Daniel Mays Leads Masters’ Series on No-Till Organic Vegetable Production
EROS, Louisiana – Campti Field of Dreams is pleased to announce that Daniel Mays will lead a 2-Day Masters Series on Organic Vegetable Production at the Back to Your Roots 2021 Conference. This year’s theme is Reshaping Communities through Regenerative Agriculture. The conference is being held September 9 through 11. The location has changed from Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City to DeLaTerre Permaculture Farm in Eros, Louisiana in response to the corona virus – Delta variant.
Daniel Mays is the owner and operator of Frith Farm in southern Maine, where he has been growing vegetables commercially using no-till methods since 2011. His Waldorf education and Quaker upbringing shape his relationship to land and community, and he holds a master’s degree in environmental engineering. Mays is author of The No-Till Organic Vegetable Farm and shares his holistic approach to agriculture and his farm's human-scale regenerative growing methods at workshops and events across the country.
“We are excited to have Daniel share his model of agroecological farming - farming at a human scale. This is a great way learn how to grow nutrient-dense food for family, friends and neighbors and generate supplemental income from home,” said Donna Isaacs, executive director of Campti Field of Dreams.
Farming at a Human Scale: Learn the principles behind the Frith Farm no-till practices and leave with a foundational understanding of what builds health in soil, farms, and people.
Starting a No-Till Market Farm: This session covers the challenging and exciting process of finding land, acquiring capital, and designing and building the farm’s infrastructure, including the establishment and maintenance of permanent no-till beds.
From Seed to Crop: Discuss the steps that take a grower from a packet of seeds to healthy crops in the ground, including crop planning, direct seeding, soil blocking, propagating seedlings, transplanting, irrigating, and managing weeds.
Harvesting, Handling, and Marketing: This session dives into the details of harvesting, washing, packing, and distributing produce. Daniel will cover how Frith Farm established a thriving customer base and will explore marketing strategies to ensure farm viability.
Building Soil Health: Learn how Frith Farm uses mulching, cover cropping, multicropping, perennial hedgerows, and livestock integration to build soil health, including the methods of mowing, crimping, tarping, and material handling used to manage these systems.
Labor, Financials, and Measures of Success: The final session of the series will cover key elements of successful labor management, as well as the financial aspects of running a successful farm business. We will end by discussing alternative measures of success, such as ecological health, social impact, and quality of life.
This event is brought to you by Campti Field of Dreams in partnership with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Ross Lynn Charitable Foundation, Slow Food North Louisiana, and Bossier Parish Community College. For more information about the conference and to register online, visit www.camptifieldofdreams.net.
Campti Field of Dreams, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in underserved communities through cultural heritage, green rehabilitation, local food production, and sustainable entrepreneurship initiatives. For more information, contact: Donna Isaacs, 318-521-4998, donna@camptifieldofdreams.org.