The 2008 Illinois Specialty Crops and Agritourism
Conference, held January 9-12 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, once
again featured programming for both the Illinois Specialty Growers
Association and the Agricultural Tourism Partners of Illinois (ATPI). The
successful joint effort featured two pre-conference workshops, the
traditional breakout sessions, and a new Saturday program called Buy Local,
Eat Healthy.
Two pre-conference workshops were held on Wednesday, January 9: (1) High
Tunnels and Greenhouses for Extending Seasons and Increasing Markets; and
(2) Growing Grapes in Illinois. Both were crowd pleasers, with over 100 in
attendance between the two workshops. The Greenhouse Workshop featured
topics on high tunnel designs, bedding plant production, organic production,
integrated pest management, weed management, and a grower’s perspective by
Matt Klein, President of IVGA.
The Grape Workshop included topics on information resources, the importance
of site selection, risk management options, choosing varieties and their
sources, vineyard establishment, and insect, disease, and weed management.
On Thursday, January 10, the conference was kicked off by keynote speaker,
Charlie Touchette, Executive Director, North American Farmers Direct
Marketing Association, who talked on farm direct marketing and agritourism.
Following were five tracks of breakout sessions on fruits, vegetables,
herbs, and agritourism, as well as a more general track for all the member
organizations that included talks on marketing and legal issues, pest
monitoring, pesticide application, invasive organisms and pollinator health,
and lastly, labor, i.e. H2A.
Invited speakers for the fruit sessions included Guido Schnabel, Clemson
University, with two presentations on peaches (brown rot and root rot); Donn
Johnson, University of Arkansas, held two talks on insect management in
peaches and brambles; and Desmond Layne, Clemson University, spoke on canopy
management of peaches. Janna Beckerman, Purdue University presented two
talks on apples (scab resistance and crown rot). ISHS member and producer
Tom Ringhausen spoke on growing and marketing peaches and apples in
southwestern Illinois. U of I presenters included Rick Weinzierl (apple and
peach insect management) and Jeff Kindhart (strawberries).
For vegetable growers, John Biernbaum, Michigan State University, talked on
vegetable transplant production. Lewis Jett, West Virginia University, spoke
on high tunnel systems, and Doug Doohan, Ohio State University, on weeds in
vegetable production. U of I presenters included Mohammad Babadoost
(peppers, tomatoes, and cucurbits), Rick Weinzierl (vegetable insects), Jeff
Kindhart and Bill Shoemaker (vegetable trials), and John Masiunas (snap
beans). IVGA producer Lloyd Nichols spoke on vegetable varieties.
The herb session recap can be found on the Illinois Herb Association page of
this web site.
Agritourism sessions featured talks on marketing, making the sale,
increasing sales, and promotional design, with speakers from Purdue, U of I,
U of Kentucky, U of Missouri, Missouri Dept of Ag, tourism bureau
professionals, and many agritourism producers.
The Thursday night banquet featured Andrew McCrea, radio broadcaster,
author, farmer and rancher, who provided input on “Moving our Industry from
Ordinary to Extraordinary.”
