Here’s a quick reminder the 2018 Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association Conference will be going on Nov. 14 and 15 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, WA, at currently there are more than 100 exhibitors registered on the association’s website.
Executive Secretary Sheri Nolan told OnionBusiness.com that pre-registration discounts will end this week, adding, “Wednesday and Thursday are two full days of concurrent sessions – Onions, General Vegetable, Pest Management and Organic. Pre-Registration ends this Friday, and the price increases $10 per person on-site.”
A full agenda, along with registration form, can be found on the convention page, https://pnva.org/pnva-conference/.
The two-day conference will be preceded by the W-3008 Multistate Research Project: Integrated Onion Pest and Disease Management Annual Meeting, scheduled for Nov. 13 from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Three Rivers. Registration can also be done at https://pnva.org/pnva-conference/.
And there will be a pre-convention Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course on Nov. 13 as well. This one-day class fulfills FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement that states “At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully comp0leted food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.” The training will provide a foundation for GAP and other FSMA requirements as well as how to develop a farm food safety plan. Register online at https://impactwashington.org/events, and for more info contact Craig Doan at cdoan@impactwashington.com.
As for PNVA itself, the agenda is chockfull of great sessions, networking and the trade show.
Here’s a quick look at Nov. 14’s Onion Day schedule:
8:30 a.m.: Soil Moisture Monitoring Devices and Data Interpretation
9 a.m.: Irrigation Management for Drip and Furrow Irrigation Onions with Jim Klauser of Clearwater Supply
9:30 a.m.: Irrigation Management for Center Pivot Irrigated Onions
10 a.m.: Break and Trade Show
10:45 a.m.: The Importance of Proper Diagnosis of Bacterial and Fungal Onion Pathogens with James Woodall, U of I
11:15 a.m.: Management of Fusarium Basal Rot of Onion with Lindsey du Toit, WSU Mt. Vernon NWREC
11:45 a.m.: Regionally Appropriate Fungicide Programs for Common Pathogens with Lindsey du Toit
12:15 p.m.: Lunch
1:30 p.m.: Onion SCRI Project Update with Hanu Pappu, WSU
2 p.m.: Thrips Managements of Onions with Stuart Reitz, OSU
2:30 p.m.: Break and Trade Show
3:15 p.m.: Nematode Sampling and Control in Onions with Russ Ingham, OSU
3:45 p.m.: Bacterial Pathogens of Onions and How to Mitigate Disasters with Bhabesh Dutta, O of G
4:15 p.m.: Columbia Basin Onion Research Committee Update on Current and Future Research Projects.
Nov. 14 will also feature sessions for General Veg on Disease Management, Drip Irrigation, Early Season Diseases and Pests, Fungal Diseases, Grafting, Organic Ag and much more.
Day Two kicks off at 8 a.m. with Art and Science of Collecting Residue Samples with Dr. Bill Cobb of Cobb Consulting. Other sessions during the day include Legume Diseases, Impact of Fungicides on Plant Health, New Insect Threats and Pesticide Updates. Organizers have also scheduled an entire session from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Organics, with topics ranging from product update to bee certification. There will be a look at large-scale organic production in the Northwest and a comparison of organic and conventional systems from a microbial standpoint.
Featured Image from 2017 PNVA Conference
