Full schedules are now available for the upcoming New York Tree Fruit Conference running Feb. 2–4 and the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention running Feb. 8–11. 

New York

For the first time, Cornell Cooperative Extension tree fruit specialists are hosting a virtual conference with a statewide focus. Live meetings will be hosted over the Zoom webinar platform and will consist of 12 sessions over the course of three days. Pesticide applicator recertification credits are being offered for the first three sessions on Feb. 2. 

In addition to the live webinars, attendees will receive access to a conference webpage with vendor content and additional educational materials relevant to each session.

Planned topics include: insect, disease and weed management; fruit quality and postharvest handling; labor; markets; horticulture; precision thinning, bloom thinning and the pollen tube growth model; climate adaptability; agritourism; hard cider and new varieties. A Honeycrisp management session will be longer and more intensive than the others.

To see the full schedule, visit http://blogs.cornell.edu/nystreefruitconference/. For more information regarding the conference registration process, email Andy Galimberti at ag2422@cornell.edu or call 734-660-4273.

Mid-Atlantic

The Mid-Atlantic’s first-ever virtual convention will feature four days of concurrent educational sessions. Fruit sessions will cover tree fruit entomology, plant health, horticulture/physiology, stone fruit, blueberries, ag engineering, and pollination. The virtual platform will include a trade show component.

Registration will cost $40 per person and will allow registrants to visit trade show exhibitors and participate in educational sessions during the week of the convention and for several weeks afterward, since all of the educational sessions will be recorded. It is expected that pesticide credits will be available for growers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.

A full schedule is now available at www.mafvc.org. For more information on the convention program, call William Troxell at 717-694-3596, or email pvga@pvga.org. For information on exhibiting, call Maureen Irvin at 717-677-4184, or email shap@embarqmail.com.

—by Matt Milkovich