When: Thursday, February 15 from 6 - 7 pm + additional 30 minutes for a debrief

Where: Online

Cost: Free, registration required. The zoom code will be sent to participants the day before the event.

There are a variety of online tools to assist farmers in planning, organizing, and building their CSA program. Two options, Tend and Farmigo, will be the focus of this webinar. Tend is a software to help farmers create a farm plan, a key start in planning a CSA. Farmigo specifically helps farmers grow and manage their CSA's. In this webinar, we will hear from two farmers who have experience using Tend and Farmigo. Melad Charkhabi from The Sharing Farm Society will speak to his experience using Tend, and Jeff Klug from Roots Down Organic Farm detailing his experience using Farmigo. Read the bios below to learn more about our guest speakers.

Following our guest speaker's presentations and the question-answer period will be a 30-minute debrief of the webinar. From 7 - 730, participants can stay on the call and engage in discussion with other farmers, exchange ideas and resources, and continue on the conversations started in the webinar. This is not a continuation of the question and answer period for our guest speakers, it is a chance to connect with other CSA farmers in BC.

Richmond Sharing Farm

The Sharing Farm is a non-profit community farm located in Richmond that began its activities in 2004. Its mission is to provide fresh produce to the Richmond Food Bank and other local food security organizations as well as to create shared experiences on the farm to promote community and well-being. The Sharing Farm also sells its produce through farmer's markets, a CSA, and through an online store. The farm began using Tend, a farm management software with a built-in farm store, in 2020. Currently, 2 acres are in cultivation.

Melad Charkhabi has been the field and production manager at The Sharing Farm since February 2020. After completing his degree in biology he decided to pursue farming and went on to complete the sustainable farming certificate program at Everdale. Melad has entered his 7th year of farming and is looking forward to many more.

Roots Down Organic Farm

Roots Down Organic Farm was started in 2005 by Jeff and Sue Klug. As Roots Down continues to grow, they are beginning to appreciate that the farm is contributing to the local community by providing employment opportunities in sustainable agriculture. They run a CSA Program from June to October where they use Farmigo to organize and take payments.

This event will be recorded and posted on our website for future viewing.

This event is part of a 6 part webinar series of our Strengthening CSA's Program to support CSA farmers and the expansion of CSA programs in BC.

Event photo by Richmond Sharing Farm