By Clint Thompson
The Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (AFVGA) celebrated its annual conference and trade show this week in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Farmers, industry leaders and Extension personnel flocked to the Lodge at Gulf State Park to learn about various trends and topics impacting the fruit and vegetable industries.
Topics like Neopestalotiopsis in strawberries, paper mulch research in watermelons, potential new strawberry varieties in Alabama and the importance of marketing your product were highlighted during breakout sessions on Thursday. Roundtable discussions were also held.
Variety trials and integrated pest management programs for vegetables and fruit were featured on Friday morning by various Alabama Extension personnel.
AFVGA President
Taylor Hatchett, AFVGA president, talked about the importance of the conference and what growers can take away from the two-day event.
“For me, this conference every year is one of the highlights of our year. We’ve got wonderful breakout sessions where you can get information from pest management to marketing to specific crops and how to produce those. There’s so much educational information. Equally important I think is the networking we are able to do amongst ourselves where you pick up information that drastically changes your process or how you do things or you make connections with people who are looking for your product. A lot of our pull (marketing) comes from situations like this, whether it’s through vendors in the trade show or other growers or industry personnel that are attending where you’re able to make those connections.”