The Warren County Extension Office observed that new growers selling their products at the farmers market would slowly build up their customer base and then leave in order to sell their goods off the farm. While this is good for farmers, area farmers markets are left with fewer vendors and limited produce variety at the market. In response to this situation, the Warren County Extension Office worked together with the SOKY Marketplace where they applied for and were awarded a Specialty Crop grant to offer a Specialty Crop Conference. The goal of this conference was to give both beginning and experienced growers ideas of other opportunities to help in diversifying their farming operations to make money on the farm.

In early February 2020, Warren County Extension Agent for Horticulture developed and distributed a pre-survey to gather topics of interest from potential vendors. Due to COVID-19, the Specialty Crop Conference moved to a virtual format via Zoom rather than in-person and was held on Thursday, December 10, 2020. The Virtual Specialty Crop Conference was marketed on several platforms including Facebook, The Farm and Home Show on WBKO-13, Ag Connections, Get the Scoop Radio Show, Mail Chimp, and through other email notifications.      

This conference attracted a total of 106 registrants with 57 actual participants being in attendance on the day of the conference. Several participants joined in from all regions of Kentucky as well as one participant from Southern Illinois. Those in attendance were from a variety of experience levels ranging from limited experience to farmers with 3 to 10+ years of farming experience, and others seeking information in general.

The Virtual Specialty Crop Conference was a one-day training where interested participants attended general sessions in the morning and then were given options of break-out sessions to join in the afternoon. Morning topics covered Business Planning with KCARD, Center for Crop Diversification (CCD) Resources, and remarks from Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles from the KY Department of Agriculture. The afternoon break-out sessions offered grower to grower experience on growing lavender, heirloom vegetables, blueberries, cut-flower production, cultivating different greens in a high tunnel, mums, grapes, and how to plan your high tunnel crops. In order to host the afternoon break-out sessions, several of the Mammoth Cave Area Agriculture Extension Agents served as break-out room hosts to assist with speaker introductions, the chat box, and recording each individual session.  

Following the program, a post-evaluation survey through Qualtrics revealed other successes. Several people mentioned that they enjoyed the virtual format, since it didn’t take them away from the farm.  One person noted “you nailed it on this conference. Relevant information delivered in an easy format”. From the surveys, attendees valued the Virtual Specialty Crop Conference at a total of $4,725.00.  

Recordings from all the break-out sessions were posted on the Warren County Extension Office website to give others another opportunity to receive the information. These recordings were termed “on-demand videos” due to the high number of interest from participants. Overall this conference was a huge success which inspired the participants who attended to implement plans and changes to better their Kentucky farming operations.