Jan. 10—The region’s agricultural community is gathering for a conference on the latest trends and innovations in farming at Missouri Western State University.
The Great Plains Growers Conference invited participants from the Midwest to learn more about improving their farming and marketing.
Pre-conference workshops were held on Thursday, Jan. 9, discussing topics including hard cider and nut orchards.
On Friday, keynote speaker Paul Rasch spoke to attendees about marketing in the farming industry. Rasch, a fourth-generation fruit farmer, shared valuable insights about the business side of farming.
Following the keynote speech, participants of the conference were invited to a trade show and were encouraged to attend educational sessions on an array of topics.
Farmer Linny Wilkinson attended the conference for the first time this year and says he was encouraged by a friend to visit.
“My friend comes every year and I wanted to see it,” Wilkinson said. “I have a small farm and I have an orchard, and I needed some help with my orchard.”
Wilkinson said he found the experience beneficial.
“The variety of people that are doing things and new ideals on things that I haven’t tried to do before,” Wilkinson said. “So there’s a lot of good networking and of finding things that you may not have thought about doing with your farm.”
One of the vendors at the conference, Doug Drury, a genealogist with ArchGen was there to share about the work his company is doing with hop plants in the Midwest. Drury said he enjoyed teaching people more about the plants that help create beer.
“There’s been a lot of people that have come through that have been very interested in the plants and want to know more about this crop that isn’t really grown outside the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “Because there’s a large craft-brewing industry in the state of Missouri and we’re trying to provide the ingredients from a local production.”
The Great Plains Growers Conference continues on Saturday, Jan. 11, with another day of educational sessions.
Tickets are available for Saturday for $70 per person plus fees.
Ticketing information for The Great Plains Growers Conference can be found at eventbrite.com.
For more information about the annual conference, visit greatplainsgrowersconference.org.