesday February 25, 2025 11:30am - 12:45pm PST

Online

Hear from farmers who are part of the West – Southwest Transition to Organic Partnership (TOPP) Program for a conversation about the importance of farmer-to-farmer mentoring and their pivotal role in expanding organic and supporting beginner farmer success. Join the conversation and find out how to become a mentor or find a mentor!

Speakers