Fruit and Berry Workshop

CCE Oswego County will host a small fruits workshop to help identify fruits that make sense to grow on small acreage and discuss other common considerations when getting started.

Joshua Vrooman, Agriculture Educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County, will review direct-to-consumer trends, showing that small farms are best positioned for local markets and that product differentiation is important. Anya Stansell, Small Fruits Extension Specialist for Harvest NY, will highlight fruits that make sense to grow on small acreage. She will also talk about value-added processing which can provide supplemental income to fresh market sales. Janet van Zoeren, Integrated Pest Management Extension Specialists for Cornell Lake Ontario Fruit Team, will cover common considerations when establishing a new crop including site selection, pest management, pruning, and other good agricultural practices. Afterwords, Wade Smith, co-owner of Fruit Valley Orchard, will provide a short tour of their orchard. Attendees will get to see other important elements of running a diversified farm, including a farm store and maintaining community engagement.

This workshop is free to attend, but pre-registration is required.