[SEMCO] Workshops for Shellfish Growers in the Northeast

[Jeffrey M. Brodeur]

Shellfish growers have chosen to be farmers because they have an ambition to succeed.  Each day in the field is different, and each day fulfills a personal desire to learn more about their chosen profession.
 
Currently, there is a push for environmental sustainability and a move for local foods.
 
The East Coast Shellfish Research Institute, an arm of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, has received a grant from USDA/NIFA Risk Management Education Northeast Center to do a workshop in all of the northeast coastal states. The focus of these workshops is to help growers document the environmental soundness of their operation, show how this extremely simple technology can improve their profitability, learn something new and relevant, and understand what to do in case of mortalities in field growout.
 
Would you like to show your customers and consumers that you really are an environmentally aware shellfish farmer?  Would you like to improve the marketing for your crop, as well as know what to do if you have a major mortality?  And maybe why it’s a good idea to keep decent production records? Well, this workshop may just be the thing for you!
 
We will have some hands-on work documenting your operation into an Individual Farm Plan, show how to create a Point of Purchase brochure, learn some other new things, and get some personal attention for growing your future success.
 
The workshops are free of charge but we’d like you to RSVP to your state Aquaculture Extension Specialist about your participation.  We may send some other suggestions about what to bring with you to help the process.
 
The workshop schedule is as follows:
 
Massachusetts
Wednesday January 29….10AM to 1PM. Harbor View Conference Room, Old Jail Building - Barnstable Superior Courthouse Complex, 3195 Main Street, Barnstable, MA 02630
 
Delaware
Monday January 20, 2014
 
Maryland 
Tuesday January 21 

New Jersey
Wednesday January 22, 1 to 4PM  Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office, 6260 Old Harding Hwy, Mays Landing, NJ 08330 

New York
Thursday January 23,  1 to 4PM,  Cornell Cooperative Extension, 423 Griffing Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901 

Connecticut
Friday January 24...,
 
Rhode Island
Saturday January 25 from 1-4PM. Hazard Rooms, Coastal Institute at the Narragansett Bay Campus 215 South Ferry Rd, Narragansett, RI, 02882
 
Maine 
Monday January 27 from 1 to 4PM, University of Maine, Hutchinson Center, 80 Belmont Avenue (Route #3) Belfast, Maine 04915
 
New Hampshire
Tuesday January 28.....TBD, New Hampshire/Northshore Massachusetts
 
Attendees are invited to bring with them all the information they would need to complete the plan (actually not much…most information is in their heads). They would create the trifold brochure at home on their own after instruction at the workshop, but people on the grant would be available by phone or email to help with those also.
 
Further information about the workshops will come from each state’s Aquaculture Extension people and circulated through their normal channels. So, put these dates on your calendar so you can attend.  And hopefully it will be really cold, nasty, snowy, sleety, and high tide, and you won’t have any excuse not to attend. 
 
Massachusetts Contact for RSVP:
Diane Murphy
Fisheries & Aquaculture Specialist
Cape Cod Cooperative Extension & Woods Hole Sea Grant
Box 367
Barnstable, MA  02630
508-375-6953
dmurphy at whoi.edu
 










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