By Clint Thompson
Last week’s Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference served as a celebration of what’s right with specialty crop production in the region, explains Chris Butts, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA).
“It’s been such an eventful year, everything from the hurricane to our continued struggles with imports, this is really a chance to come together and celebrate some good news,” Butts said. “ We’ve got disaster funding coming and are working with the state. We’ll be helping get that out. It’s really a chance to come together and share that news. In a tough year, we need to come together, and we need some good news. We’re here to celebrate the industry but also celebrate the small victories we’re trying to achieve on behalf of our growers.”
Showcase Event
The three-day conference catered to farmers and specialists from across the Southeast, specifically Georgia, Florida, Alabama and the Carolinas. While the industry had its opportunity to celebrate its accomplishments, the conference also served as a showcase event.
“There’s a general sense of well being and camaraderie that you get from being at a show like this. Our hope is that you get that but also equip you with all of that new knowledge, because it is a showcase for the Southeast,” Butts said. “We’ve got people from all over the world. Our hope is that when you do leave here, you leave here more knowledgeable and you leave here better connected. If we can provide a lift and get you fired up for 2025, that’s great.
“Our mission for this meeting is to equip our attendees to go back and have a better bottom line; be more efficient, more productive and do more with less. It’s the only choice we’ve got, given all of those struggles. The education sessions were geared towards how can we make our growers more knowledgeable, more effective and know about all of the new technology, new varieties and different chemicals.
“On the tradeshow, too, we’ve got new technologies there. There were drones and AI tractors. Any of that technology that we can bring in and showcase and teach our guys to be more efficient, that’ll be a good thing.”