2024 Eastern New York Fruit & Vegetable Conference

This year's conference will have sessions devoted to tree fruit, vegetables, grapes, small fruit, agritourism, and cut flowers. Topics Topics include winter protection for strawberries, soil-borne disease management, SWD and other pests, fungicides, and updates on spraying.  There will also be a trade show both days, so you can see the newest products from your favorite vendors.

Wednesday, February 21

Small fruit session 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Tree fruit session 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Grape session, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Agritourism session, 1:20 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

 

Thursday, February 22

Tree fruit sessions, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Vegetable sessions, 9:15 a.m.-3:40 p.m.

Cut flower session, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Agritourism session, 1:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

Register for the conference here.

More details:

DEC pesticide recertification credits will be available for multiple sessions. Attendance throughout the entire session is required for DEC credits.

Trade show vendors will be set up in the Fort Orange Courtyard and the King Street Courtyard. Over 20 exhibitors will be present to visit with growers from 8:00am until 5:30pm on February 21 and 8:00am until 2:00pm on February 22.

Lunch. A hot buffet lunch will be available in the Fort Orange Ballroom. Lunch is included with your conference registration.

Lodging. Individual guests may call the hotel directly to book rooms at the discounted rate using the local number provided below. Reservations must be received no later than Monday February 12, 2024, to get the discounted rate. When requesting a room, guests may refer to the Group Code: FRU. Call 518-869- 8100 directly to make your reservation.

Additional hotels in the area include:

• The Hilton Garden Inn, 800 Albany Shaker Rd. | 518-464-6666

• Red Roof Inn, 188 Wolf Rd. | 518-459-1971

• Best Western Albany Airport Inn, 200 Wolf Rd. | 518-458-1000

January 23 Berry Sessions at the 2024 Empire State Growers Expo

The Empire State Growers Expo, January 23-24, will have a full day of berry programming on January 23. Moderated by Laura McDermott of CCE ENYCHP and Anya Osatuke of CCE HNY, the Berry Sessions will be held in-person at the On Center in Syracuse. 1.5 DEC credits will be available for each session.

Session 1 – Brambles – 9:00– 10:30 a.m.

• 9:00 Courtney Weber of Cornell will provide an update on new raspberry and blackberry varieties. Disease
  resistance and horticultural characteristics that are important to insect management will
  be included.

• 9:30 Novel Approaches to Cane Berry Production. Dr. Pritts will explain some of the newer production practices being used across the country. These practices will help growers better manage disease and insect pests, while also improving productivity. The focus of the talk will be on pruning and trellising
  practices that improve airflow and sunlight.

• 10:00 Growing Blackberries in NY – Is it Worth Trying? Tim Stanton of Feura Farm in Feura Bush, NY, presents his experience in working with blackberries for the first time. By employing a version of the rotating cross-arm trellis, along with cultivar choices, he has been able to reliably produce blackberries on his farm.

• 10:30 Adjourn

Session 2 – Blueberry – 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

• 11:00 Fruitworm Review – Maggots, Fruit Flies and Worms. Anna Wallis, NYS IPM and Cornell, will review fruit worm life cycles and management strategies for controlling these families of blueberry pests.

• 11:30 TracCloud – Improving Berry Pesticide Management. Juliet Carroll, NYS IPM and Cornell, and the original designer of TracBerry, will introduce and guide growers through the updated version of this pesticide tracking software.

• 12:00 Blueberry Disease Management Review – Kerik Cox of Cornell will discuss the major diseases for NYS blueberry plantings and explain control strategies. Diseases likely to be covered include cane blights, fruit rots and viruses.

• 12:30 pm Adjourn

Session 3 – Strawberry – 2:00– 3:30 p.m.

• 2:00 Strawberry Research Update – Anya Osatuke, CCE Harvest, NY, and Laura McDermot, CCE ENYCHP, will update growers on recent research results focused on 1) Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation, an organic soil fumigation method; 2) new approaches to winterizing strawberries in the northeast; 3) using low tunnels with June bearing strawberries to reduce pesticide applications; 4) organic fungicide materials for strawberry disease control.

• 2:45 Preventing & Managing Strawberry Anthracnose Resistance – Scot Cosseboom, Cornell, will discuss ongoing research looking at managing fungicide resistance in anthracnose disease on June bearing and day neutral strawberries.

• 3:30 Adjourn

Visit the Expo website for more information.

Register for the Expo here.