The annual Tilth Conference aims to boost small and mid-sized farmers during a soft market, its organizer says.

“This is a very difficult economic climate to be in farming,” said Melissa Spear, executive director of the Tilth Alliance. “The input costs have gone way up, some labor laws have really impacted farmers and their ability to afford the labor they need to harvest their crops or bring the labor to their farms that they need.

“For a new and beginning farmer, land is expensive, access to land is a real problem,” she said. “We really need to focus on the viability of agriculture in general, in particular for the small to mid-sized farmer.”

That’s more than 85% of the farms in Washington, Spear said.

A policy roundtable among farmers, agencies and support services will brainstorm ideas to meet the biggest needs, she said.

“What do we need to be doing individually and collaboratively to make sure we’re creating an environment where small to mid-sized farmers can succeed?” she said.

An afternoon trade show, Taste of PNW Organic, will help Northwest organic farmers find and develop markets for their produce from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 14. Registration is required by Oct. 28. Attendance at the Tilth Conference is not required. Organic farmers can feature their products to buyers and make sales connections during the event.

“The USDA’s making a huge investment in transitioning farmers to certified organic,” Spear said. “As you grow the number of producers producing organic foods, you also need to grow the market simultaneously. There have been issues with organic producers finding markets for their products.”

The program includes information about entering the wholesale market or selling to institutions, Spear said. Tilth Alliance and Oregon Organic Coalition are hosting the trade show.

The tilth conference brings together farmers who are often working in isolation, Spear said. It’s the opportunity to talk to one another, and celebrate the end of harvest.

“It’s time to take a breath, have a little bit of a celebration while really digging in and learning from each other,” she said. “That’s a really important part of what this conference is about.”

The Tilth Conference is Nov. 14-16 in Vancouver, Wash. Keynote speaker is veganic farmer Helen Atthowe, author of “The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture.”

Atthowe farms and does soil- and natural enemies’ habitat-building research on her 5-acre farm in Western Montana. She and her late husband co-owned his 35-year certified organic, 26-acre orchard in California and then farmed their 211-acre organic farm in Eastern Oregon, doing mainly orchard and vegetable production.

They did on-farm biological disease and insect suppression research, created educational videos, and did video presentations about their ecological farming methods.

‘Climate grief’

Spear expects climate change to be a hot topic for farmers.

“How they’re going to adapt, what resources they need to adapt to changing weather patterns,” she said.

The convention works to translate research done at Washington State University and Oregon State University into a “more practical form” for farmers.

Many attendees want to adopt organic, sustainable, regenerative practices, Spear said.

“It’s different from farm to farm, but there’s always a lot of learning in hearing how other farmers have brought animals into their crop program, implemented cover cropping or reduced tillage,” she said. “There’s a lot of experimentation going on and I think farmers in general really like to hear how other farmers have been implementing those practices.”

The conference includes a workshop on understanding “climate grief,” or “eco-distress.” Spear attended a similar workshop during last year’s convention. She called it “powerful.”

“A lot of these young, beginning, new farmers have very strong feelings about what they’re seeing happen with regard to the changing weather patterns and the impact on the land,” she said. “They feel very connected to the landscape, the land and the natural world, and are incredibly concerned with what’s going on and feeling a real sense of loss.”

Sweet potatoes

Farmers are beginning to consider new crops in Washington, Spear said.

“Things are getting warmer, the climate zones are shifting north — Washington is in a new climate zone,” she said.

The agenda includes a presentation from WSU researchers Carol Miles and Laura Schulz about evaluating new crops for Western Washington, including edamame, dry beans and ice-box watermelons.

Their current work focuses on sweet potato production for northern climates and developing production guidelines for sweet potato in Western Washington.

“Sweet potatoes is one of the crops that it looks like we may be able to successfully start growing here,” Spear said.