Nov 2, 2023

Registration opens for SE Regional growers conference

Registration is open for the Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference.

The event, scheduled for Jan. 11-14 in Savannah, Georgia, is marketed as the largest educational conference and trade show in the southeastern U.S. that unites growers, vendors and suppliers, according to a news release.

The show includes more than 160 grower sessions covering a variety of fruits, vegetables and nuts including onions, cucumbers, peppers, squash, tomatoes, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, watermelons, cantaloupe, Muscadine winegrapes and pecans.

Early registration ends Dec. 11. Regular registration begins Dec. 12 and ends Jan. 9 while on-site registration is available.

The show is sponsored by the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association in LaGrange, Georgia, and the Georgia Peach Council, based in Fort Valley, Georgia.

Southeast Regional features several different types of registrations to accommodate attendees’ needs and schedules. Conference organizers advise attendees to pay close attention to what each registration fee includes so they can be able to access the conference’s desired events, according to the release.

The different types of registrations include full conference registration, which includes all educational sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, trade show admission, and Thursday Friday and Saturday lunches, as well as the Thursday annual meeting and reception as well as the Friday trade show floor live auction reception.

The other registration options are by single days, which includes access to that day’s educational sessions, lunch, tradeshow and other events of the days.

Additional events require separate registration and space is limited.

Those events include

• FSMA 204 traceability workshop
• PSA grower training
• Bridging the GAPS (food safety and productivity)
• Better yields through conservation of bees and beneficial insects
• Pest management strategic plan for strawberries in FL, GA, and SC
• Diamond back moth pest management strategic plan
• Awards Breakfast (Saturday)

Sessions cover a wide variety of topics, including

• AI-enhanced precision orchard management
• AgTech’s role in vegetable and specialty crop production
• Applications and regulations for spray drones
• Building the AgTech ecosystem in Georgia
• Autonomous vegetable crops planter
• Regional leaf tissue nutrient sampling program
• Frozen fruit
• Vertical farming
• Aquaponics
• Controlled environment
• Irrigation management
• Cover crop and benefits to soil phoshorous
• Pollination
• Plant growth regulators
• Pests
• Diseases
• Weed management
• Organics
• Solar tech
• Agritourism

Registration information is available here.