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North American Strawberry Symposium celebrating 10th anniversary

The North American Strawberry Growers Association (NASGA) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the North American Strawberry Symposium this year, which takes place from March 7 to 10  in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Taking place every four years, this event brings together strawberry researchers, growers, and businesses from around the world and will feature four days of workshops, educational sessions, meetings, and a tour of the Santa Maria growing area. This year, participants can hear about cutting-edge research on various topics, including innovative greenhouses, new LED lighting technologies, strawberry breeding, and much more. The event will also feature several agribusinesses reporting on new and developing technologies.

“This event is important for growers because these farmers and business managers meet infrequently,” says Kevin Schooley, executive director of NASGA. “Growers look forward to it, and the location is always an area with large production and ambitious growers.”

For greenhouse strawberry producers, talks on substrates, pest management, industry outlook, and food trends may be of particular interest. This year’s grower profile features a propagator who is also a greenhouse strawberry producer.

“There are more presentations than time slots due to the interest in presenting at this conference – even with running sessions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. It will be a heavily attended event with fascinating booths and experiences you would only get at an infrequent strawberry symposium. You won’t be disappointed,” Schooley says.

In total, attendees can expect four days of workshops, research presentations, marketing presentations, poster sessions, and a farm tour. There is plenty for new cultivars and those looking for insect and disease management solutions.

The first full day will contain up to eight afternoon workshops, an evening reception, and the 2023 National Strawberry Queen Pageant. The second day will offer a variety of sessions broken into two tracks with more than 50 presentations on the slate over two full days, March 8 and 9.

As for the education sessions and what will take place, there are several workshops under consideration, including Disease Management, Nursery Developments, Entomology, Strawberry Breeding, Tools and Tips, Production Management/Plant Physiology, Indoor Production, Methyl Bromide Alternatives, Novel Weed Management Approaches, and Getting Started with Automation/Precision Agriculture.

For the final day of events, attendees can participate in a farm tour. The farm tour takes place on the event’s last day and will spend time in Santa Maria at the Cal Poly Strawberry Center. Networking with fellow artisans, growers, and farmers is encouraged, if not critical, for at no other time in the next four years do these individuals all come together in one place.

“There are always great networking opportunities; we have growers and scientists attending from all over the world,” added Schooley. “So, it’s an exciting exchange of information as growers meet with some of their production icons. There’s so much to build upon, and we’re very proud to present this with the hope that everyone walks away richer with the information they’ve learned throughout this symposium.”

For more information or to register, visit: www.nasga.org.