TRENTON, N.J. — The 102nd New Jersey State Agricultural Convention and Trade Show will be held Feb. 7-9 at the Harrah’s Resort and Waterfront Conference Center in Atlantic City. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture is hosting the convention in cooperation with the Vegetable Growers Association of New Jersey and Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.
The 2017 convention and trade show will open tomorrow with educational sessions held by the Vegetable Growers Association. Highlights from the program include sessions on financial risk management and budgets, organic agriculture, sweet corn, farm brewery opportunities and regulations as well as drones and big data for agriculture. There also will be in-depth workshops on opportunities and challenges for starting a vineyard, resources to help young and beginning farmers grow their direct marketing business and applying big data to small areas — fine tuning production and pest control. A full schedule of Vegetable Growers events is available at http://njveggies.org/2017%20VGA%20program%20near%20final%2010.pdf.
The New Jersey State Agricultural Convention will open on Wednesday and will include messages from New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher and Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Monique Purcell. There will also be remarks from state assemblymen Bob Andrzejczak and Vincent Mazzeo on Wednesday afternoon. New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney will be the keynote speaker Wednesday night.
On Thursday morning, there will be a panel discussion with various agriculture-related industry representatives and then a special address from Lt. Gov. Guadagno at 11:30 a.m. Thursday afternoon there will be a report from Dr. Robert Goodman, the Executive Dean of the Rutgers School of Environmental & Biological Sciences & NJ Experiment Station, and election of two State Board of Agriculture members and one member of the Fish and Game Council.
The trade show will feature vendors and representatives offering a wide range of agricultural products and services.
— New Jersey Department of Agriculture