Commercial Organic Growers Course 2022
We are very happy to announce our Commercial Organic Growers Course for September - October 2022.
Our 4-day Commercial Organic Growers Course offers people an in-depth training opportunity to learn how to set up an organic food growing business, from the growers themselves.
Run by Kate Collyns and Adam Rayne, two hugely experienced and successful market gardeners (see below for more about them), they will impart their knowledge and wisdom on the key areas in any food growing enterprise, including:
- Running a food growing business (including finances, legal issues, record-keeping, Health & Safety, managing volunteers).
- Understanding and maintaining soil fertility.
- Small-scale market gardening – focusing on plant propagation and salad leaf production.
- Field-scale vegetable production, including pests and diseases and machinery maintenance.
Practicalities: This course will be held in person at our main horticulture site, Woodbank Community Food Hub, in Stockport. For those not able to attend, we will be running an online version of this course in early 2023.
Each session will run from 10am - 1pm and 2pm - 5pm. The dates are:
- Saturday 10th September & Sunday 11th September with Kate Collyns
- Sunday 18th September with Adam Rayne
- Saturday 1st October with Kate Collyns
Course cost:
£180 (incl. VAT). Kindling Trust Supporters get a 10% discount.
Applications can be made by following the link below and completing the online application form. Email farmstart@kindling.org.uk with any questions. Please include your telephone number in case it is quicker to have a chat. The deadline is 5pm on Wednesday 31st August.
Our Trainers:
Kate Collyns.
Kate Collyns started her own very successful market garden business in 2011, and sells to farm shops, cafés, local pubs and restaurants. Kate is also Author of the book 'Growing for Profit' in which she answers all the questions she had when starting out in business herself, and has written for magazines including The Independent magazine, Countryfile and Grow Your Own.
Adam Rayne.
Adam is a hugely experienced grower. He spent 12 years managing Glebelands City Growers, a very successful Manchester based growing business with a strong focus on salads and leafy greens. He has a wealth of knowledge on many different aspects of commercial growing.
Informative and inspirational, we'd highly recommend it to others looking to develop their understanding of commercial growing.
Jennie Savage, participant
Commercial growers call to action 2
We are really keen to hear about your training needs and if together we can develop new opportunities to share good practice. We are always looking for opportunities to develop training with our partners Land Workers Alliance, Organic Growers Alliance, Organic Lea, and Growing Communities.
Commercial growers call to action 3
There is no better introduction to commercial veg growing than spending a day with like-minded people volunteering at our market garden in Stockport. We have regular volunteer days, both during the week and at weekends carrying out a range of crucial tasks.
