WIA Conference Agenda

7 – 8:15 a.m. -  Exhibitor Booth Setup

7 – 11 a.m. -  Registration

7:30 – 8:30 a.m. -  Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. -  Exhibitor Booths Open to Participants

8:30 – 10 a.m. - Breakout Session 1

Livestock and Forages Track:
The Science Behind Sausage
Speaker: Josh Peplowski and Greg Hamons, WVU Extension

Salt, fat and grind are critical components to sausage. Join this interactive pork sausage making class to learn the recipes and the science to great sausage making. Josh and Greg will discuss key product components and the effect cooking has on the meat. Participants will get to taste the results!

About the speakers:  

Greg Hamons has been the WVU Extension agriculture and natural resources agent in Pocahontas County since 2009, where each year he’s trained 30 to 40 4-H and FFA students in pork processing as part of the ham bacon program. 

Josh Peplowski is the WVU Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Greenbrier County. Josh is an alumnus of West Virginia University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture. He has served with WVU Extension since 2013.

Together, Josh and Greg offer “at-home” pork and beef processing courses around the state to provide the public with the proper knowledge to safely harvest and process their own animals at their homes. 

Horticulture Track:
Homegrown Flavor – Creating with West Virginia Plants
Speaker: Jennifer Castello, Twisted Chicken Farm 

Jennifer will be teaching participants how to make infusions and tinctures from plants found commonly growing in West Virginia. Participants will have the opportunity to make their own salve with oil infusions and beeswax pellets.

About the speaker:

Jennifer Castello moved to West Virginia in 2019 and became interested in the plants already growing on her land. In 2020, she picked her first leaf, mullein. Since then, she has started growing herbs and foraging on her property. She makes tinctures and oil infusions and sells her products at the local Spencer Farmers Market in Roane County.

Finance and Marketing Track:
Your Story is Ripe for the Telling!  
Speaker:  Judi Tarowsky, West Virginia Storyteller

Judi will explain what storytelling is – and isn't. She will go over the basics on how to develop a story and how this story can be told and used as a marketing tool. Judy will be using Family Roots Farm in Brooke County, West Virginia, as a storytelling example.

About the speaker:

Judi Tarowsky graduated from West Virginia University and worked for newspapers in the Upper Ohio Valley. She currently is president of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. Judi writes and performs original stories, historical narratives and tall tales. She also presents family stories, old fairy tales, Celtic tales, ghost stories and traditional folk tales, as well as workshops.

Judi co-produces the Grand Vue Storytelling Festival in Moundsville, West Virginia. She is a frequent teller at the West Virginia State Folk Festival and the Dublin Irish Festival in Dublin, Ohio, as well as the Appalachian Festival in Frostburg, Maryland. This past March, she presented a workshop at the Tejas Storytelling Festival in Denton, Texas, and performed in the Ghost Story Concert.

She resides in Weirton, West Virginia. 

10 – 10:30 a.m. -  Morning Break |  Visit Exhibitor Booths

10:30 – 11:20 a.m. -   Breakout Session 2

Livestock and Forages Track:
Recovering After a Drought
Speaker: Ronnie Helmondollar, WVU Extension

After an unprecedented dry year, it will take time to bring pasture and hay fields back to optimum productivity. This session will share best management strategies for livestock producers be prepared before a drought to reduce risk exposure, during a drought to minimize the damage and after a drought to recover faster.

About the speaker: 

Ronnie Helmondollar has worked with producers to market livestock in West Virginia for more than 30 years. He has served as a WVU Extension agriculture and natural resources agent in Taylor and Randolph counties, and currently, he is the WVU Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources program unit director.

Horticulture Track:
The Dirt on Your Dirt
Speaker: Emily Morrow, WVU Extension

Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, oh my! Navigating submitting a soil sample and interpreting the results can be confusing. This session will overview how to take a good sample, read the report and make fertilizer calculations for both large and small fields. If you have recent soil test results, you are welcome to bring them to this session.

About the speaker:

Emily Morrow is a native of Tyler County, West Virginia, and grew up on a small beef cattle farm. She serves as the WVU Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Jefferson County, a role she has held since 2016. Her work in Jefferson County is diverse, encompassing soil science and nutrient management research, consumer horticulture programs, beginning farmer programs and youth agriculture education. She thinks the best days at work are spent outside, in a field, whether that is conducting research with farmers or teaching others about soil. When not at work, you’ll also find her outside, spending time with her husband and two young children.

Finance and Marketing Track:
Planning Your Enterprise Mix 
Speaker: Dee Singh-Knights, WVU Extension

Considering which farm enterprise to pursue is important to your farm’s success. While there is no one farm solution that will work for all farmers, there are some key considerations that should guide the enterprise decision process. This session will provide some key considerations to help farmers begin the decision-making process of evaluating alternative enterprises.

About the speaker:

Dee Singh-Knights is a professor and Extension specialist at West Virginia University. For the last 10 years, she specialized in agribusiness economics and management with the goal of boosting sustainable agricultural production systems through research, teaching and extension education. Her work centers on the belief that there are enormous opportunities to increase production of and demand for locally and regionally produced agricultural products, and to develop new market opportunities for agribusiness operations serving local and expanded markets. Dee works to help operators capitalize on these growing opportunities, while managing the resultant business risks

11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. -  Breakout Session 3

Livestock and Forages Track:
Perspectives of a Pioneer Grass Farmer
Speaker: Suzanne Dietz, Ridge View Farm

Suzanne's Ridge View Farm was one of the first West Virginia farms to be listed on the eatwild.com website as they adopted rotational grazing practices early on. Suzanne is excited to share her perspectives of how this grass-focused management system has grown and changed over the 20+ years since they have adopted the practice.

About the speaker:

Suzanne Dietz and her husband, Jim, operate Ridge View Farm, located near Parkersburg, West Virginia. Ridge View Farm provides natural grass-finished beef and veal (pasture raised). The farm is a West Virginia Grasslands Demonstration Farm, managed organically using management intensive grazing practices. The farm operates under a soil conservation plan and a forest stewardship plan. Recordkeeping of all aspects of the operation provides the valuable insight needed to make informed management decisions. 

Horticulture Track:
High Tunnel Fertigation 
Speaker: Lewis Jett, WVU Extension 

Learn how to calculate fertilizer rates for high tunnel crops to obtain maximum production yields in this fertigation and nutrient management training.

About the speaker:

Dr. Lewis Jett is an associate professor and WVU Extension horticulture specialist with an emphasis in commercial, horticulture crops. A native West Virginian, Dr. Jett’s research and outreach programs include methods to lengthen the traditional growing season and expand locally grown production of fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables. Other areas of research include seed production, seed saving, native vegetables and fruits, no-till production and organic horticulture.

Finance and Marketing Track:
For the Love of Farming – Taking a Chance
Speaker: Michelle Wilfong, Wilfong Farms & CW’s Corn Maze

Are you tired and burnt out at your 8 to 4 job? Is your passion for agriculture? If so, we will discuss how you can make your dream a reality! We will talk about how one can get started in production agriculture as well as agritourism. We will discuss the joys, discomforts and everything in between!

About the speaker:

Michelle Wilfong lives in Pocahontas County and resides on their more than 100-year-old family farm. The farm consists of 1,100 ewes, 800 brood cows and 1,000 yearling cattle. In addition, they operate a U-pick strawberry patch, high tunnel, and CW's Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch. After teaching school for seven years, Michelle decided to stay home on the farm full time. This has allowed her to focus more on the agritourism aspects of their farm. While some days can be challenging and stressful, she is so happy with her decision! She is happily married to her husband, Charles, and they have a 6-year-old son, CW.

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. -  Lunch