RESOURCES
MEMBER’S RESOURCES
SUMMER SCHOOL
The focus covers four major streams with a Harvest dinner and discussion on Tuesday evening.
Subjects are based on these topics:
Stream 1 – Property Management
Using whole-farm planning tools
Environmental management – minimising adverse environmental impacts
Personal management – looking after yourself (the most important asset of a farm business)
Stream 2 – Market Gardening
Production planning for year-round cropping
Produce handling – harvesting, post-harvest handling, packaging
Prolonging the harvest – what’s involved in value-adding?
Stream 3 – Animal Enterprises
Best practice pasture management for beef production
Pastured poultry and pigs
Managing local parasites and diseases of livestock
Stream 4 – Horticulture Enterprises
Cover-crop management throughout the year
Irrigation – best practices and innovations
Integrated Pest Management
MARKET GARDENING COURSES
Information coming soon…
FARM WALKS
MARY VALLEY COUNTRY HARVEST FOOD HUB
Get Local. With Mary Valley Country Flavours.
If you aren’t already using local food, now is the time to ‘Get Local’ with
Mary Valley food outlets and producers participating in the Mary Valley Country Flavours project.
MARY VALLEY COUNTRY (MVC) FLAVOURS
Mary Valley Country (MVC) Flavours is designed to support small tourism businesses and promote the use of local food by enhancing the visitor experience.
When registered with the ‘Flavours’ program, whether you are a grower or food provider, you can utilise the logo and benefit from the promotion it will provide.
Get local is the message, as there is strength in working together to create a regional identity for food grown or made in the Mary Valley.
Regional Australia report on agritourism in 2010 found that Australia’s urbanised populations have an increasing desire to connect to ‘the farm’, such as knowing where and how their food is made.
Through agritourism and food tourism experiences, consumers increase their knowledge of primary production and farming techniques. They can appreciate the aesthetic experiences—what they see, taste, hear, smell, and feel—and the learning opportunity. This kind of tourism increases their connection with growers and rural landscapes.
Agritourism and food tourism enterprises can allow farmers to increase their farm-related income with the general aim to help farmers stay on the farm. This project was initiated by peak community organisation Mary Valley Inc. Mary Valley Country Harvest Co-operative now administers the program.
LOCAL FOOD INITIATIVES
