NH Farm Network Open Forum 2025

The NH Farm Network is a collaboration of agriculture service providers who work to support and provide resources to NH farms and aspiring farmers. Members of the network gather quarterly to share news and learn about each other's organizations and programmatic offerings. The meetings are open to anyone, including growers. You can learn more about the network on our webpage: https://extension.unh.edu/resource/nh-farm-network

This year there will be a series of four meetings.  Participants are invited to attend any number of these meetings.  There is one registration for all four sessions. 

Meeting dates:

• March 3, 2025 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (Online)
• June 2, 2025 | 1:00 PM- 2:30 PM (Online)
• September - Date Pending | Agriculture Professionals Day (In-Person)
• December 1, 2025 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (Online)

Register in advance for these meetings here. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meetings.

Join us for the NH Farm Network Spring Call, where we’ll highlight important work underway to support New Hampshire’s beginning farmers. 

• UNH Extension will share updates on its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development (BFRD) grant with USDA, including insights from a newly completed statewide needs assessment focused on beginner farmers. This work aims to deepen our understanding of the challenges new farmers face and how agricultural service providers can better support their success.
• The NH Queer Farmer Network and NOFA-NH will share about their recent farmer wellness retreat—an emerging strategy that addresses the mental, emotional, and social well-being of farmers. As more beginning farmers face stress, isolation, and burnout, wellness retreats are proving to be a powerful way to build resilience, foster peer connection, and create a stronger sense of community in the farming world.
• Lastly, we'll hear from members of the Seacoast Growers Cohort on their farmer-led winter gatherings. This cohort of 30+ farmers from NH, ME, and MA created a space for farmer-to-farmer co-learning, prioritizing honest conversations, shared problem solving, and networking. We'll hear about how this group formed and what the impacts of this type of cohort can be. 

The final thirty minutes are reserved for an open-format session. Attendees are invited to share updates, highlight upcoming initiatives or events they have been working on.
 

March 3, 2025 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM | Online

Topic: Agricultural Census
 

Join us for the next NH Farm Network gathering on March 3rd, where we’ll dive into the Agricultural Census with USDA/NASS New England State Statistician, Pam Hird. The Ag Census provides a comprehensive look at farming trends, demographics, and economic data—information that can be invaluable for agricultural service providers.

In this session, Pam will cover:

• What the Ag Census is and how the data is collected
• Who gets surveyed and why it matters
• Key takeaways from the most recent results (2022)
• How to access and interpret the data for our work here in NH

Whether you're looking to use census data to inform programming, support farmers, or better understand industry trends, this session will provide valuable insights.
 

If you need an accommodation to participate in our programming, please contact Olivia Saunders, Olivia.Saunders@unh.edu and 603-447-3834, prior to the event. Given ample time, we will make any reasonable effort to meet your needs, including language access services if requested, which will be provided free of charge.