Friday, December 6, 2013
East Troy, Wisconsin

Event Link: http://michaelfields.org/fearless-farm-finances-training/ 
Organized By: michaelfields.org 

Chris' Presentations:

“Farm financial management isn’t as tough as it may seem but many farmers are intimidated by tracking and working with numbers,” says Paul Dietmann. “Learning the basics in this training will take away the fear and uncertainty and help farmers make more informed decisions about their farm businesses.”

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 

Online

Event Link: http://practicalfarmers.org/farminar/index.html 
Organized By: Practicalfarmers.org 

Chris' Presentations:

Explore systems and tools to help you improve your organic transplant production in this online session.

Friday, November 15, 2013
LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Event Link: http://mosesorganic.org/events/community-calendar/ 
Organized By: Mosesorganic.org

Chris' Presentations:

Most of us didn't get into farming out of a love of numbers - but you have to understand the numbers to understand your farm. This two-day session with Chris Blanchard, Paul Dietmann, and Craig Chase covers setting goals and thinking about scale, financial statements and ratios, enterprise analysis, and getting to profitability.

Wednesday, April 24 2013 

Online 

Event Link: Countryside Conservancy

Organized By: Countryside Conservancy

Chris' Presentations:

A free webinar hosted by Countryside Conservancy.

Being a sustainable farmer is more than the farming methods you use, it also means ensuring you can stay in business regardless of your marketing outlet.  Chris Blanchard of Rock Spring Farm and Flying Rutabaga Works will help you navigate pricing strategies to meet your customer needs and your farm's bottom line.

6pm Central Time.

Thursday, March 28, 2013 

Online

Event Link: http://www.cvcountryside.org/

Organized By: Countryside Conservancy

Chris' Presentations:

Being a sustainable farmer is more than the farming methods you use, it also means ensuring you can stay in business regardless of your marketing outlet.  Chris Blanchard of Rock Spring Farm and Flying Rutabaga Works will help you navigate pricing strategies to meet your customer needs and your farm's bottom line.

6pm Central Time.

Thursday, March 14, 2013 

Waterloo, Iowa 

Event Link: http://practicalfarmers.org/events_detail.php?eid=407
Organized By: Practicalfarmers.org

Chris' Presentations:

Employees make it possible to get more done, but managing workers and their work takes dedicated time, energy, and processes. Whether you manage one seasonal worker or a large year-round crew, good management can make the difference between making headway on your farm's work, or just creating headaches. Join farmer and educator Chris Blanchard to learn how to create a productive, positive work environment by communicating clear expectations and implementing systems for efficiency and accountability.

Specific topics will include: hiring and firing employees; developing an employee manual; implementing systems for accountability; timekeeping and payroll; daily and weekly planning; and leadership and management.

Chris Blanchard has owned and operated Rock Spring Farm, with up to 20 acres of vegetable production, since 1999. He has managed over 100 employees at Rock Spring Farm, made hundreds of mistakes, and learned from them to create a positive, productive, and inspiring work environment. As part of his education and consulting efforts as Flying Rutabaga Works, Chris has helped farmers develop employee management systems on operations large and small, and has had the opportunity to observe management systems that ranged from dysfunctional to beautifully functional.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 

Online 

Event Link: www.practicalfarmers.org/farminar/

Organized By: Practicalfarmers.org

Chris' Presentations:


Vegetable Irrigation Basics for Beginning Farmers - Learn the essential components to set up and maintain a system of irrigation for field-scale vegetable production. Chris will address topics including source considerations (wells, rural water, or surface streams and ponds), pumps (gasoline, electric, and PTO-powered), flow rates, particulate filters, supply pipe (layflat, poly, and aluminum), application methods (sprinklers, stand pipe, traveling irrigation guns, and drip tape), as well as tips and tricks, and resources for more information. Learn how to calculate the volume of water you will need, and how to get it to you crops, so that you can grow a bountiful crop of veggies even if 2013 is dry from the sky.

7:00pm - 8:30pm, online. No cost to attend.

Friday, February 22, 2013
LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Event Link: mosesorganic.org/conference.html 

Organized By: Mosesorganic.org

Chris' Presentations:


Capturing and Organizing Data for Organic Certification, GAPs Compliance, and Other Endeavors - Paperwork can be the bane of the certified-organic, GAPs-audited, and financially-aware farmer. Learn how to capture information, get on top of your paperwork, and wow your inspector, auditor, and banker. Rock Spring Farm's Chris Blanchard will provide an overview of the basic techniques he and his crew use to gather information and keep it organized for easy access with a minimum of effort.

Transplant Production Systems - Greenhouse-grown vegetable transplants are an important part of a successful vegetable farm, and the systems you use for everything from transplant trays and benches to the transplanter you use to set your crop in the field have a significant impact on the quality of your transplants and the cost of producing them. Join Rock Spring Farm's Chris Blanchard for a review of transplant systems on farms throughout the Upper Midwest.

Chris will also be available at the new "Ask the Expert" sessions on Friday from 8am - 9am, and Saturday from 4pm - 5pm.

Friday, February 15
Columbus, Ohio

Event Links:www.oeffa.org/conference2013.php

Organizer By: oeffa.org

Chris' Presentations:

"I attended three of your workshops at the OEFFA conference this month.  All were great, informative, and inspiring."

Post-Harvest Handling, Food Safety, and GAPs: Making It Work on a Real Farm - (Pre-Conference session) As local and organic food demand has grown, so has the expectation for clean and safe produce. Institutions and even some farmers’ markets are demanding food safety certifications, and the Food Safety Modernization Act opens the door for Food and Drug Administration regulation of fresh produce production and handling. In this pre-conference workshop, farmer and food safety expert Chris Blanchard of Rock Spring Farm in Iowa will teach participants how to establish or improve food safety practices. Chris will review post-harvest handling practices and share methods for meeting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) documentation and record-keeping requirements in a way that flows with the work on the farm, rather than existing as a separate set of tasks and requirements.

Saving Labor on the Market Farm - Market farming is all about moving stuff around, whether you're moving vegetables from the soil to the packing house, water from the well to your transplants, or seeds from their packet to the soil. This session will explore systems for seeding crops in the field and greenhouses, transplanting sets, pruning and greenhouse crop maintenance, weeding tools, harvesters, post-harvest handling, materials handling, and record keeping.

Transplant Production Systems - Greenhouse-grown vegetable transplants are an important part of a successful vegetable farm, and the systems you use for everything from transplant trays and benches to the transplanter you use to set your crop in the field have a significant impact on the quality of your transplants and the cost of producing them. Join Rock Spring Farm’s Chris Blanchard for a review of transplant systems on farms throughout the Upper Midwest.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Indianapolis, Indiana

Event Link: 2013 Indiana Horticultural Congress

Organized By: Indiana Horticultural Congress

Chris' Presentations:

Capturing and Organizing Data for Organic Certification, GAPs Compliance, and Other Endeavors - Paperwork can be the bane of the certified-organic, GAPs-audited, and financially-aware farmer. Learn how to capture information, get on top of your paperwork, and wow your inspector, auditor, and banker. Rock Spring Farm’s Chris Blanchard will provide an overview of the basic techniques he and his crew use to gather information and keep it organized for easy access with a minimum of effort.

Post Harvest Handling Tools and Techniques - As the demand for local and organic food has exploded in the last five years, so has the expectation on the part of consumers and institutional buyers for clean produce that lasts on the shelf and in the refrigerator. Join Rock Spring Farm's Chris Blanchard on a journey through packing houses in the Upper Midwest and beyond, with a look at the washing and packing facilities and tools used by farmers large and small.