Register now for the 2025 Organic Vegetable Production Conference to connect with and learn from growers from across the Midwest and beyond.
The Organic Vegetable Production Conference (OVPC) provides a space for vegetable growers to learn from each other while also building connections and community. A producer-initiated conference, the OVPC serves advanced growers from across the Midwest and beyond. Virtual and in-person sessions make it easy for farmers to engage in a way that works for them. This year’s conference will open with half-day sessions held over Zoom on January 23 and 24. In-person sessions will take place the following week, on January 31 and February 1, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Farmers and agricultural professionals can register for virtual sessions, in-person sessions, or both.
Online sessions exploring facilities and equipment to handle storage crops, value-added processing and marketing for off-season selling, and packshed adaptations will get the 2025 conference underway – with speakers joining from the University of Vermont-Extension, Let’s Grow Akron, Red Earth Gardens, and Ohe·láku (“Among the Corn Stalks”). One thing that farmer attendees associate with the OVPC is our focus on specific vegetable topics each year. In 2025, farmers will present on onions, beans, winter squash, salad greens, and Brussels sprouts. These sessions provide detailed production information, from variety selection to postharvest handling, are specific to various scales, and are enhanced by photos from the field. Conference attendees receive a handout detailing each presenter’s systems, including germination techniques and crop spacing to equipment, disease and pest control, and so much more. Additional sessions on a wide variety of management topics will round out the schedule, including:
-Irrigation automation
-Farm enterprise profitability
-Farmworker perspectives on communication and delegation
-Pest and weed control techniques
-Food safety and wholesale
-Supporting rest during the growing season
-Troubleshooting in low and no-till systems
The OVPC is hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Dane County Extension, in partnership with FairShare CSA Coalition, Iowa State University Extension & Outreach, and the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. For additional information, contact Sarah Janes Ugoretz, Dane County Diversified Vegetable Educator, at sarah.janesugoretz@wisc.edu or visit the conference website.
