Approximately 2,000 attendees participated in the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Convention January 28-30 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA. Over 160 companies were represented in the trade show which 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 27 attracted several hundred participants. The various committees planned for this year’s convention with the goal of building on the 47-year history of a premier grower educational event.
The 2025 Educational Program featured three days of six to nine concurrent sessions covering the following areas: tree fruit, stone fruit, small fruit, vegetables, marketing, and labor/farm management.
In addition, there was 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 hosted a Trade Show with over 160 exhibitors. Specialized horticultural equipment, farm market merchandise, and packaging, were 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 were open from 8:00 am – 5:30 pm on the first two days, January 28-29. On January 30, they were open at 8:00 am and close at 2:00 pm. Here’s the list of 2025 Trade Show exhibitors.
For information on exhibiting at the Trade Show in future years, contact: Maureen Irvin, Convention Coordinator 717-677-4184 or shap@shaponline.org
The day before the Convention begins, growers were able to choose between a farm market bus tour or several different workshops. In 2025 the workshops offered were Microgreens, a YGA offsite event, Apple Tree Decline Summit 2025, Farm Transition, and PA Pesticide Applicator License Training. The bus tour was a variety of operations in Lancaster and Chester Counties.
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 contact
Tammy K. Linn, Assistant Convention Coordinator
717-973-5915 or pvga@pvga.org
For information on the fruit program or for information on exhibiting at the Convention contact
Maureen Irvin, Convention Coordinator
717-677-4184 or shap@shaponline.org
Future dates for the Mid-Atlantic Convention at the Hershey Lodge are as follows:
January 27-29, 2026
February 2-4, 2027
February 1-3, 2028
