Registration is now closed.
The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association is hosting its third annual Professional Pastured Poultry Producers Conference in Greenville, Texas, on January 21-22, 2019.
This meeting is a dynamic system of farmers, ideas, and discussions. Topics will be facilitated based on attendee recommendations, suggestions, and interest.
Note: To register for the member rate, you must log in to your apppa.org account (all members have one and the username is the email address attached to your membership.) Contact grit@apppa.org for help.
Not sure if this conference is right for you? Start here.
Topics and Schedule
The topics outlined below are derived from registration input, previous years' feedback, and APPPA's awareness of the pastured poultry community's needs, challenges, and opportunities.
You are the conference, and you have immense opportunity to guide the content of the conversation through your questions, your discussion, and your involvement.
Here are a few of the large group discussion topics:
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Planned networking time throughout the day for personal and thoughtful conversations.
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Farming pastured poultry in extreme weather
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Strategies for business development and for managing the logistics necessary to supply expanding market opportunities
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Dealing with feed supply issues and a worsening grain supply
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Applying lean manufacturing principles to increase the efficiency of your farm
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Managing scale, employees, and business
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Round-table discussions for broilers, layers, turkeys, and waterfowl
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Farm tour* of the brooder, pasture management, processing facility, and on-farm hatchery at Windy Meadows Family Farm
Break out discussions:
- Inspected processor meetup**
- Ways to maximize on-farm exempt processing under P.L. 90-492
- Profitable heritage poultry on pasture
- Handling and processing eggs
- and the opportunity for many more specialized topics as needed
The approach of each discussion will follow a consistent framework. A facilitator will guide the talks and be responsible for keeping the conversation on pace and on-topic. Each person will be required to get to their point in under 2 minutes before the facilitator steps in. The format allows for one attendee to ask questions directly of another attendee, as long as the question is relevant to the discussion.
*Farm Tour: The Hale family will host an optional tour of Windy Meadows Family Farm and processing facility on Monday afternoon. Windy Meadows is a multi-generational farm raising 70,000+ pasture-raised broilers; they also operate an on-farm hatchery and inspected processing facility.
**Inspected Processors Meetup: David Hale will host an in-depth processing mastermind for USDA/State inspected processors at the Windy Meadows facility. Space is limited and conference registration is required.
Meeting Format
APPPA’s Professional Pastured Poultry Conference shakes up the typical conference workshop format by putting the instructors in the seats with everyone else. We basically use an unconference meeting format, which results in focused and relevant group-based collaboration. Here's a list of what you can expect if you join this meeting.
Professional Producers: This is an inclusive meeting; however, discussion will be an intermediate to advanced level in our moderated discussions and large groups. In other words, they expect experienced discussion.
Profitable Mindset: Pastured poultry is a business, and this reality is the underpinning of the conference. An unprofitable pastured poultry farm cannot drive change in the marketplace.
Large Group Discussions: Large group discussions will be facilitated and may require unique perspectives from scaled up producers and producers with experience. The moderator will limit conversation that doesn't fit the assembled audience and redirect those off-topic discussions to an appropriate time and place.
Breakout Group Discussions: Smaller group discussions will offer alternative topics that may be of interest to a smaller, yet highly interested groups of people in lieu of large group discussions. APPPA will suggest some alternative topics throughout the conference, and we will also provide a way for attendees to create their own discussion on the fly.
Spontaneous: Each of the discussion blocks will feature an overarching topic that provides a framework for the discussion. The details of that discussion will happen real-time among the participants. Here's an example. In 2018, we held a block of time open for discussion "value-added products." One of the questions and ensuing discussions focused on the multiple ways to provide, prepare, and market spent hens, cull roosters, and other parts to pet owners.
Flash Talks: In 2017, a consistent point of feedback was that attendees wanted an opportunity to hear more about the successes from their peers. in 2018, we'll introduce a limited number of 5 minute, single focus presentations called flash talks.
Registration Information
Registration includes conference attendance, lunch for both days, and dinner on Monday evening. Lodging is additional and is the responsibility of the attendee.
Registration is tiered by membership status and date. Register early to save.
A note about food: Registration includes breakfast snacks and lunch on both conference days. Dinner is included on Monday evening at the civic center.
Until December 20:
- Members: $150 + $100 each additional person
- Non-members: $190 each person
Until January 11:
- Members: $200 + $125 each additional person
- Non-members: 240 each person
Late registrations:
- Members: $225 each
- Non-Members: $250 each
Lodging
Attendees are responsible for booking and paying for your own lodging. APPPA is holding a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express for $89 per night plus taxes and fees.
To reserve a room at the Holiday Inn Express (2901 Mustang Crossing, Greenville Texas 75402), call 903-454-8680 and immediately tell the front desk that you need to make a reservation as part of a group. Then reference company/group name "APPPA. Room rate is good through January 1, 2019.
Sponsors
The 2019 Professional Pastured Poultry Conference is proudly sponsored by these friends of the movement.
