 Tim Wightman talking with two Missouri FFA students at the 85th Annual FFA National Convention in Indianapolis |
Are you in need of a (free) farm consultant?
Well, if you’re a member of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF), you’re in luck. As one of the many member benefits, you receive access to Tim Wightman, an experienced farm, dairy and soil-to-table consultant, complimentary with your membership.
Tim’s services are perfect for:
- The newbie farmer who’d like an expert’s assessment of his/her farm plan or dairy facility
- The seasoned farmer who wants to improve on his/her raw milk production methods, herd health and profitability
- The experienced rancher who’d like to make sure s/he’s growing the best quality pasture for his/her cattle
- The butcher who’d like an expert to review his/her new plan for a processing facility
- Consumers, artisanal food producers, and affiliate members who want to make sure that they’re purchasing the healthiest possible products or refer suggestions to their farmers.
Below is a comprehensive list of the scope of Tim’s consultation services:
- total farm creation and assessment
- soil fertilizer and amendments
- soil and vegetable health issues
- crop rotations and nutrient needs
- beef/dairy animal rations and mineral needs
- quality forage production
- pasture seeding and management
- paddock management
- herd health practices and review (non-vet questions)
- dairy/animal processing building plan review
- dairy milking equipment maintenance
- milk quality test implementation and review
- milk/manure pathogen test implementation and review
Tim works daily to educate folks and to keep farmers aware of issues before they have a real problem on their hands. Think prevention! So help him help you, and contact him before you’re being consulted by a regulatory and inspection authority.
If necessary, Tim even travels to the farm in question at no cost to the FTCLDF member except for travel expenses. Consider this: you can pay $125 a year to use Tim’s services as a farmer member, or you can hire him on your own as a non-member for a phone consultation for $60 an hour or for an on-farm consultation of $750 per day plus travel expenses.
If you’re a FTCLDF member and you’d like to contact Tim Wightman, please email [email protected]. If you don’t know if your membership is current, please call 708-208-FARM (3276) or email us at [email protected] to find out. If you’re not a member, protect your food rights and sign up already! (Please allow 2 weeks for your membership application to be processed.)
 The Raw Milk Production Handbook, written by Tim Wightman, is also a membership gift option. |
Tim Wightman serves as President of FTCLDF’s sister organization, the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation (FTCF); he is author of the Raw Milk Production Handbook, creator of 2-part Chore Time DVD, and instructor in the FTCF’s Raw Milk Web Education series. Tim is currently serving with experts and professionals around the world on a panel that is developing a publication for raw milk producers and consumers due out in December of 2014. Tim also serves as board member of Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) New Hampshire.
Tim grew up working with his father, a career butcher, and in agriculture and pioneered CSAs, organic cooperatives, farmers markets, the cowshare program and the Farm-share program in Wisconsin. Tim consults worldwide with dairy farmers on raw milk safety and direct marketing. He also is a former consultant for Midwestern Bio-Ag on enhancing the soil system to increase soil fertility, herd health management, and nutrient density in food and feed. Currently, he is one of the managers of the Farm at Woods Hill in Bath, New Hampshire, a diversified 400-acre venture producing animal products for a restaurant in West Concord, Massachusetts. Tim is also working with several investment groups around the country to reclaim dairy farms and bring them back into production for organic and local cheese and raw milk production.