The Virginia Tech Catawba Sustainability Center will offer horticultural and business classes at the Virginia Tech Roanoke Center starting Jan. 22. The eight-week Grower’s Academy teaches participants about soils and composting, marketing, business plan development, crop production and more. Participation in Grower’s Academy is $225 per person. Click here to register online.

Here is the press release from Virginia Tech.

ROANOKE, Va., Dec. 4, 2012 – The Virginia Tech Catawba Sustainability Center will offer its fourth annual Growers’ Academy, an eight-week series of horticultural and business classes, on Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning Jan. 22 and running through March 12 at the Virginia Tech Roanoke Center.
Online registration is now open. The cost is $225 per participant. Class will not be held on Feb. 19.

The courses are designed to help further the success of new and transitioning agricultural businesses through a focus on low-input, small-scale production and on launching a small agri-business. Topics covered include soils and composting, marketing, business plan development, preventative pests and weed management, crop production and planning, and a business plan consultation. There will be a farm tour on Saturday, March 9.

Growers’ Academy graduates will also be eligible to lease land at a discounted rate at the Catawba Sustainability Center.

Learn more about the Growers’ Academy and other continuing education programs by visiting Continuing and Professional Education, a unit of Outreach and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech’s Outreach and International Affairs supports the university’s engagement mission by creating community partnerships and economic development projects, offering professional development programs and technical assistance, and building collaborations to enrich discovery and learning – all with the overarching goal of improving the quality of life for people within the commonwealth and throughout the world. Outreach and International Affairs leads Virginia Tech’s presence on five continents; its regional research and development centers across the commonwealth focus on graduate education and professional development. Blacksburg-based centers are dedicated to student engagement, language, policy, and governance.