STRASBURG, Colo. — The Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) is urging produce growers and others involved in any way in the produce industry to attend the Colorado Farm Show Produce Day Jan. 24 at the Weld County Fairgrounds in Greeley. Produce Day is hosted by CFVGA in conjunction with the Colorado Farm Show.
“Produce day will feature valuable information for anyone involved in any way in the production of fruits and vegetables,” said CFVGA President Robert Sakata, Sakata Farms, Brighton, Colo., who will open the day with an overview of CFVGA and its activities since the Colorado produce organization was founded in 2014.
Beginning at 10:20am, Dr. Mike Bartolo, director of Colorado State University’s (CSU) Arkansas Valley Research Station, Rocky Ford, and Dr. Mark Uchanski, CSU assistant professor of horticulture, specialty crops, will present What’s New in Vegetable Crop Research for Colorado. Attendees will be able to ask presenters questions about the research.
At 11:20am, Dr. Dawn Thilmany, CSU agribusiness extension economist, and Dr. Becca Jablonski, CSU food system extension economics, will present a new tool developed to enable growers to easily evaluate a variety of factors to determine the best marketing channels for their operations. Following this, Dr. Channah Rock, water quality extension specialist at the University of Arizona, will present research and a new app to help growers with water sampling. The app also predicts water quality in real time, based on historical data, weather information and environmental parameters.
In the afternoon, beginning at 1:00pm, a panel of agricultural insurance experts will discuss insurance options for growers, including crop, product and agritourism insurance. This session, which will feature experts from Silveus Insurance Group, Food & Peterson and Farmers Union Service Agency, is designed to help growers learn how to best manage the risks of crop loss, food safety recalls and on-farm activities with customers.
Following the final session, participants are invited to visit directly with presenters and CFVGA board members to learn more. For a more on Colorado Produce Day, see: http://www.coloradofarmshow.com/colorado-produce.
In addition to hosting Produce Day at the Colorado Farm Show, CFVGA is gearing up for its third annual conference, Feb. 21, at the Renaissance Denver Stapleton Hotel. Early registration rates end Feb. 7. For more information and to register, visit http://cfvga.org.
CFVGA is comprised of more than 200 members, including growers of all sizes and types of production throughout the state, as well as representatives of allied industries, extension personnel and individuals. The Colorado fruit and vegetable growing sector contributes nearly $300 million to Colorado at the farm gate and is multiplied as it goes through the distribution chain. Over 60,000 Colorado acres are in fruit and vegetable production. For more on the CFVGA, visit http://coloradoproduce.org.
— Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
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