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An estimated 2,200 or more persons are expected for the 2024 edition of the Mid-Atlantic Convention January 30 to February 1 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Over 160 companies will represented in the trade show which is sold-out with a waiting list of exhibitors anxious to get into the show. A series of pre-convention workshops and a farm market bus tour on January 29 are expected to attract several hundred participants with the bus tour usually being sold out. This year’s Convention is noteworthy because the members of the North American Strawberry Growers Association from all over the continent will be holding their annual meeting in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Convention. Various committees have been planning for the 2024 Convention with the goal of building on the 47-year history of a premier grower educational event.
The 2024 Educational Program features three days of six to nine concurrent sessions covering the following areas:
This year there will be a special emphasis on strawberry production topics because we will be joined by members of the North American Strawberry Growers Association.
In addition, there will be a full day of practical production programming presented in Spanish for farm and orchard workers. Expert speakers from Penn State, Rutgers, University of Maryland, and Virginia Tech, along with others from across the country, presented along with selected growers from the Mid-Atlantic region.
The Great American Hall, the Aztec Room, and the Confection Level Lobby at the Hershey Lodge hosts the Trade Show with over 160 exhibitors filling 231 booths. Specialized horticultural equipment, farm market merchandise, and packaging, are all on display along with information on the latest seed varieties, fruit varieties, pesticides and other supplies and services for the commercial grower. The trade show exhibits will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the first two days, January 30 and 31. On February 1, they open at 8:00 a.m. but close at 2:00 p.m. Here’s the list of 2023 Trade Show exhibitors, most of whom are expected to return for the 2024 Convention.
For information on exhibiting at the Trade Show, contact: Maureen Irvin, Convention Coordinator 717-677-4184 or shap@embarqmail.com
Eric is the chief meteorologist at abc27 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and will be speaking on weather patterns in changes in our local climate. See more about Eric here.
The day before the main Convention opens, growers can choose between a farm market bus tour or several different workshops. In 2024 the workshops offered will be Maximizing Strawberry Productivity, Producing Vegetable Transplants, Software Solutions for Farm Management, Sustainable High Tunnel Production, Recall Readiness, An Overview of the Farm Transition Process, Specialty Mushrooms, FSMA Grower Training and Pennsylvania Pesticide Applicator License Training. The farm market bus tour will visit Reiff’s Farm Market in Ephrata, Brecknock Orchards in Mohnton, Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown and Plum Creek Farm Market and Creamery in Bernville.
The annual Mid-Atlantic Cider Contest is conducted during the Convention to determine the best cider in the region.
For information on the vegetable program or general information on the Convention: William Troxell, Assistant Convention Coordinator
717-694-3596 or pvga@pvga.org
For information on the fruit program or for information on exhibiting at the Convention: Maureen Irvin, Convention Coordinator
717-677-4184 or shap@embarqmail.com.
Future dates for the Mid-Atlantic Convention at the Hershey Lodge are as follows:
January 30 to February 1, 2024
January 28 to 30, 2025
January 27 to 29, 2026
