The University of Florida/IFAS Small Farms Academy in the Suwannee Valley area will be offering the second in a four-part series on Orchard Management on February 11. The four-part series is intended to walk a participant through an entire year of marketing and management practices of a typical mixed fruit and nut orchard in North Florida. Although encouraged, it is not necessary to attend all four courses and participants may choose the course(s) they wish to attend.
The second workshop of the series, Winter Orchard Management, will provide the participants with a hands-on approach to pruning stone fruit and muscadine grapes, cold protection, pest control, and market research and strategies. The featured crop in this second part of the series will be cold hardy citrus.
Linda Landrum, Regional Specialized Agent at the North Florida REC-Suwannee Valley states, “With the growing interest in locally grown food, area farmers can improve farm cash flow, particularly during the summer months when other crops are scarce, by planting a small mixed orchard for direct markets sales.”
The workshop will be held at the North Florida Research and Education Center – Suwannee Valley (NFREC-SV) Research Farm at 8202 County Road 417, Live Oak, Florida.
NFREC-SV serves the diverse agricultural interests in the region including vegetables, mushrooms, fruit crops, protected culture, forestry, and forage crops.
The registration fee is $180.00 for the remaining 3 parts of the series and $80.00 per individual workshop. This fee includes lunch, refreshments, plant liners and educational materials. A second family or farm participant may register as an auditor for $80.00 for the remaining 3 parts, or $50.00 for each individual workshop. The auditor fee includes lunch and refreshments. Registration is confirmed when a registration form and payment is received. The course is open to 20 attendees. Visit
http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu and click Small Farms Academy, then Available Courses for the Orchard Management Series brochure and registration form. For more information call Sarah White at (386) 362-1725 ext. 102 or email sewhite@ufl.edu. Registration forms with payment should be made out to University of Florida and sent to North Florida REC – Suwannee Valley, 7580 County Road 136, Live Oak, FL 32060
