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An estimated 2,000 attendees participated in the 2024 edition of the Mid-Atlantic Convention January 30 – February 1 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA. Over 160 companies were represented in the trade show which was 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 29 attracted several hundred participants with the bus tour being sold out. This year’s Convention was noteworthy due to the members of the North American Strawberry Growers Association from all over the continent held their annual meeting in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Convention. Various committees have been planning for the 2024 Convention with the goal of building on the 47-year history of a premier grower educational event.
The 2024 Educational Program featured three days of six to nine concurrent sessions covering the following areas:
This year there was a special emphasis on strawberry production topics as we were joined by members of the North American Strawberry Growers Association.
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 hosts the Trade Show with over 160 exhibitors filling 231 booths. Specialized horticultural equipment, farm market merchandise, and packaging, are 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 30-31. On February 1, they opened at 8:00 am and closed at 2:00 pm. Here’s the list of 2024 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 2024 the workshops offered were Maximizing Strawberry Productivity, Producing Vegetable Transplants, Software Solutions for Farm Management, Sustainable High Tunnel Production, an overview of the Farm Transition Process, FSMA Grower Training, and Pennsylvania Pesticide Applicator License Training. The sold out Lancaster and Berks County Farm Market Bus Tour visited Reiff’s Farm Market in Ephrata, Brecknock Orchards in Mohnton, Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown and Plum Creek Farm Market and Creamery in Bernville.
The annual Mid-Atlantic Cider Contest was conducted during the Convention to determine the best cider in the region.
Respirator fit testing was be available for free at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention.
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 28-30, 2025
January 27-29, 2026
February 2-4, 2027
February 1-3, 2028
