Southwest Florida Small Farmers Network

SW Florida Small Farmer Network is the 2009 National Winner (Southern Region) of the Search for Excellence Award in the Sustainable Agriculture Program of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents.

• Next Meeting- Monday, June 18, 2012

About SWFSFN

in Southwest Florida can now network about diversified and sustainable farming systems with a new outreach project of the UF/IFAS/FAMU Small Farms and Alternative Enterprise Program.  Started in July 2007 the Southwest Florida Small Farmers Network (SWFSFN) includes growers in the region from Hillsborough to Collier county.  This farmer group is facilitated by the county UF/IFAS Agriculture Extension agents of Sarasota, Lee and Collier counties.  The goal is education to meet small farmer-identified priorities, issues, and needs.  The format of the meetings is a farm visit that provides a farmer-led walk and description of the farm operations in conjunction with extension presentations on topics pre-selected by the membership. Additional activities include a growers meeting, pot-luck lunch and seed swap.  The intended audience is the small farmer who wants both to develop a regional network of producers with similar interests and to evaluate first-hand alternative enterprises, as well as for the beginning farmer. Membership is open and at no cost. (Contact: Robert Kluson, Sarasota County Extension, at rkluson@scgov.net).

• Extension Education Programs From Past Meetings

  • Marketing - A Special Sense
  • Farmscaping Small Farms
  • Fruit Tree-based Agroforestry
  • Pesticides and IPM Concepts
  • Florida Vegetable Disease Resistance

Outreach of SWFSFN Activities

Posters at Florida Small Farms and Alternative Enterprise Conferences

2011:

• Onfarm Research of Photoselective Shade Cloths in Parsley and Basil Herb Production

2010:

• The South West Florida Small Farmers Network - a Participatory and Regoinal Approach to Sustainable, Diversified Agriculture Extension
• The South West Florida Small Farmers Network (SWFSFN) Spawns Multicounty Workshop Seminars

Next Meeting:

The next meeting of the Southwest Florida Small Farmer Network (SWFSFN) will be held on Monday, June 18, 2012. Please see the agenda for more details including RSVP information. Please feel free to pass along this announcement to your fellow small farmers who may be interested in our activities.  If they are not familiar with SWFSFN, please, refer them to both this webpage and our Yahoo Group.
Photo Galleries of Previous Meetings (click here)

Meet a SWFSFN Farmer (click links below)

• Meet Pam and Hank Sindlinger of Gateway Farm in Pinellas County.
• Meet Bill Pischer of Jessica's Organic Farm in Sarasota County and Chris & Eva Worden of the Worden Farm in Charlotte County.
• Meet Lynn Steward "Mr. Citrus Organics & Vegetables"
• Meet Tim and Sandra Eland
• Meet Ted Burt
• Meet Vincent Dessberg
• Meet Lynn Steward “Mr. Citrus Organics and Vegetables”