WESLACO  –  A marketing workshop for small-acreage owners, presented by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Aug. 24 at the South Texas College’s Mid-Valley Campus, 400 N. Border in Weslaco.

A marketing and management workshop for small-acreage producers will be held Aug. 24 in Weslaco.

The registration fee is $15, payable upon arrival.

The workshop, “Small Acreage Management and Marketing for Profit,” is part of two grants, according to Dr. Luis Ribera, an AgriLife Extension agricultural economist at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco.

“The grants, one each from the Southern Risk Management Education Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are intended to help small acreage producers of South Texas,” he said.

In his presentation, “Can I make a living on three acres?” Ribera will present findings from a recent study on the economic feasibility of small acreage production in South Texas.

“I’ll be handing out copies of this report, which was the first done on small-acreage production in the Lower Rio Grande Valley,” he said.

Two professors from Sam Houston State University, Dr. Michelle Santiago and Dr. Art Wolfskill, will present a business planning project and share their perspectives and views on the profitability of small acreage production in South Texas, Ribera said.

Dr. Marco Palma, an AgriLife Extension economist in College Station, will give a talk on marketing, he said.

“We’ll be discussing strategic marketing for small-acreage producers,” Palma said. “We’ll discuss the marketing planning process with an emphasis on direct marketing strategies, including sales to farmers markets.”

His talk will include how to better market products, how to treat customers and will introduce the use of a free online-based tool that directly connects producers with buyers.

“Francisco Abello, a fellow AgriLife Extension economist in College Station, will provide details about Market Maker, a Web-based tool that is new to Texas this year,” Palma said. “It connects small-acreage producers with consumers, retail outlets, restaurants and other markets throughout 20 states in the nation.”

Other speakers, both based in Edinburg, and their topics include Vidal Saenz, AgriLife Extension farm advisor, small-acreage farm loans; and Barbara Storz, AgriLife Extension horticulturist, data and status of small-acreage production.

For more information, contact Storz at 956-383-1026, or b-storz@tamu.edu .