Apr 11, 2017
Academy of Crop Production to Meet at UGA in June

The 2017 Academy of Crop Production will meet June 18 to 21, at the Hotel Indigo in Athens, Georgia.

Hosted by the University of Georgia and the Georgia Green Industry Association, the Academy is a Southern-centric four-day conference dedicated to sharing information on advanced ornamental crop production and business management techniques for ornamental producers.

The conference is a concentrated series of classes, open forums and social events (see program below) that focus on important current issues facing growers.

For more information on attending, please visit https://events.attend.com/f/1383776445

The 2017 program features an impressive national speaker lineup:

June 18

7:00 PM – Informal reception at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia

June 19 – Floriculture-focused Program Featuring

8:00 AM – John Ruter, University of Georgia Armitage Chair of Ornamental Plant Breeding – In the post Dirr and Armitage era – There is a LOT of ornamental breeding happening at UGA.
8:45 AM – Holly Scoggins, Virginia Tech – Pollinator Plants: Know ’em and Grow ’em.
9:30 AM – Break
9:45 AM – Brian Whipker, North Carolina State University – Five updates to the plant nutrition paradigm.
10:30 AM – Lloyd Traven, Peace Tree Farms – Implementing a biocontrol program: fact and fiction.
11:15 AM – Q&A with the experts
11:30 AM – Lunch (on your own)
1:30 PM – Peter Konjoian, Konjoian’s Floriculture Education Services – Transitioning to greenhouse vegetables.
2:15 PM – Rick Snyder, Mississippi State University –Hydroponics, An overview of operations and economics.
3:00 PM Break
3:30 PM – Jennifer Boldt, USDA ARS – Greenhouse Production Research Group – How to use virtual grower 4.0.
4:15 PM – Bridget Behe, Michigan State University – What Every Grower Should Know about Consumers.
5:00 PM – Happy hour and Q&A with the experts

June 20 – Transition Day (From Floriculture to Nursery) Featuring

8:30 AM – Tour of the Trial Gardens at UGA.
11:30 AM – Lunch Banquet and Keynote Speaker – Charlie Hall, Texas A&M University Ellison Chair in International Floriculture – The Crystal Ball: An outlook on Ornamental Sales in North America.
1:00 PM – Dr. James Barrett, University of Florida (Retired) – A Case Study of Cannabis: How Florida Growers have Adapted to this Paradigm Shift.
1:45 PM – Raymond Cloyd, Kansas State University – Effect of systemic insecticides on pollinators: fact vs. fiction.
2:30 PM – Break
3:00 PM – Jean Williams-Woodward, University of Georgia – Fungicide resistance – An increasing problem in ornamental production.
3:45 PM – Kyle Creamer, Harrell’s Fertilizer – Setting up trials at your business: Comparing products fairly.
4:30 PM – Q&A with the experts

7:00 PM – Tuesday Evening – Drinks in the Dooley Garden (Vince Dooley is most known for his UGA Football tenure, yet is also an avid gardener and his home and landscape is to die for!)

June 21 – Nursery-focused Program Featuring

8:00 AM – Ryan Contreras, Oregon State University – Does new technology yield new plants: Observations from lilac, althea, mockorange, and cotoneaster breeding.
8:45 AM – Tom Fernandez, Michigan State University – Stop enabling your plants drinking problem: How much is enough and how much is too much?
9:30 AM – Break
9:45 AM – Gary Knox, University of Florida – Magnolias: It’s a brave new world!
10:30 AM – Jim Owen, Virginia Tech – Connecting the dots…Improving production by better understanding the container system: plant-substrate-fertilizer-root.
11:15 AM – Q&A with the experts
11:30 AM – Lunch (on your own)
1:00 PM – Joe Neal, North Carolina State University – Cost-effective weed management strategies.
1:45 PM – Sarah White, Clemson University – Clean water? How to safely recycle water.
2:30 PM – Q&A with the experts
3:00 PM – Tour of the Woody Plant Collections at the UGA Durham Horticulture Farm

Attendees also will be eligible for 5-8 credit hours of pesticide CEUs and 3-5 hours of ISA regional credits (depending upon state) for every state with a registered participant by May 1, 2017. After that date, organizers will do their best to ensure credits are available from other states.