American Vegetable Grower: A Peek At Coming Events

To stay current on what's going on in the industry, your travel plans this winter should include a stop at a trade show or conference in your region.

MOST people make New Year's resolutions and this year should be no exception. As you are putting together your list for 2005, make sure it includes travel to a trade show or conference so you can talk with other growers and learn about new production practices or products. You are sure to come away with a few new ideas that will help your bottom line.

Annual Meeting And Trade Show Of The Vegetable Growers Association Of New Jersey

First on the list in the new year is the Annual Meeting and Trade Show of the Vegetable Growers Association of New Jersey. The event will be held Jan. 11-13 at the Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.

The educational sessions will touch upon a wide variety of topics and a number of different crops. Some of the highlights of this year's sessions include:

* Sweet corn marketing and pest controls for New Jersey growers;

* Mildew-tolerant pumpkin variety evaluation and cucurbit weed control;

* Late blight and other important tomato diseases and experiences growing heirloom tomatoes;

* Transitioning to organic and growing and marketing organic vegetables;

* Greenhouse high tunnels, including a Rulgers high tunnel research update;

* IPM basics, covering pesticide resistance management and industry updates;

* Food safety, with discussions on USDA third-party food safety audits and how to prepare for one;

* Risk management including vegetable crop insurance in New Jersey, and;

* Sprayer basics, including basics of sprayer calibration and application.

Greenhouse Crop Production And Engineering Design Short Course

If it's greenhouse production you are interested in, be sure to attend the Greenhouse Crop Production and Engineering Design Short Course Jan. 16-19 in Tucson, AZ.

The highlight of the 2005 Short Course will be the presence of major growers and distributors of greenhouse structures, supplies, and equipment exhibiting their products that have helped advance the greenhouse industry in North America.

To be held at the DoubleTree Hotel at Reid Park in Tucson, the short course also will cover a variety of topics related to greenhouse production, including:

* Fundamentals in greenhouse plant production - engineering, biology, and plant sciences;

* Greenhouse irrigation and plant nutrient requirements;

* Ventilation and cooling fundamentals;

* Designing a business plan/marketing;

* Cultural practices from seedlings to mature plants;

* Understanding and creating value-added products for the end-user consumer; and

* Valve-added tomato production under controlled environment.

For additional information, go to http://ag.arizona.edu/ceac, or call 520-626-9566.

Ohio Fruit & Vegetable Growers Congress

The 2005 Ohio Fruit & Vegetable Growers Congress and Direct Agricultural Marketing Conference will be held Jan. 19-21, at the Seagate Centre in Toledo, OH. Attendees will have the opportunity to see trade show exhibits from more than 100 companies representing goods and services of interest to fruit and vegetable growers and direct agricultural marketers.

In addition to the trade show, more than 120 educational presentations will be given on a variety of crops including track crops, potatoes, and processing vegetables.

A direct marketing workshop and an employer workshop will be held on Jan. 19. Other topics to be discussed include produce auctions, precision agriculture, consumer preferences, good agricultural practices, and value-added products.

Along with a workshop for new growers, the session lineup on the last day of the Congress will cover succession planning, human resource management, farm worker safety, neighbor relations, and legal rules for production and marketing.

For more information on the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers Congress, call 614-246-8292; growohio@ofbf.org. Conference proceedings will be available on the Web at www.ohiovegetables.org by mid March 2005.

Mid-Atlantic Fruit And Vegetable Convention

Nearly 2000 people, including many growers, from throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and other states are expected to gather at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey, PA, for the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Convention Feb. 1-3. The theme for this year's Convention, "Looking Beyond the Peel: Why Health and Nutrition are Basic Ingredients for the Successful Grower," will be addressed in a plenary session on the opening day.

The event is jointly sponsored by the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, the Maryland State Horticultural Society, and the New Jersey State Horticultural Society. The Great American Hall at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center will host the trade show with more than 130 exhibitors.

Specialized horticultural equipment, farm market merchandise, and packaging will all be on display along with information on the latest seed varieties, fruit varieties, crop protectants, and other supplies and services for the commercial grower. Six or more concurrent educational sessions will be offered on all three days of the convention.

For more information on registration, contact William Troxell, Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, 717-694-3596, or pvga@pvga.org.

Empire State Fruit And Vegetable Expo

As an added value for attendees, the Empire State Fruit and Vegetable Expo will be joining forces with the Produce Marketing Conference. The Empire State Expo and Trade Show will be held in Syracuse, NY, at the Oncenter Convention Center on Feb. 15-17. The Produce Marketing Conference, sponsored jointly by Cornell University and Michigan State University, will join this combined fruit and vegetable show which brings together the New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Empire State Potato Growers Club, the New York State Berry Growers Association, and the New York State Horticultural Society.

The Expo will kick off with a preconference tour on Monday, Feb. 14 as part of the Produce Marketing Conference. In addition to the tour, the Produce Marketing Conference will feature a full day of educational sessions on Tuesday, Feb. 15, focusing on produce marketing trends, Radio Frequency Identification and its role in the produce industry, and opportunities to sell to food service as well as non-traditional retailers.

The Expo also will have full-day educational sessions on all three days focusing on a variety of commodities grown in New York state, including potatoes, sweet corn, onions, tree fruit, berries, and cabbage. Other sessions will focus on snap beans and peas, beets and carrots, transplants, leafy greens, and soil health. In addition, plan to visit the more than 115 exhibitors in the trade show.

Please contact the New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Inc. at 315-687-5734 or nysvga@twcny.rr.com for more information.

Direct comments or questions about this article to rogordon@meistermedia.com.