The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry in partnership with the Oklahoma Local Ag Collaborative, are hosting the Oklahoma Local Agriculture Summit (OKLAS) – formerly Oklahoma Farmers Market & Agritourism Conference on February 28th – March 2nd at the Stoney Creek Hotel in Broken Arrow, OK.
This multi-day conference will feature hands-on workshops, panel discussions, and traditional conference sessions of interest to farmers market managers, producers, community support organizations, and agritourism site managers.
Associate Farm Editor, Reagan Calk, got the chance to visit with the individuals putting OKLAS 2023 together, Diana Prieto and Bayleigh Acosta. Prieto and Acosta give all the details about this upcoming event, including registration information.
On Monday, February 27, Prieto said there will be an innovative farm tour where registrants will have the opportunity to tour four different farms in the Tulsa area. Each farm will feature a speaker who will talk about the operation, Prieto added.
Prieto said the event will also feature a day of workshops on Tuesday, February 28, and a day of sessions targeted at growers, market managers, and agrotourism producers on Wednesday, March 1st.
On the last day of the conference, March 2, there will be an Agritourism bus tour visiting four Northeast Oklahoma Agritourism locations.
“This year, our goal is to reach more people and, of course, have returning attendees,” Prieto said.
At the end of last year’s summit, Prieto said feedback was submitted from attendees requesting more producers speak and present to attendees for a more personal experience.
“We will have a lot of sessions led by producers, so it is more personal,” Prieto said.
Building relations within communities is important in the agricultural community. A big topic of this year’s summit, Prieto said, will be bettering personal business by collaborating with locals in an individual’s community.
To learn about the Oklahoma Local Ag Collaborative and register for the OKLAS 2023, Acosta said visitors can access info at https://oklac.org/oklas .
“We have a big event page with the schedule broken down,” Acosta said. “There are a few different registration links for the farm tour and the agrotourism bus tour, but the event is completely free besides the agrotourism bus tour on the last day, and that is $15.”
After the workshops on Tuesday, February 28, Acosta said there is a Farm-to-Table Dinner at 6:30 p.m., which is $35 per person.
“We will have registration set up at the hotel at Stoney Creek and you can also register on your phone,” Prieto said. “We will have it open up until the sessions start.”
The only portion of the conference that cannot be registered for the day of, Prieto said, is the innovative farm tour and the agrotourism bus tour. Once the registration is full, Prieto said other registrants will be waitlisted and notified if a spot opens back up.
To learn more about OKLAS 2023, visit the event’s Facebook page or the Website.
