Florida’s only statewide small farms conference returns for a third year July 15-17 in Kissimmee, and this year’s slate is even more in-depth than in the conference’s first two years.

For this year’s Florida Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises conference, organizers have added two six-hour workshops and two farm tours as pre-conference activities.

In one of the workshops, participants will learn how to create a food safety plan to ensure that their farm meets safety standards now being required even by smaller buyers. The second workshop will teach inexperienced growers the basic scientific principles behind food production. One tour will be oriented toward livestock producers and one toward crops.

About 800 farmers and industry professionals are expected to attend. The conference features more than 100 speakers, about 30 educational sessions and more than 90 dealer exhibits, along with awards, livestock displays and networking opportunities, said Bob Hochmuth, a UF multicounty extension agent.

Another change to this year’s conference, he said, is that there will be more opportunities for attendees to socialize and network, including a large gathering Saturday evening. And on the conference’s final day, there will still be educational workshops, geared to encourage farmer-to-farmer discussion on key issues and promote opportunities available to small farm operators.

“It’ll be a little less of a ‘lecture style,’” Hochmuth said.

The conference, at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, is hosted by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and Florida A&M University’s College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture.

Topics for the conference are wide-ranging, and include sessions on government regulations, marketing, pest control, livestock production, irrigation, Community-Supported Agriculture, agriculture equipment and the latest in growing and protecting crops.

Florida’s small farms community includes about 44,000 families. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture standards, any farm with less than $250,000 in gross annual sales is small; more than 90 percent of Florida’s farms meet that description.

Those interested in attending the conference may go to the Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises site, at http://smallfarms.ifas.ufl.edu. Besides registration information, the site includes a wealth of information for anyone considering starting a farm.

Space for some of the pre-conference events is limited, so organizers encourage those interested to register soon.