After the Harvest Conference - Nov. 4-5, 2026
Early Bird Registration open now!
Register Here!
After the Harvest is a two-day conference focused on what happens once a food product
is harvested or produced, and what it takes to move that product safely and successfully
into the Arkansas marketplace.
Join growers and producers, food entrepreneurs and processors, farmers market vendors
and managers, buyers, food system organizations, Extension personnel, and other partners
from across Arkansas to explore the practical decisions, infrastructure, and relationships
involved in getting local food from producer to market.
The 2026 conference is organized around three interconnected areas of the local food
supply chain:
- Sell Local Food – Explore market opportunities and learn how to prepare products and businesses for
different sales channels, from farmers markets and direct-to-consumer sales to wholesale
and institutional markets.
- Move Local Food – Dig into the systems and infrastructure that help products move efficiently after
harvest, including postharvest handling, aggregation, equipment, storage, processing,
inventory, and distribution.
- Connect Local Food – Build relationships across Arkansas's food system and learn how producers, buyers,
organizations, agencies, and communities can work together to strengthen local and
regional markets.
Throughout the conference, food safety and regulatory considerations will be integrated
into conversations about selling, handling, processing, and moving food.
This year's program will include practical breakout sessions, workshops, panel discussions,
and three in-depth bootcamps focused on Farmers Markets, Arkansas Food Freedom, and Food Processing and Manufacturing. Attendees will also have dedicated opportunities to connect with resource providers
and others working across Arkansas's food supply chain.
Whether you are deciding where to sell your products, preparing to enter a new market,
improving your postharvest operation, navigating food safety or regulatory requirements,
connecting with buyers, or helping strengthen your community's food system, After
the Harvest is designed to help you identify practical next steps and the people and
resources that can help you take them.
Register for the conference today!
Check out a video on Farm Stops in Arkansas
2026 Sessions
All-Attendee Sessions
Begin the conference with an introduction to the purpose of After the Harvest, the
challenges and opportunities facing Arkansas’s local food system, and the ideas that
will connect the sessions throughout the event.
Dr. Amanda Philyaw Perez, UADA
Explore the important role rural grocery stores play in community food access, local
economies, and regional food-system infrastructure. Additional details will be announced
soon.
Jenny Doty, Kansas State University's Rural Grocery Initiative
Food Is Medicine is transforming how healthcare and community organizations address
diet-related chronic disease by increasing access to nutritious food. This session
will provide an overview of Arkansas’s growing Food Is Medicine landscape, followed
by a discussion with program leaders about research, implementation, lessons learned,
and experiences sourcing Arkansas-grown foods.
Together, participants will explore how stronger partnerships between agriculture
and healthcare can improve community health while creating new opportunities for local
farmers.
Dr. Michael Thomsen, UAMS; Sam Stadter, Baptist Health Community Outreach; Austin
Sublett, Arkansas Foodbank
Selling to restaurants, retailers, institutions, distributors, and other wholesale
buyers presents opportunities for local food businesses, but each market has different
purchasing requirements and expectations.
In this panel discussion, buyers representing different market channels will share
what they look for in local vendors, what they need to purchase consistently, and
the practical challenges they encounter when sourcing local food. The discussion will
explore product quality and availability, volume, pricing, packaging, ordering, delivery,
invoicing, payment, and communication. Attendees will gain a better understanding
of how these markets operate, what it takes to develop purchasing relationships, and
what to consider when evaluating wholesale opportunities for their own businesses.
Moderator: Angie Bailey, End of the Road Farm & Best in Class Suppliers; Panelists:
Rob Shaunfield, The Farmers Table & Performance Food Group; Wynn Peterson, Walmart;
Kent Krause, Ferndale Market
Food insecurity remains a pressing challenge across Arkansas, but hunger-relief organizations
are developing new approaches to meet the need. Speakers will share current information
about hunger in Arkansas and discuss partnerships that connect food banks, local farmers,
and other food-system organizations.
Participants will leave with a clearer picture of food insecurity in the state and
practical examples of how local agriculture can contribute to hunger-relief efforts.
Sylvia Blain, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance; Austin Sublett, Arkansas Foodbank
Take a shared look at Arkansas’s food system and the people, organizations, resources,
and infrastructure that shape it. This session will introduce the Food Atlas developed
by the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance as a tool for visualizing food-system assets
and needs while helping participants identify the partners needed to build a more
connected and resilient food ecosystem.
Sylvia Blain & Alex Hendrickson, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
Boot Camps
Designed for farmers market managers, vendors, and those interested in starting or
strengthening a market, this bootcamp combines guidance on Arkansas farmers market
requirements with practical approaches to market management and operations.
Participants will explore the Arkansas Farmers Market Guidelines, the Market Set Go
farmers market food safety app, management and vendor best practices, and potential
sources of market funding and support, including grants, sponsorships, and community
partnerships. A panel of farmers market managers and vendors will share their experiences,
challenges, and lessons learned from operating and growing markets across Arkansas.
Jeff Jackson, ADH; Dr. Kristen Gibson, University of Arkansas; Jaymie Pedigo, West
Little Rock Farmers Market; Paragould Farmers Market Representative; Fayetteville
Farmers Market Representative
Arkansas’s Food Freedom law creates new opportunities for food entrepreneurs, but
understanding how the guidance applies to a particular product or operation can be
challenging.
Participants will receive a copy of the Arkansas Food Freedom guidance and walk through
it with experts from the Arkansas Department of Health and the University of Arkansas.
The session will address the science behind the requirements, common misconceptions,
labeling and packaging considerations, and situations in which additional licensing,
testing, or process review may be necessary.
Jeff Jackson, ADH; Dr. Sungil Ferreira, University of Arkansas
Moving from small-scale food production into commercial processing or manufacturing
brings new considerations for facilities, equipment, food safety, and regulatory requirements.
This two-part bootcamp will explore how these considerations change as operations
grow, progressing from commercial kitchen requirements and foundational food-safety
practices to larger-scale production environments, including wholesale produce packing
sheds and food manufacturing facilities. Speakers will discuss the practical and technical
considerations involved in scaling production and help participants better understand
the requirements and decisions they may encounter as their operations expand.
Dr. Jennifer Acuff, University of Arkansas; Dr. Sungil Ferreira, University of Arkansas;
Dr. Bill Potter, University of Arkansas; Dr. Craig Bacon, University of Arkansas
Breakout Sessions by Track
Connect Local Food
Across Arkansas, programs and partnerships are working to strengthen connections between
local food producers, schools, early childhood settings, nutrition programs, and the
communities they serve.
This session will highlight initiatives underway across the state, exploring their
goals, the partnerships supporting them, and how they connect to Arkansas's local
food system. Attendees will learn about current efforts, opportunities for involvement,
and ways producers, organizations, and community partners can connect with these initiatives.
Representatives from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Arkansas Department of
Health
This interactive session will bring farmers, producers, Food Is Medicine implementers,
healthcare organizations, researchers, and community partners together to identify
challenges associated with sourcing local food for healthcare and nutrition programs.
Participants will explore practical approaches to local procurement, partnership development,
and creating sustainable farm-to-clinic market opportunities.
Dr. Michael Thomsen, UAMS; Sam Stadter, Baptist Health Community Outreach; Austin
Sublett, Arkansas Foodbank
Building a resilient local food system takes a network of people and organizations
working together. Through an interactive mapping activity, participants will identify
the individuals and organizations that support local food in their communities, including
schools, healthcare providers, food-access organizations, food hubs, funders, Extension,
and technical-assistance providers.
Attendees will explore existing relationships, identify gaps in their local networks,
and consider opportunities to build stronger partnerships that support local food
production, distribution, and access.
Facilitator: Dr. Hunter Goodman, UADA
Many of the challenges facing Arkansas’s local food system are shared across producers,
food businesses, buyers, and community organizations. In this facilitated workshop,
participants will draw on their own experiences to identify barriers related to storage,
transportation, aggregation, processing, purchasing, regulations, technology, labor,
and infrastructure.
Together, the group will explore where these challenges overlap, identify common priorities,
and discuss opportunities for collaboration and coordinated solutions.
Facilitator: Dr. Hunter Goodman, UADA
Learn practical ways to use social media to share the story behind your farm, food
business, market, or organization and connect with the people you want to reach.
This session will explore choosing platforms that fit your audience, planning manageable
content, using photos and visual storytelling, engaging with customers and community
members, and promoting products, events, and services. Attendees will gain ideas for
making social media a more effective and manageable part of their outreach and marketing
efforts.
Moderator: TBA; Panelists: Jill Ragan, Whispering Willows Farm; Melissa Millsap, Turnbuckle
Farm; Lizzy Herrera, UADA
Move Local Food
Aggregation brings products from multiple producers together to reach markets that
may be difficult to serve individually, but how that coordination happens can look
very different from one operation to another.
In this panel discussion, representatives of three different Arkansas aggregation
models will share how their operations work and what it takes to coordinate products
across multiple farms and markets. Panelists will explore how responsibilities for
ordering, pickup, storage, transportation, pricing, and communication are divided,
along with managing product quality, building relationships with producers and buyers,
and navigating the challenges and tradeoffs of each approach.
Moderator: TBA; Speakers: Nena Hammer, Spring Creek Food Hub; additional speakers
TBA
Postharvest infrastructure can look very different depending on an operation's products,
markets, scale, and resources. Through examples from Arkansas farms and food businesses,
this session will explore the equipment and infrastructure used to handle, pack, store,
and transport products after harvest.
Speakers will share how they selected and incorporated equipment into their operations,
what has worked, what they would change, and lessons learned along the way. Attendees
will see examples of different postharvest setups and gain practical considerations
for planning infrastructure investments that fit their own operations.
Moderator: Sarah Bakker, UADA; Speakers: Cory Babb, Firelight Farm; Chloe Cox, Mator
Farms; TBA
As an operation grows, keeping track of products, customers, orders, and deliveries
becomes increasingly complex. This session will examine practical approaches to managing
product availability, inventory, orders, invoices, deliveries, sales and harvest records,
customer communication, and buyer follow-up.
Participants will hear how different organizations manage these responsibilities and
how software and other tools can reduce administrative burden.
Nena Hammer, Spring Creek Food Hub; Stefanie Jaeger, Local Food Marketplace; Scott
Shellabarger, SJCA
Every operation has its own way of moving products from one step to the next. In this
interactive workshop, participants will map how a product moves through their own
operation, from harvest or receiving through handling, packing, storage, transportation,
and sale or delivery.
Using their maps, attendees will identify bottlenecks, unnecessary handling, food
safety concerns, infrastructure gaps, and opportunities to improve how their operation
functions. Participants will leave with a clearer picture of their current workflow
and practical ideas for changes that could save time, reduce costs, or make their
operation run more smoothly and safely.
Speakers: Sarah Bakker, UADA; Danielle Dozier, GSS Group & The Farmstop
Sell Local Food
Learn about commonly used methods for preserving food at home, including canning,
freezing, and drying. This introductory session will explore the food-safety considerations
associated with different preservation methods, the importance of using tested recipes
and procedures, and reliable resources for preserving food safely.
This session focuses on food preservation for personal and household use, not the
production of food products for sale. Attendees interested in making and selling homemade food products are encouraged to
attend the Food Freedom Bootcamp.
Dr. Lida Argahi, UADA; Christie Wagley, UADA; Terry James, UADA
Follow fresh produce from harvest to market and explore how food-safety risks and
responsibilities change as products move through washing, packing, storage, transportation,
and sale.
This session will examine common opportunities for contamination, the importance of
maintaining safe handling practices throughout the supply chain, and practical steps
producers, aggregators, distributors, and buyers can take to reduce food-safety risks
as products move between operations.
Dr. Amanda Philyaw Perez, UADA
Selling meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, and other animal products directly to consumers
comes with product-specific food-safety and regulatory considerations.
This session will explore the requirements and practical realities of selling animal
products at Arkansas farmers markets and through other direct-sales channels. Speakers
will discuss processing and inspection requirements, applicable exemptions, storage
and temperature control, labeling, as well as challenges producers face in accessing
processing facilities and bringing their products to market.
Attendees will gain a better understanding of the requirements that may apply to their
products, the challenges involved in meeting them, and considerations for developing
direct-market sales.
Dr. Dan Quadros, UADA; Dr. Bill Potter, University of Arkansas; additional speaker
TBA
What happens to the organic materials left behind after harvest, handling, and food
production? Composting offers an opportunity to turn suitable agricultural and food
waste into a valuable resource for future production.
Drawing on his research, Dr. Matt Bertucci will explore how composting practices affect
food safety, nutrient retention, and the quality of finished compost. Participants
will learn about managing compost materials and conditions, reducing potential biological
risks and nutrient loss, and producing compost that can be used safely and effectively
in agricultural operations.
Dr. Matt Bertucci, UADA
How a product is packaged, labeled, and presented affects more than its appearance.
These decisions can influence product quality, food safety, customer expectations,
and access to different markets.
This session will explore practical considerations for preparing individually packaged
products for sale, including packaging materials, package and unit size, durability,
shelf life, pricing displays, basic labeling requirements, and product claims. Attendees
will learn how to make packaging and presentation decisions that protect their products,
communicate important information, and meet customer expectations across different
markets.
Dr. Renee Threlfall, UADA
2025 Event Slides and Resources
Friday Slides
Saturday Slides
Resources
Get updates on future After the Harvest events and webinars: sign up for email updates here.
Questions? Contact Dr. Amanda Philyaw Perez at aperez@uada.edu or Sarah Bakker at sbakker@uada.edu