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Market gardening is topic for upcoming courseOklahoma In an effort to familiarize current and future fresh market producers with the latest information on management, production and marketing techniques, an eight-week Oklahoma Market Gardening School is now available. The class is scheduled to run each Tuesday evening beginning Sept. 30 and will continue through Nov. 18. This educational opportunity is provided by Oklahoma State University, the Noble Foundation and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Registration is $60 per person and will be accepted through Sept. 30 or until the class is full. Classes will take place at OSU-OKC in the Conference Room North in the Student Center Building. Online registration is available at http://orangehub.okstate.edu/ustores/web/index.jsp. Click on the "Horticulture/Landscape" link. Oklahoma Market Gardening School is geared toward both those who are established in the business and those interested in exploring a new enterprise, said Lynn Brandenberger, horticulture food crops Cooperative Extension specialist at OSU. "We're offering this course because we're seeing an increase in the number of local fresh producers and an increased interest in locally grown fresh produce," Brandenberger said. "There are a number of reasons for the increased interest, including diversification of sources of fresh produce, transportation costs for shipping fresh produce across the United States and food safety issues of a centralized food production system." In addition, there is increased interest from people who are close to retirement age and are interested in producing fresh produce, as well as young people who want to start in production agriculture for local markets. The eight-week course will feature a number of industry and university specialists covering all aspects of commercial production. Course topics will include resource management, economics, soils and fertilizer management, crop establishment and irrigation, guidelines for producing vegetable crops, guidelines for producing fruit and pecan crops, pest management, season extension techniques and marketing and food safety. The course is limited to the first 100 registrants, so those who are interested are encouraged to register early. "We're very excited about this new opportunity to share information and provide a possible new economic outlet to participants," Brandenberger said. For more information, contact Stephanie Larimer at 405-744-5404, or by e-mail at stephanie.larimer@okstate.edu. 9/15/08 Date: 9/9/08
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