2010 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference Recap

The 2010 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference, held January 6-8 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, expanded to include programming for the Illinois Specialty Growers Association (fruit, vegetable, and herb growers), the Agricultural Tourism Partners of Illinois (ATPI), the Illinois Irrigation Association, and Illinois organic growers.  The overall effort featured three pre-conference workshops on Wednesday, January 6 and seven tracks of concurrent sessions on Thursday and Friday, January 7-8.  

The three pre-conference workshops held on Wednesday, January 6 were:  (1) Grow Your Market:  Creating a Memorable Experience for Customers – a workshop for farmers market managers and vendors; (2) Getting Started in Local Food Production and Marketing; and (3) Expanding Seasons and Markets with High Tunnels.  All drew great audiences, with about 180 in attendance for the three programs combined.  

On Thursday, January 7, the kickoff for the main conference included excellent presentations on MarketMaker by Dar Knipe, University of Illinois Extension Specialist, and on Keys to Effective Marketing by Tim Woods, University of Kentucky.  Both stressed the opportunities for Illinois growers to expand markets and profits.

The remainder of the January 7-8 program featured up to seven concurrent program tracks on fruits, vegetables, agritourism and marketing, irrigation, business management, and organic production.  Invited speakers in the fruit track included Jim Schupp from Penn State University on plant growth regulators and thinning programs for apples and peaches; Eric Hansen of Michigan State University on fertility programs for fruit production; and Ed Baushke, a grower from Benton Harbor, Michigan, on growing and marketing apples and peaches in southwestern Michigan.  The fruit track also included talks on insecticide resistance management by Rick Weinzierl, bacterial diseases of apples and peaches by Mohammad Babadoost, apple and peach rootstocks by Mosbah Kushad, and grower discussions of the 2009 crop season.  

For vegetable growers, Carl Cantaluppi of North Carolina State University’s Extension Service wowed the audience with lots of insights and recommendations on asparagus production, and Don and Shirley Ahrens of Junction, IL, gave a great summary of the how’s and why’s of their roadside marketing enterprise.  A squash and cucumber session included talks on production practices, disease, insect, and weed management, and grower insights by Bill Shoemaker, Mohammad Babadoost, Rick Weinzierl, Elizabeth Wahle, Wayne Sirles, Harry Alten, and Mike Flamm.  Alan Walters, Bill Shoemaker, Jeff Kindhart, Elizabeth Wahle, and Bronwyn Aly summarized numerous cultivar evaluations for specialty pumpkins, tomatoes (including heirloom tomatoes), peppers, and sweet corn.  

A recap of the herb program can be found on the IHA page of this web site.  A variety of agritourism and organic-related presentations rounded out the two-day conference.  Despite some unwanted winter weather conditions on Thursday, overall attendance still superseded last years at around 500 participants.  Preparations will start in June on 2011 conference which is scheduled January 5-7, and if you have any topics you would like to see on the program, please contact Diane Handley at 309-557-2107.