Jean-Martin Fortier, known internationally as the “Rockstar Farmer” for his efforts in organic and biologically intensive cropping practices, will headline a full-day seminar at Arkansas State University Mid-South on December 8.Presented by Small Farms for Big Change in collaboration with sponsoring organizations in Arkansas and Tennessee, the event will include morning and afternoon presentations, three organic/farm-to-table meals, and a farmer mixer.
Local organic farmer Brandon Pugh of Delta Sol Farm in Proctor and Ray Tyler of Rose Creek Farm in Selmer, Tennessee, teamed up to bring the event to the region. Fortier will present a half-day workshop in Selmer on Dec. 7.
“It’s a big deal,” said Pugh who is in his seventh year of certified organic farming in Crittenden County. “I think it’s pretty cool that we managed to get Jean-Martin for this event. He’s a well-known farmer who has written a successful book, and he makes speaking tours all over the world. It’s going to be an interesting day.”
Pugh, who picked up organic farming in Oregon in 1997, said Tyler spearheaded the effort to bring Fortier to the Mid-South.
“Ray is the really inspired one,” Pugh pointed out. “He and his wife live on a small farm with their four children, and he’s trying to make it work. I think Jean-Martin has been a big influence for him. Ray said something about wanting to bring this guy to our area because he does speaking tours, and I offered to help.”
Pugh and Tyler also established Small Farms for Big Change with a goal of attracting successful national and international speakers to talk about what it takes to be a small farmer.
“Rockstar Farmer” Jean-Martin Fortier
“The biggest aspect of making it work as a small farmer is seeing who is doing it and who is doing it right,” Pugh said. “This is something we can do right here in the Mid-South.”
He said as many as 100 farmers are expected to participate, and early registrants include interested parties from as far away as Florida, Virginia, and Oklahoma. The half-day event in Selmer sold out early.
Tickets for the West Memphis seminar are $65 (plus a $3.27 service fee) and can be purchased online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2391830.
Fortier and his wife, Maude-Hélène Desroches, operate Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an internationally recognized 10-acre micro-farm in Quebec, Canada. With only 1.5 acres cultivated in permanent beds, the farm grosses more than $100,000 per acre. The couple grows a diversified mix of crops including beets, broccoli, salad greens, and carrots.
The focus at la Grelinette has been to grow better, not bigger, in order to optimize the cropping system, making it more lucrative and viable in the process.
Fortier emphasizes intelligent farm design, appropriate technologies, and soil biology as key components of successful farming. A noted storyteller who can mix technical farming with personal anecdotes from his agricultural efforts, Fortier has facilitated hundreds of speaking events in Canada, Europe, Australia, and the U.S.
Fortier has been widely featured in the mainstream media, as well as in specialized publications, radio shows, and podcasts. He believes in replacing mass food production with food production by the masses and hopes recognition of his efforts will generate more support for the emerging generation of small-scale farmers.
His book, “The Market Gardener,” has earned a silver Living Now Book Award and has inspired many of its readers to reimagine human-scale food systems.
“I feel very humbled about all this appreciation,” Fortier said. “Hopefully, it translates into providing beginning farmers with a solid framework for them to successfully start their own…endeavors. That’s my goal. It’s up to all of us to reinvent the noble profession of farming.”
Fortier will speak twice more in the U.S. (in New Hampshire and California) this year before visiting the Southern Hemisphere for presentations in New Zealand and Australia. Following his Feb. 28 workshop in Melbourne, he will take a sabbatical to “focus on farming and learning new skills and techniques.”
Pugh said December is a great time of the year for a workshop of this nature. “It’s uplifting to have this kind of conference to help farmers get recharged for the next year. That will give us a month or two to think about our plans for 2016.”
He also said ADU Mid-South is an ideal venue.
“I really wanted to make it happen in West Memphis because ASU Mid-South has a perfect facility for hosting speakers like this,” he explained. “It’s kind of cool to have a certified organic farm down the road and have the opportunity to talk about sustainable farming at the community college. It’s been fun working with the people at ASU Mid-South; they’ve been really nice.”
Pugh also acknowledged help from his family.
“My dad, Jim Pugh, is going to be a greeter, and he’s really excited.”
Pugh said organizing the event has taken quite a bit of time but not a great deal of hard work. “It’s been really fun.”
Event sponsors include Memphis Center for Food and Faith, ASU Mid-South, Delta Cuisine Commercial Kitchen & Food Incubator (on the ASU Mid-South campus), Urban Farms of Memphis, Grow Memphis, Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative of Arkansas, Tennessee Food Policy Council, Bring It Food Hub of Memphis, and Foodshed Farms of Little Rock.
For more information about the featured speaker, visit www.themarketgardener.com.
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