Winter Farming Strategies
Grow and harvest fresh veggies all year round
Winter Farming Strategies
Grow and harvest fresh veggies all year round
Diversify your revenue streams and make the most of the winter growing season
Enhance your income through winter farming strategies.
Promote sustainability and resilience in the food system.
Maximize greenhouse profitability throughout the entire year.
This course not only focuses on the essential principles and fundamentals to reshape your farming practices for the winter months but also emphasizes the importance of food sovereignty and local food production.
Why you should practice winter farming?
STAND OUT FROM COMPETITORS
Capture a niche market and provide fresh vegetables to your community throughout the winter season.
GET A HIGHER
SUCCESS RATE
Identify frost-hardy crops and gain insights into how to grow effective frost-resistant veggies in a greenhouse.
Increase your
revenues
Extend your growing season and boost farm revenue even during winter.
PARTICIPATE TO FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Grow a loyal customer base by providing them with locally fresh, and organic produce year-round.
Who is this course for?
Market gardeners who want to embark on the winter market gardening journey and need help understanding the principles
Established growers who want to extend their production season for additional income
Curious people who are fascinated by the small farming movement and want to know more about eating local food all year round
How does it work?
This online course provides precise written and video instruction, to give you the exact methodology, tools and techniques needed to grow crops successfully in a context of heightened efficiency.
ENGAGING VIDEO
TUTORIALS
DETAILED
TECHNICAL SHEETS
Produced in collaboration with
Get started with our free preview!
Want to have a sneak peek of the course?
You have the opportunity to preview a free lesson from the course to see if it meets your needs. In this overview, you’ll get an introduction to winter farming principles.
Enjoy Launch Offer
Enroll now and jump into the world of winter farming
For a limited period of time only
$99 USD
Safe payment with Stripe or Paypal
Meet your teacher
Jean-Martin Fortier
Since launching his bestseller book “The Market Gardener, A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming” in 2012, JM Fortier has been internationally recognized as a foremost expert in the field of biointensive farming and has spoken at hundreds of conferences, keynote addresses, and training sessions, becoming an inspiration for farmers worldwide.
JM is also the author of “The Winter Market Gardening“, a book dedicated to winter crops. This publication has been adapted for three specific markets to reflect the different climatic realities of northern regions. With over ten years of practical experience in winter growing, his ideas are firmly rooted in concrete, proven knowledge.
His current mission is to pass on this knowledge to thousands of farmers through his work at the Market Gardener Institute.
Based on the techniques shown in this book
The Winter Market Gardener
Many small farms shut down during the dark winter months. Yet with the right techniques, equipment, and cultivars, year-round growing can produce the highest quality and tastiest fresh local vegetables, all while banking a profit.
Building on years of research, experimentation, and collaboration, The Winter Market Gardener is a beautifully illustrated practical guide to winter vegetable production for small farmers growing in northern climates.
Meet our partner
Tessier
Tessier is a 40 years of experience manufacturer and installer of greenhouses and caterpillar tunnels. Renowned for their solid and high-quality products, Tessier’s experts are particularly appreciated for their guidance role throughout every project.
From greenhouse structures to retractable-roof systems, adjustable grow tables, ventilation and plastic films, Tessier ensures every product has been designed for your needs.
It could be you!
When you do the work and stay committed, the results you can create are extraordinary. Just imagine the growth you’ll experience with the right training, guidance, and support.
Don’t just take our word for it, see how our course changed the farming journey of hundreds of growers.
“We have learned about tools and techniques that have made farming more efficient and more sustainable environmentally, financially and physically too!”
— Amy Smith & Verena Varga, Heart Beet Organics, Canada
“You can find so much information on the internet; there are so many resources it’s hard to know what to trust. I like having an all-in-one place for referencing detailed strategies that have been tested and tried for others to review and put into practice – it really helps!”
— Yara Dowani, Om Sleiman Farm, Palestine”
“Everything I learned about growing vegetables comes 100% from JM Fortier. Everything grows to perfection, and our clients are extremely happy.”
— Alexandre L’Heureux, The Happy Farm, Canada
How much does it cost ?
Our winter growing course provides precise written and video instruction, to give you the exact methodology, tools and techniques needed to grow crops successfully in a context of heightened efficiency.
Safe payment with Stripe or Paypal
What is inside?
Welcome
In this short video, you’ll get a quick overview of the key learnings and insights from JM Fortier’s 20+ years of experience as a successful market gardener.
Module content
- Tutorial: Welcome
Introduction to Winter Farming Principles
The following guiding principles will provide guidance on how to successfully grow vegetables that are well-adapted to winter growing conditions.
Module content
- Tutorial: Introduction to Winter Growing Principles
- Technical Sheet: Introduction to Winter Growing Principles
Winter Farming Practices
This module covers topics as varied as climate control, the use of row covers, crop planning, cultivars, irrigation, fertilization, weeding and harvesting. All adapted to the particular context of winter!
Module content
- Tutorial: Winter Growing Practices - Part 1
- Tutorial: Winter Growing Practices - Part 2
- Technical Sheet: Winter Growing Practices
Winter Farming Crop Shelters
The different types of crop shelters all have something to offer you for your winter market gardening. Find out here how to build them so you can use them alone or in combination to maximize crop protection.
Module content
- Chart: Winter Farming Shelters
- Tutorial: Gothic Caterpillar Tunnel
- Tutorial: Row Covers
- Technical Sheet: Row Cover
- Tutorial: Building a micro Tunnel
- Technical Sheet: Building a micro Tunnel
Winter Arugula
Arugula is one of our favorite winter crops because of its ability to regrow and produce several quality yields, even in cold weather. To successfully grow this vegetable in the winter, be sure to adjust spacing to maximize its access to light, and provide minimal heating to avoid losing crops on very cold nights.
Module content
- Tutorial: Winter Arugula
- Technical Sheet: Winter Arugula
Winter Spinach
Spinach is such an amazing crop for season extension because it can withstand heavy frosts. They also provide fresh greens during the shoulder and low seasons. Spinach offers a nice yield even in low temperatures, which makes it a profitable season extension crop.
Module content
- Tutorial: Winter Spinach
- Technical Sheet: Winter Spinach
Winter Bok Choy
Bok choy is an easy to grow Asian vegetable that is popular with both market and restaurant customers. Bok choy grows quickly and requires little maintenance, which makes it a fairly profitable crop when done well.
Module content
- Technical Sheet: Winter Bok
Winter Kale
Kale is an excellent crop to grow in winter. It is very cold hardy and resistant to fungal diseases, making it an easy crop to grow successfully even during the coldest months of the year. Winter kale is more tender and sweeter than the one grown in summer. It is a very popular product with consumers.
Module content
- Tutorial: Winter Kale
- Technical Sheet: Winter Kale
Winter Mesclun
Mesclun is an ideal winter crop because it offers a lot of flexibility. Our winter greens mix changes weekly depending on which beds are ready for harvest. The important thing is to create a beautiful mix of flavors, textures and color.
Module content
- Tutorial: Winter Mesclun
- Technical Sheet: Winter Mesclun
“Winter farming in a Nordic climate represents a crucial step towards achieving food sovereignty, empowering small-scale initiatives to thrive, and allowing consumers to rediscover the joy of savoring local produce even in the harshest of winter months”
Follow JM’s complete tried and true methodology for growing high-quality crops in a context of heightened efficiency.
Safe payment with Stripe or Paypal
Stay in the loop!
Join our mailing list to get exclusive content and invitations from the Market Gardener Institute.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tell me more about the course
What will I learn?
Growing in a cold region during winter presents many challenges in terms of low light levels, snow accumulation and recurrent heavy frosts. The Winter Farming Strategies course presents different techniques and principles to overcome these challenges and grow the best winter crops. It will help you increase your winter income with the help of tutorials and technical sheets. They will provide you with important information about building crop shelters, winter crop planning, crop densities, weeding, fertilizing and harvesting.
What will I learn?
Growing in a cold region during winter presents many challenges in terms of low light levels, snow accumulation and recurrent heavy frosts. The Winter Farming Strategies course presents different techniques and principles to overcome these challenges and grow the best winter crops. It will help you increase your winter income with the help of tutorials and technical sheets. They will provide you with important information about building crop shelters, winter crop planning, crop densities, weeding, fertilizing and harvesting.
What is included in this course?
This course allows you to master the methodology, tools, and techniques to successfully grow field crops early and late in the season, all adapted to the context of regenerative micro-farming. Each module includes video tutorials and downloadable technical sheets. Each video tutorial and technical sheet will give you in-depth step-by-step, yet straightforward instructions covering every stage of production, from seed to storage.
Each technical sheet will give you :
- Crop info and the best cultivars to grow
- Crop planning guidelines
- Starting seeds
- Spacing requirements
- Fertilization recommendation
- Irrigation type and management
- Implantation equipment and detailed itinerary
- Weeding and maintenance instructions
- Plant protection best practices
- Best harvesting techniques
- Conditioning and storage instructions
What is the difference between the Winter Farming Strategies course and the Masterclass?
Our course is a technical program focused on winter farming strategies This does not cover working with living soil, whole season crop planning, field irrigation, in-depth tools instructions, cover crops, in-depth pest management, in-depth washing and conditioning techniques and tools, and technical itineraries for about 40 crops. Please note that all of the content for this course is available in our signature Market Gardener Masterclass, so with the purchase of the course Winter Farming Strategies, you get a 10% discount
Where do the courses take place?
Everything is online — no travel is required. You can go through the training at your own pace. Of course, the real test is in how you apply this education to your own farm or market garden.
How much time do I need to commit?
The course requires approximately 5 hours to complete if done linearly. The real-time investment will be in implementing your learning in your farm project.
When are the registration periods?
All our on-demand courses are accessible anytime.
Which devices can I use to access the program?
After registering for the program, you will be prompted to create a user profile for accessing the training platform. You will then be able to take the course on any device connected to the Internet. Please note that you can only access our courses from one device at a time, whether it’s your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.
You need to have a broadband internet connection with a minimum speed of 5Mbps.
In which languages do you offer the program?
Our on-demand courses are offered in English and French. All documents and text are offered in the language of your initial purchase. French speakers, please note that our videos are in English with French subtitles.
Does it replace practical experience?
No. Our courses are designed to help people with real-life farming and gardening experience take their operations to the next professional level. Some of our students are just starting out, while others have a few growing seasons under their belts; some have been farming for decades — most have said that using our program has made a big difference in their business’ success.
Other questions?
Will the methods work in my climate?
Every situation is different, including climate, terrain, soil, markets, and more. While our methods are designed for vegetable production in temperate climates, from Mongolia to Argentina, we have students successfully applying our methods all over the world. Being a great farmer, knowing your crops thoroughly, and optimizing your production to be more efficient applies everywhere on the planet.
What payment methods are accepted?
We accept all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express.
What if I have more questions?
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always happy to help you.
