Minnesota High Tunnel Conference Set for February 8-9, 2012
The 2012 Minnesota Statewide High Tunnel Conference will be held Wednesday and Thursday, February 8 and 9, at The Lodge at Brainerd Lakes in Baxter, Minnesota. This conference is sponsored, in part, by NCR-SARE.
A Beginning High Tunnel Grower Workshop with a “Basics of High Tunnel Production” session will be held the morning of the first day, February 8th, from 8:30 a.m. to12:00 p.m. for beginning growers and those that need a review.
The main conference will start at 12:45 pm.Keynote speakers for this year’s conference include:
- Mary Gardiner from Ohio State who will present ”Identifying and Enhancing Beneficial Insects”
- Russ Groves from University of Wisconsin will be presenting “Managing and Controlling Whiteflies, Aphids and other High Tunnel Pests”
- Cary Rivard from Kansas State will present “The Art of Grafting High Tunnel Plants”
Other topics include:
- High Tunnel Coverings, Screens and Exclusion Materials
- Pushing the Financial Pencil with High Tunnels
- Identifying Potential Virus and Bacteria Diseases in High Tunnels
- Bumblebees and High Tunnels
- Strawberry Production
- Soil Fertility
- The Whys and How’s of Pruning Tomatoes
- High Tunnel Crop Automation
- Maximizing High Tunnels for the Farm to School Program
- High Tunnel Varieties
- and the famous High Tunnel Grower Problem Solving Session
For more information or to request a brochure and registration form contact the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Office, Grand Rapids, Minnesota at 888-241-0885 or Sue Schuler at schul925@umn.edu, or Terry Nennich at nenni001@umn.edu, or visit the High Tunnel website at http://hightunnels.cfans.umn.edu/, or the North Central Research and Outreach Center website at http://ncroc.cfans.umn.edu/
