Western Pa. residents among virtual presenters set for 2nd Pa. Veteran Farming Conference

The inaugural Pennsylvania Veteran Farming Conference drew a standing-room-only gathering of about 75 to the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg last February.

This year’s conference, open to the public as well as military members, veterans and their families, was to have occurred at a larger venue. But, because the covid-19 pandemic is still with us, it will be held virtually Feb. 27.

Registration is open, with participants free to Zoom in for a whole day of webinar programs, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or just for sessions that interest them.

Presenters will include officials from Penn State Extension, Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, the state and federal Departments of Agriculture, LeRoux Ag Marketing Consultants and Good Insurance.

Attendees also will hear from veterans who are involved in agricultural enterprises.

“We always want to tie it in with a working farmer, someone who’s actually done it,” said Mimi Thomas-Brooker, project director for the Pennsylvania Veteran Farming Project, a program that connects veterans in the state with resources for farming and agribusiness.

One of the featured farms will be GEMS Farm, a hops-growing operation near Carlisle owned by Sharon Reifsnyder and her spouse, Michael, a Navy veteran.

“This conference is such a great way to make connections throughout the veteran farming community,” Sharon Reifsnyder said. “No matter what type of challenge in farming, there’s probably somebody in the group that has experience with it.”

Robert Mowery, a Navy and Navy Reserves veteran who raises crops and livestock on Forever Heart Farm in Moon, will lead a session on beginning beekeeping.

Mowery noted he has been keeping bees for just four years but has learned from others who have been in the business for decades and is hoping to expand his number of hives from six to 200 over the coming years.

While the bees are in hibernation for the winter, Mowery plans to include in his presentation photos and video footage from a beekeeping class for other veterans he has hosted at his farm.

“You’re not going to make millions of dollars doing it,” Mowery said of beekeeping. But he noted it can be an ancillary source of income.

In addition to marketing honey, a beekeeper may raise queen bees and sell wax from his hives, he said, noting the bees also are an important resource for pollinating his vegetables.

For those who are coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said, beekeeping “can be used as a therapy. It gets your mind off everything else.”

In addition to other topics, Larry Daugherty, an Army National Guard veteran who has served in Iraq, will talk about his 2-year-old food trailer enterprise that grew out of raising beef and pork at his family’s Heritage Farm in German Township, Fayette County.

“It was actually to promote the farm, as far as selling meat, but it took off on its own,” he said of the trailer business.

Daugherty has taken the trailer to a growing number of events, mostly in neighboring Greene County.

“It’s all farm-to-table food,” he said. “Pulled pork is our specialty.”

Other session topics at the conference will include: “Farm Finance;” “Legal Liability, Agritourism and Insurance;” “Creating Consumer-Friendly Bulk Meat Sales During Covid-19 and Beyond;” and panel discussions on grant opportunities and “Scaling Up from Farmstead to Sales.”

Participation is limited to 100 people per session.

Admission is free for veterans or military members with verified status. A $15 donation is requested for other participants.

Visit troopstotractors.org/events for details, registration and sponsorship opportunities.