Farmers don’t often have expendable income or much free time. This limits the professional development opportunities that they can participate in, which can limit their ability to grow their business. We collaborate with local and national experts to provide a Training & Professional Development Program for Market vendors and potential new vendors. We offer scholarships to outside trainings and organize workshops of our own to help our vendors improve their skills, share knowledge, and strengthen their businesses.

The Institute has hosted workshops on food safety, marketing & branding, social media, rainwater harvesting, value added Q&A, and writing a business plan. Additionally, vendors received scholarships to attend the New Mexico Organic Farming Conference, the Rocky Mountain Seed Summit, a Mushroom Cultivators workshop, Women in Agriculture Leadership Conference, Apple Production Workshop at Tooley’s Trees hosted by Michael Phillips, and the Acres Conference and countless other learning opportunities.

Previous workshop topics have included:

  • Farm to Table Farmers Teaching Farmers Workshop Series
  • Hands-on Hoop House Construction
  • Greenhouse Construction
  • Soil Fertility
  • Greenhouse Propagation
  • Solar
  • Marketing

This program is partially funded by Consortium of Major LANL Subcontractors Fund at New Mexico Community Foundation and New Cycle Foundation.

 

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Compost Workshop, 2015

Greenhouse Workshop, 2015

Art of Seed Stewardship with
Hudson Valley Seed Library, 2016

Soil Analysis Workshop, 2015

Soil Analysis Workshop, 2015

Soil Workshop, 2013

Tree Grafting Workshop, 2016

 

This workshop was incredibly valuable in circulating the most advanced knowledge in the community so, together, we can work to be better soil stewards and ultimately better farmers. What a benefit and boon to Northern New Mexico to have the best of the best come speak to us in our own backyard. Let’s all keep learning and growing together!