Wyoming Farmers Market Conference and Annual Meeting in Casper Sept. 28

Farmers, market managers and vendors will have the opportunity to network at the Wyoming Farmers’ Market Conference and Annual Meeting Friday and Saturday, September 28-29, at the Agricultural Resource and Learning Center, located at 2011 Fairgrounds Road in Casper, to learn from the experts at this information-packed conference. 

Registration for the conference is $50 for both days and includes lunches.

The conference will kick off with a program, titled "Foodpreneur." Marty Butts, owner of Small Potatoes -- a national marketing, advocacy and consulting firm that specializes in working with small-scale and startup food product companies seeking to launch and grow their businesses -- will discuss how to start production, market and sell food products. The Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is sponsoring Butts’ visit to Wyoming. The fee for his presentation is $15, and attendees can register at www.wyomingsbdc.org. 

The SBDC is a partnership among the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Business Council and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBDC focuses on educating small-business owners and potential owners on how to successfully start and operate small businesses. The SBDC’s main office is located at UW.

Cole Ehmke, a UW Extension agricultural entrepreneurship and personal financial management specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, will present "Value Adding Products in Wyoming." For those interested in greenhouses, a "Dome Greenhouse Building Workshop" will be offered starting Friday afternoon.

Saturday will feature presentations on microgreens, bee and honey production, online marketing, undercover veggies, grape growing, heritage orchard establishment, weed and pest management, and grant writing. Lunch will be included each day, with the annual meeting held during lunch Saturday. 

Conference co-sponsors include the Wyoming Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Program, the Wyoming SBDC Network and the Wyoming Business Council.

Wyoming SBDC Network programs and services are available to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities, if requested at least two weeks in advance. For clients with limited English proficiency, language assistance services are available. For more information, call the SBDC at (307) 382-0947 or email pbaker@uwyo.edu.

For specific schedule information and to register for the conference, go to www.wyomingfarmersmarkets.org. For additional conference information, call Ted Craig or Linda Stratton at (307) 777-6592.   

The Wyoming SBDC Network is a business-advising group of the Wyoming SBDC, the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Market Research Center and SBIR/STTR Initiative. The network’s mission is to help Wyoming entrepreneurs succeed. Advising and most market research activities are free of charge to Wyoming residents.

The SBDC is funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. SBA. Additional support is provided by the Wyoming Business Council and UW.

For more information, go to www.wyomingsbdc.org.