Join us on February 3, 2027 for a bonus day of educational sessions!
Things to Know About Bonus Day
Bonus Day sessions are $495 per person.
Bonus Day should be added to each attendee’s individual registration.
Breakfast and lunch are included with your Bonus Day registration.
Each Bonus Day session requires a minimum of 20 participants to proceed.
The 20-person minimum must be reached by December 15, 2026.
Agritourism Law & Policy Tune-Up: The Working Session Every Operator Needs to Bulletproof Your Operation
8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Presented by Andrew Miller
You didn't get into agritourism to become a part-time land-use lawyer. But right now, a single overlooked permit, an unenforceable waiver, or a misclassified worker could unravel a business you've spent years building.
This workshop exists to close that gap — fast.
In one intensive, interactive day, you'll work session-by-session through the Agritourism Law & Policy Handbook & Field Guide — the most comprehensive resource on the legal, regulatory, and business terrain of ag tourism in the U.S. — and walk out with real tools in hand, not just notes in a binder.
This isn't a lecture. It's a working session. You'll complete workbook exercises, dissect real cases, markup practical templates, and leave with a compliance calendar, a risk assessment matrix, and a personalized 30/60/90-day action plan — built for your operation, not a hypothetical one.
Twelve Domains. One Day. Zero Fluff.
Every topic is grounded in real statutes, judicial decisions, USDA data, and actual operational scenarios pulled from working agritourism businesses:
Statutory definitions & liability immunity
Zoning compliance & Conditional Use Permits
Food safety & environmental regulations
Marketing law & FTC compliance
Financial planning & entity structure
Succession, IP, and policy advocacy
Walk In Uncertain. Walk Out With a Plan.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
Classify your operation under your state's agritourism law — and know exactly which activities qualify for statutory protection.
Assess your real liability exposure, from U-pick to weddings, and know which risks are "inherent" versus which demand active management.
Navigate zoning and permitting, including how to prepare a Conditional Use Permit application that proves agricultural nexus.
Handle building, fire, food safety, ADA, water quality, and environmental rules specific to your exact operational profile.
Draft waivers, warning signage, vendor contracts, and employment agreements that will actually hold up in court.
Choose the right business entity and correctly classify income under Schedule F vs. Schedule C.
Build a marketing strategy that complies with FTC truth-in-advertising rules and social media law.
Protect the trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets that make your farm brand yours.
Develop a nine-component business plan and a succession framework that protects the operation across generations.
Engage with the state and local policy processes that shape your operation's future.
Every hour you spend guessing about compliance or policy is an hour of exposure you're carrying that could ruin your season or end your farm.
Invest in this one day workshop and close that gap.
Retail Merchandising with John Stanley at Stew Leonard’s
8:45 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Presented by John Stanley
Please Note:
Registration is limited to 75 participants.
Transportation will be provided to and from Stew Leonard’s from Mohegan Sun.
Opening in 1969 with seven employees, Stew Leonard’s grew from a small dairy to a world-famous business employing 2500+ team members with a $500 million turnover.
They have accomplished everything by instilling two foundational rules:
Rule #1 - The customer is always right.
Rule #2 – If the customer is ever wrong, re-read rule #1
This full-day workshop will include breakfast at Mohegan Sun before we hop on buses to spend the entire day at Stew Leonard’s in Newington, CT. We will return in time for NAFDMA’s Welcome Banquet back at the Convention.
You’ll gain valuable knowledge from John Stanley’s Retail Merchandising education and leave with hundreds of takeaways from the store itself.
We’ll discuss the ways that they engage their customers through creative merchandising and how you can apply many of them in your own operations.
You’ll learn the concept of “Onlyness” and how these points of difference can effectively create a sense of valued destination to your guests.
And there will be plenty of time for group discussion and Q&A throughout the day to be sure you walk away with a solid list of implementable ideas.
ZingTrain – Systems for Supporting Staff
8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Presented by ZingTrain
Helping staff succeed is the primary role of a leader, though many leaders struggle with exactly how to do that. The truth is there aren’t any secrets or shortcuts to making it happen!
However, we’ve found that having a consistent hiring process that focuses on great customer service, onboarding that focuses on what the employee needs to know to be successful in their role, and giving lots (and lots!) of feedback while managing performance is what helps us attract really great staff and keeps them coming back.
In this one-day workshop, ZingTrain will share practical, tactical, time-tested processes, tools, and examples for every part of the employment life cycle. In a business that relies on seasonal hiring every year, building systems to set your staff up for success is what will set YOU up for success, too.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
More effectively hire qualified candidates.
Create Training Plans for new employees.
Identify & Analyze root causes of various types of problems and take action to resolve training, systems, management and performance problems.
Use new tools and techniques, including role-plays, to supplement and reinforce performance management skills.
Call upon a network of peers to help get past roadblocks.