| Regenerative Agriculture & Gardening Workshop on Maui |
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Regenerative Agriculture and Gardening Workshop on Maui
Friday, March 29 to Sunday, March 31
9am to 6pm each day
Restoring life to the soil offers many benefits including being able to produce more with less and a more nutritious food leading to better human health. The first step in this process is to begin to restore and maintain the soil biology, because if we take care of the life in the soil it will take care of us.
This workshop will explore how this is done and what it means for better nutrient and water availability to the crops, along with being able to produce a more nutritious crop. Experts in these areas will be providing the training and hands-on demonstrations in the field. You have the opportunity to learn, ask questions, and develop relationships to help utilize your soil resources to their full capacity.
 Topics being covered and discussed include on March 29th and 31st: Why is soil biology the key to regenerative agriculture? How do we sustain an active biology in the soil? How does improving the soil allow for more efficient use of nutrients and water, and how does that affect food quality? What factors allow for more efficient use of sunlight? What is a balanced soil?
Visits to farms on Saturday, March 30 On the second day of our program, we will be visiting several farms on Maui where we will look at what principles of regenerative agriculture they are using right now or can add to their farm management.
An ongoing online education program will be available and will be presented at the end of the three-day course.
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This Regenerative Agriculture and Gardening workshop is for you if you can answer "yes" to one or more of these...
- You are wanting to grow your crops without pesticides or herbicides, you want to understand how balancing your soil makes this easily possible, and you want to better understand the health benefits of growing food this way.
- You are planning to create a garden that is chemical-free and truly abundant in its flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
- You want to learn how adding certain natural amendments to the soil will make it very unpleasant for weeds to grow.
- You would like to learn about a highly effective natural herbicide that is an alternative to Round Up.
- You are a farmer in Hawaii or anywhere else wanting to create much greater production on your farm by integrating the principles of regenerative agriculture.
- You live in Hawaii, have a background in agriculture and want to get more information about regenerative approaches so that you can consult more effectively with the many new two-acre plot landowners that have recently been created on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
Download this pdf: Regenerative Ag Curriculum to see the extensive outline of the course delivered by Mike McNeill and USDA representative and speaker, Jerry Hatfield. The online course after this weekend will continue to go into depth on many of these topics.
Bob Streit and Joseph Simcox will be presenting on related topics on these two days as well.
Vincent Mina, President of the Hawai'i Farmers Union United will be presenting on why Maui needs regenerative agriculture so much.
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This three-day course is being held on Maui at Hale Akua Garden Farm, a CCOF-certified  organic farm and eco-retreat center. In addition to a variety of crops, we alsoraise chickens, goats, ducks, sheep and fish. Hale Akua is situated on the slopes of the dormant volcano Haleakala. The farm has spectacular views of 30 miles of untouched Hawaiian coastline. One can also see all the way to the top of the volcano on a clear day. We also have a 60-foot swimming pool, sauna and hot tub for rest and recreation in between the lectures.
All people staying at Hale Akua will be served three delicious organic meals a day. Others from the island are invited to bring a pack lunch. For those who want additional snacks, we also sell veggies, fruits, eggs, turmeric juice drinks and powders and homemade organic banana cookies in our "community fridge" at a nominal cost. Please come over to our fridge and enjoy!
If you come from the mainland, we suggest that you arrive early to enjoy Maui and adjust to the time change before beginning the seminar. We can give you all sorts of guidance to fun things among them Makena Beach, Iao Valley, and Haleakala to visit before the seminar. We also have some rooms that can be reserved, but do so soon!
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8-10 Hour Continuing Education Credit for Agronomy & Crop Production!
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 Michael McNeill is a PhD agronomist trained at Iowa State University. His work following graduation included working as a plant pathologist with the U.S. Army and later managing a corn breeding research station for Funks Seeds International.
In 1983 he started Ag Advisory Ltd. as an independent agricultural consulting service providing genetic, agronomic and economic consultation for farmers. The services provided included soil and plant tissue sampling, fertilizer recommendations as well as, herbicide, fungicide, and insecticide recommendations He conducted contract research work for private companies, universities and government agencies that involved improving agronomic practices and evaluating inputs. |
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 USDA representative, Jerry Hatfield, PhD, received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1975 in the area of Agricultural Climatology and Statistics a M.S. in Agronomy from the University of Kentucky in 1972, and B.S. from Kansas State University in Agronomy in 1971. He served on the faculty of the University of California-Davis as a biometeorologist from 1975 through 1983 and then joined USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Lubbock, Texas, as the Research Leader of the Plant Stress and Water Conservation Research Unit from 1983 through 1989. He was appointed Laboratory Director of the National Soil Tilth Laboratory in 1989 (renamed the Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in October 2009). |
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 Amie Bandy has a BS in Agronomy from Purdue University, and she is a Certified Crop Advisor and a Crop Consultant in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota. After qualifying in production management at New Northrup King in Lone Tree, Iowa, she advanced to Seed Stock Production for Syngenta in Washington, Iowa. She has worked in the private agriculture sector for over twenty-five years and has six years of experience in commercial seed corn and seed stock production.
Amie is a member of IICCA Crop Consultants and has been a certified crop consultant since 1999. She is also the founder and CEO of The Crop Advisor Consulting Company. She has specialized in scouting, soil balancing and biologic management, plant tissue analysis and plant insect and disease management since her company's inception in 1996. |
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 Vincent Mina is the President of the Hawai'i Farmers Union United and organizer of many educational farming conferences over the years. Co-owner of a family farm for the past twenty five years with wife Irene. Kahanu Aina Greens is one of the largest smallest farms in Hawai'i producing on average 500 pounds of greens. The 2,500 sq. ft. farm has been recycling the composted biomass from what has been harvested over those years.
Vincent is also president of Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation, a 501c3, chair of the National Committee on Regenerative Agriculture and Local Food (RALF) and currently sits on the Hawai'i State Board of Agriculture. |
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