CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

This year’s conference features an emphasis on marketing what you grow and expanding your customer base. Marketing is not just a follow-the-steps process, so we’ve lined up three experienced CropKing growers who will each share their marketing stories and experiences.

Steve Froehlich of HydroSun Hydroponics has been growing and marketing hydroponic produce for 20 years. He has marketed other grower’s produce as well as his own, successfully working with large and small markets alike.

Bill McCord of McCord Family Hydroponics has been growing and marketing hydroponic tomatoes for over ten years. Although he started out marketing only his own produce, he has since become involved with other hydroponic growers and in marketing their produce. He has worked with his own local retail market and with large corporate produce buyers.

Lois Smucker of Oasis Farm has developed markets for lettuce at farmers markets, sandwich shops and in-store produce outlets. She listens to the customers and presents the product in an innovative way that commands attention.

Other growers attending the conference will be invited to share any methods and ideas that have (and haven’t) worked for them. Successful marketers don’t always do it right the first time.

Dr Mohyuddin Mirza (Crop Diversification Centre North, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) will be with us again this year. One of his topics will be “Understanding Plant Language and Making Decisions”. Plants have their own way of showing their displeasure with plant management errors that growers make. Dr Mirza will review symptoms from cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers and show how to interpret them and make better plant management decisions.

In his second talk, “Back to Basics – Do Plants Needs Match Your Needs?”, Dr Mirza will discuss why understanding photosynthesis, respiration and moisture deficit is important to growing better plants and achieving larger yields.

John Wolf of Koppert Biological will share techniques and procedures for introducing and managing beneficial insect and mite populations in the greenhouse. The use of bumblebees in the greenhouse for tomato pollination will also be described.

Cary Senders with Sure-to-Grow will introduce a new growing media that has been performing exceptionally well. A couple growers who have tried the media will be on hand to share their experiences.

Chris Froehlich, also from HydroSun Hydroponics, will discuss the importance and usefulness of accurate record-keeping. Much can be learned from records that are kept in the greenhouse. The computer can be very helpful in organizing and pulling out the information within the records.

Dr Paula Costa with Earthstone International will present "Hydroponic Substrates: Sustainable Alternatives". She will focus on Physical characteristics, advantages and disadvantages as well as the synergistic effects of combining different substrates in a plant production environment.

Chris Higgins, an Hydroponic Consultant, will discuss some basic but important concepts in marketing in his talk "What Makes/Creates a Market Leader?" He will include pointers on taking advantage of niche markets.

Dan Thompson of Link4 will discuss the control and data generation capabilities of the iGrow Environmental Controller.

Jeff Balduff will be talking in sessions in the Prospective Grower's session and Hydroponic Forage in the Grower's session. Jeff has been involved in agriculture all of his life. Raised on a widely diversified vegetable and grain farm, the knowledge he accumulated from working on a farm has now been applied to the greenhouse vegetable industry. With his degree in Farm Management and his experience as an active greenhouse grower, he has helped to designed CropKing’s Growers Choice Electrical Panel and the Nutrient Injection System. He assists CropKing’s customers with advice on the construction of their unit as well as answers questions about growing, insect control, and disease.

James W. Brown from CropKing, a regular writer in Maximum Yield and a horticulturist in the hydroponic industry for 25 years will be presenting various talks. He is a graduate of Cornell University with a Masters Degree and a Vegetable Crops Major, and an Associated Degree from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. He is the author of the CropKing Grower's Manual, and is a requested speaker at hydroponic seminars and conferences. He works with hundreds of growers throughout the country and is widely recognized as a knowledgeable and talented professional in the hydroponics industry.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at 800-321-5211, 330-335-1687 or email us at conference@cropking.com.