FAIRBANKS - The Seventh Annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference is scheduled for March 23–24 at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. A special preconference growers/ranchers school is planned for March 22, featuring a variety of goat, sheep and farmstead cheesemaking workshops. Events are open to everyone — including home gardeners, foodies and commercial growers. More than 200 people from 27 different communities in Alaska have attended the conference in past years. This year’s workshop on goats and small dairies will feature a panel of national and state speakers who will discuss the considerations of running a small dairy.

Each speaker will present a different component of the discussion. Speakers include Lorrie Conway of Conway Family Farm, Camas, Wash.; Dr. Susan Kerr of Washington State University Klickitat County Extension; Gene Wiseman of the Missouri Department of Agriculture; and Dr. Robert Gerlach of the Alaska Division of Environmental Health.

Other topics to be presented by state speakers include root cellars and extending crop availability, funding opportunities, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in Alaska, agriculture research from around the state, different methods of fertilizing organically, employment strategies, small fruit and berries, and the rhubarb industry.

Dairy goat farmer and cheesemaker Lorrie Conway of Conway Family Farm will be the keynote guest speaker. She will share how raising dairy goats and making cheese can be successful on a small family farm. She and her husband, Shaun, along with daughters Ashley and Amber, have raised Nubian goats and Leicester sheep on their five acres for more than 15 years.

Having built the farm from the ground up themselves, Conway Family Farm is a Grade A raw milk licensed dairy in the state of Washington.

In addition to raising goats and making

This year’s workshop on goat and small dairy will feature a panel of national and state speakers who will discuss the considerations of running a small dairy.

cheese, the Conways raise sheep for their wool, keep honeybees, and maintain “upick” blueberry and lavender fields. The goats and sheep also provide the Conways with grass-fed meat year-round.

In 2006, Lorrie and her family were nominated for the Western Region SARE Patrick Madden Award for Sustainable Agriculture. They were recognized for their efforts in sharing their knowledge of small-scale, sustainable agriculture with the public through e-mails, farm visits and tours, phone calls, community events and speaking engagements at conferences.

Lorrie holds a bachelor of science degree in business and management, which she combines with her lifetime experience of farming to operate her business management and accounting practice. All interested individuals are encouraged to attend this exciting and informative conference, which is sponsored by the Alaska Division of Agriculture, Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Western Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, UAF Cooperative Extension Service and UAF Office of Sustainability.

More information on the conference — including agenda updates, accommodations and registration details — will soon be available at www.uaf.edu/ces and http:// aksare.wikispaces.com/ Please check these websites often as plans are underway, and to obtain registration materials.

Taylor Maida is the Tanana District agriculture and horticulture program assistant for the Cooperative Extension Service, a part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She can be reached at 474-2422 or temaida@alaska.edu.