The 24th annual Hawaii International Tropical Fruit Conference will be staged Sept. 12-14 on Maui, and will continue Sept. 15-19 with daylong mini-sessions on Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, in Hilo and Kona.
The 24th annual Hawaii International Tropical Fruit Conference will be staged Sept. 12-14 on Maui, and will continue Sept. 15-19 with daylong mini-sessions on Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, in Hilo and Kona.
Geared to farmers, educators, orchard managers and proponents of sustainable agriculture, the weeklong event is presented by the statewide Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG).
The conference is titled “It’s All About Production” and offers a variety of breakout sessions, plus visiting researchers and agroexperts.
Professor Roger Leakey, crop physiologist, will give the keynote address. He is former director of research at the International Center for Research in Agroforestry and professor of agroecology and sustainable development of James Cook University in Australia.
Other speakers include tree-pruning expert Dr. Yoshimi Yonemoto of the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, who will offer “Training and Pruning for Production,” while Dr. John Preece of the USDA and National Clonal Germplasm Repository in California will discuss propagation.
Considered the world’s leading expert on post-harvest technology, the University of Hawaii’s Robert Paull will do a presentation on the impact of pre-harvest environmental and post-harvest handling factors on tropical commodities.
Mini-conferences will include presentations by Leakey, Yonemoto and Preece, plus on-site visits to member’s farms and greenhouses.
The conference is open to the public.
Registration forms and fee schedule will be available at www.htfg.org or by contacting HTFG Executive Director Ken Love at kenlove@hawaiiantel.net or Mark Suiso at suiso@aloha.net.