WIA Conference Agenda
Agenda at a Glance
Friday, November 15, 2024
-
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
WV Agri-Women Fall Quarterly Meeting -
10:30
– 11:45
a.m.
Conference Registration for Tours; Exhibitor Check-in -
Noon
– 6
p.m.
Pre-conference Farm Tours -
6:30
– 8
p.m.
Dinner and Networking Activity
Saturday, November 16, 2024
-
7 – 11 a.m.
Conference Registration -
8:30 – 3:15 p.m.
Exhibitor Booths Open
8:30 – 10 a.m.
Breakout Session 1
- The Science Behind Sausage
- Homegrown Flavor – Creating with West Virginia Plants
- Your Story is Ripe for the Telling!
10:30 – 11:20 a.m.
Breakout Session 2
11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Breakout Session 3
- Grazing and Small-Scale Beef Production – Making Informed Decisions
- High Tunnel Fertigation
- For the Love of Farming – Taking a Chance
-
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch -
1:30 – 3 p.m.
Keynote Address: Farming Her Own Story -
3 p.m.
Conference Wrap-Up, Complete Evaluation
Friday, November 15
10:30 – 11:30 a.m. -
West Virginia Agri-Women Fall Quarterly Meeting
10:30 – 11:45 a.m. -
Conference Registration for Tours; Exhibitor Check-in
Noon – 6 p.m. - Pre-conference Farm Tours
Buses depart promptly at noon. Don't be late! Boxed lunch provided to tour participants.
6:30 – 8 p.m. - Dinner and Networking Activity
Saturday, November 16
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
Grazing and Small-Scale Beef Production – Making Informed Decisions
Speaker: Suzanne Dietz, Ridge View Farm
Suzanne will discuss how she uses recordkeeping to enhance her intensive grazing
practices and maintain her soil conservation plan.
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
1:30 – 3 p.m. - Keynote Address
Farming Her Own Story
Keynote Speaker: Jennie Schmidt, Schmidt Farms, Inc.
Did you know that 2026 is the International Year of the Woman Farmer? Women
globally are responsible for producing half of the world’s food supply. In
the US, women represent 31% of all farmers (now that they finally allow for
more than one “principal operator” in the farm surveys). Jennie will share
her on-farm experiences along with her leadership experience as a member
of several national agricultural organizations. Her story is one of inclusion
– how to be included as a woman farmer, how to be included in a family farming
operation as the “in-law” and how to be included in state and national leadership
organizations despite not growing up on a farm. Jennie’s story is all about
how to be a farmer despite doubts by friends, family, neighbors and possibly
even herself.
About the keynote speaker:
Jennie Schmidt is part of Schmidt Farms, Inc., in Sudlersville, Maryland. With her brother-in-law, she manages a third-generation family farm that produces grains, vegetables and wine grapes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
When she’s not on a tractor, Jennie is a state and national agriculture leader, having served as the first female board member and first female president of the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board. Jennie is the Maryland delegate to the U.S. Grains Council, serves on the Sustainable Corn Export Board and is past chair of the Middle East/Africa/South Asia trade advisory team. She has spoken nationally and internationally about her story of food and farming. She is passionate about connecting people with food and emphasizes the importance of global food access and food supply sustainability.
Jennie, whose first career was as a registered dietitian, holds a bachelor’s degree in human nutrition and international agriculture from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from the University of Delaware in human nutrition with a focus on food and agricultural biotechnology. Jennie was the 2021 recipient of the Farm Journal Women in Agriculture Trailblazer award.
3 p.m. - Conference Wrap-Up, Complete Evaluation
* Schedule is subject to change.