Agribusiness Assistance Webinars

The Agribusiness Assistance webinar series highlights environmental success stories and strategies from various agribusinesses throughout the state and the country while showcasing the economic feasibility of environmental stewardship and sustainability. The series targets the agribusiness sector, but is open to the general public, and provides information and education relating to environmental and sustainability topics. The goal of the webinar series is to share and create a repository of best practices, as well as recognize the benefits of implementing sustainable practices into the agribusiness sector. These webinars are made possible through collaboration between the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA), and many other agriculture and forestry organizations that pride themselves as being active resources for this sector. 

The State of Sustainability: The State of Sustainability is a podcast produced by the TDEC Office of Sustainable Practices. The podcast highlights sustainability initiatives throughout the state and develops an informal conversation about environmental stewardship that the average person can understand and replicate. They have recently been working on episodes that focus on topics relating to Agribusiness such as the June 15th podcast on Urban Farming

Upcoming Webinars

TBD

Previous Webinars

State Resources Available for Agritourism Farms
Speakers: Kacey Troup - Business Consultant, Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Crystal Warren - Small Business Enviromental Assistance Program, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Learn what state resources are available to help you get started or expand your agritourism operation. Hear from Kacey Troup with the Tennessee
Department of Agriculture as well as representatives from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. 

Food Freedom Act: Producing and Selling Homemade Foods in Tennessee
Speaker: Patricia Szappanos Hart – Manufactured Food Coordinator, Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA)
Effective July 1, 2022, the Tennessee Food Freedom Act made significant changes to the food manufacturing regulations of Tennessee. Join us to learn more about these changes impacting home-based food producers and resources available to help. Representatives from the Tennessee Departments of Agriculture and Environment and Conservation will be on hand to share information and answer questions.

Agriculture and Forestry Environmental Case Studies – This webinar highlighted the past two winners of the Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award (GESA) in the agriculture and forestry category. Attendees had the opportunity to learn about the winning projects and the unique strategies used to make them successful.

Tennessee’s Agribusiness Resources - This webinar provides a general overview of the TDEC and Tennessee Department of Agriculture's (TDA) programs that are available to assist the agribusiness sector.  The focus of this virtual event is to educate businesses on the services that the Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (SBEAP) offers. Resources from TDA's Business Development Division are highlighted during this presentation. There was specific information presented on the environmental aspects of Small-Scale Meat Processing and CBD.