MANHATTAN, Kan. – The 2010 Mid-America Fruit Growers Conference will be Jan. 12-14 in the Lied Lodge and Conference Center at the Arbor Day Farm near Nebraska City, Neb.

“Growers make life-long friends at this annual conference. Some probably eat too much, too. Given this year’s program, however, they’ll be going home with all kinds of valuable ideas and information – no matter the size of their operation,” said Ted Carey, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

The program for Tuesday, Jan. 12, is a conference “extra” – a day-long bus tour of operations in Iowa and Nebraska. Stops will include orchards, a garden and landscape design/installation center, a vineyard with wine tasting, a U-pick operation, cider and handcrafted ale enterprises, and an assortment of country-style entertainments and “value-added” orchard products.

The conference itself begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, with the opening of registration, the event’s trade show and a breakfast buffet. Keynote speaker Brad Lubben will follow at 8:30 a.m. with his analysis of the future for U.S. farm programs. Lubben is an Extension public policy specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

From then through Thursday’s final session, just after lunch, the program will offer a banquet of topic choices, Carey said. Three concurrent “tracks” will organize the sessions by overall topic: tree fruits, small fruits and marketing.

“Some awesome growers are coming in to help lead the sessions – from mid-America and beyond. They’ll include representatives of Flamin’ Fury® Peaches in Coloma, Mich.; the Hollabaugh Brothers Orchard near Biglerville, Pa.; and the Kuipers Family Farm of Maple Park, Ill.,” the horticulturist said. 

Other session leaders will be research and Extension specialists from Clemson, Cornell and Kansas State universities, as well as the universities of Massachusetts-Amherst and Nebraska-Lincoln.

Growers can register online or download a mailable registration form at http://www.midamericafruit.org. The site also provides more details about the program and reservations to stay at the Lied Lodge. The registration fee -- which covers the Jan. 13-14 conference materials, lunches, reception, and a prime rib or smoked pork banquet -- is $125 until Dec. 31 and $150 thereafter. The Jan. 12 bus tour and lunch is $50.

The conference’s tree fruit track will include sessions on peach orchard cultivars and systems management, fire blight management, apple cultivars and rootstocks, integrated pest management for apples, farm marketing, and trellis systems (including pruning the tall spindle).

The small fruit sessions will cover strawberry production with plasticulture, blackberry production, blackberry high-tunnel trials, raspberry high-tunnel trials, an overview of small fruit production and marketing, plus an overview of fruit and vegetable production and marketing.

The marketing sessions will start with a farm and business testimonial and then progress to farm marketing; “hiring, firing and more”; social media; branding a farm and its products; and two “how we do it” presentations. 

The conference schedule also allows time for informal gatherings, a reception with complimentary wine tasting, and the annual meetings of the Kansas Fruit Growers and Missouri State Horticultural Society.

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