This past week I attended the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assocation annual convention at the Hilton Lakefront in Rockwall, Texas. As Em and I continue to deepen our roles in the local food and farmer markets initiative, it's been a desire to expand our involvement beyond just support to actually being contributors. That means converting part of our acreage to a small farm. I was interesting in learning what other small organic and/or sustainable farmers were doing to succeed. TOFGA Conference seemed like a great opportunity. The conference provided a few surprises. First of all, there was great diversity among the attendees. Most were under 40, making me feel like the old man in the group. Almost half were women, and probably a third were minorities (Asian, Hispanic, African-American).
I also came into this conference thinking that, with 4-5 acres under consideration, our potential farm might be very small potatoes (or other veggies or fruits). In one of the first sessions of the first day, a young urban farmer chronicled his success story leasing and planting on a whopping 1.5 acres! I got a kick when he stated that his friend Tim (who later gave a presentation) had a large farm - almost 6 acres. As you can surmise, organic farmers make the most out of every square yard. Another shock came in one session when the presenter asked the audience, "How many of you are actively farming?". Only about half raised their hands. Apparently many attendees are looking to lease a few acres to start their operation.
I came away from TOFGA with a wealth of information. I'm already looking forward to 2017.
On a side note, the conference was held adjacent to The Harbor Rockwall, with several restaurants in the complex. Several of us were looking for lunch at a reasonable price and we found it at Dodie's Cajun Diner. I usually avoid Cajun food outside of south Louisiana, but this establishment was founded by a family from New Orleans. And the proof is in the taste! Their grilled shrimp monica and seafood gumbo was as good as home.