JOIN US FOR THE SIXTH ANNUAL LABOR DAY SEED FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 1-3
Hands on seed growing, harvesting and cleaning classes will be offered by LEF at its home on Meadowlark Farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on Saturday September 1. They will b
e followed by the Sixth Annual Labor Day Seed Festival, which will be a celebration for everyone, on Sunday and Monday September 2 and 3.
Western Nebraska is an excellent location for small scale organic vegetable seed production, and organic seed is a high value specialty crop for which the demand far exceeds the supply.
However, farmers who may benefit from growing this specialty crop may not have the knowledge or skill, or access to appropriate sized seed processing equipment and facilities. Isolation from potential cross-pollination is also important.
Meadowlark Hearth Farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, is in its sixth year of small scale organic seed production as part of a diversified Biodynamic (R) farm. Farmers Beth and Nathan Everett-Clark have over thirty years experience in vegetable production and trained in Europe in growing vegetables for seed. Currently, through Meadowlark Hearth Seeds, they both grow vegetable seed and work cooperatively with a number of other farms in the region to sell through seven organic seed companies.
The Festival will wrap up a three-year project funded by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, which provided local and regional growers with training, on-farm consultation, and access to equipment in the production of organic vegetable seed. As a specialty crop that is particularly suitable for Western Nebraska growers, the capacity to produce organic seed for certification and sale both meets a desperate need for other organic growers and diversifies farm production and income for the operation growing the seed.
Thanks to the support of the NDA, LEF was able to train over 200 participants in local and national workshops and conferences, and to intensively mentor ten growers in developing their seed-growing business from locations as diverse as New York, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Colorado, as well as two apprentices who worked at Meadowlark Hearth Farm for a year.
LEF’s Seed Festival will be held at
Meadowlark Hearth Farm DBA Richard Everett Farm LLC, is located at
120024 Everett Drive Scottsbluff, NE 69361
For more information, call 308-631-5877