By Debra Stroschein, NAICC president
Our 2024 season is winding down, and NAICC is looking ahead to our January 20-24 annual meeting in Monterey, California, at the Monterey Conference Center.
We encourage all members to attend as the event will have educational tracks for crop consultants, contract researchers and QA professionals. Each will cover current trends, regulations and new tech.
Session Highlights
Our emerging and evolving technology session will be held on Thursday. Industry partners and members will showcase new crop protection products under development, new uses of current chemistries and new equipment and software. The consultant sessions will begin with a joint session with researchers on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and herbicide and insecticide strategies. Other sessions include the consultant’s role in ESA implementation, integrated pest management and soil fertility.
Speakers will explore timely artificial intelligence in agriculture, biologicals, employee management, the product development process and becoming a better auditor.
California Farm Tour
In addition to a full education lineup, we will also have a researcher capability poster session, which is scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Another highlight to anticipate on Tuesday is the California farm tour. We will start at Tanimura and Antle and tour its facility, looking at drip tape installation and planting and application technology.
Then, we will head to the Ocean Mist plant and follow that stop with lunch and a tour of Odonata Winery. This outing will highlight California agriculture: artichokes, wine grapes and everything in between.
Salinas is widely known as the “salad bowl of the world” in agriculture. Its large-scale production of lettuce and other leafy greens make it a major production center for fresh produce in the country. Here’s a fun fact to share with others on the tour: the Salinas Valley produces about 70% of all the lettuce grown in California and a little more than 50% of the lettuce grown in the U.S.
I can’t wait to see everyone in my home state of California in January! NAICC, to me, is family, so I look forward to seeing everyone again and getting educated.
