Do you own, or aspire to own, a small farm?  If so, one of the biggest obstacles can be diversifying your operations enough to spread the risk around.  To learn from farmers who have successfully diversified their operation, make plans to attend this Agriculture Diversification Field Day, sponsored by VA Tech's Small Farm Outreach & Technical Assistance Program.

The Field Day is July 13 from 10 am-12 noon in South Hill, and is free and open to the public.

The University of Virginia's Tayloe Murphy Center at the Darden School  has issued a Call for Entries for the Tayloe Murphy Resilience Awards Competition.  Applicants can include successful entrepreneurs in manufacturing, retail, service, and wholesale.

Qualifying applicants must demonstrate:

• 5 years of sustained growth across a number of metrics;
• Evidence of economic uplift in their local community;
• That they are operating in the most economically challenged communities within the Commonwealth of Virginia (go to www.resilienceawards.info to see if your community is eligible).

Winning firms will receive scholarship funding to a select Darden Executive Education Program along with networking opportunities and recognition.

Whether you own a small business or dream of doing so, these seminars are for you.

The Smart Start seminar covers areas like competition, customer service, and sources of financing whereas the Procurement Workshop covers strategies for success in selling to state and local government.