The winter meeting landscape looks very different this year, with most conferences going virtual. While we all will miss the energy and social aspect of live winter meetings, the virtual model has a silver lining. Conferences that might have been too far away or too expensive in a normal year are now more easily within reach – just through your computer. Additionally, most have the option of watching the recorded sessions at your convenience for a few months after the event, if you have a scheduling conflict, or simply can’t sit for that long!

We hope you’re planning to attend the NYS Producers Expo January 11-15, 2021. We have a whole day of berry focused talks and panels. These sessions will be on Friday, January 15, but there will be plenty of other great presentations on a variety of topics that whole week. More information can be found here.

Another conference with great berry programming is the Great Lakes Expo, normally held in Grand Rapids MI, but all online this year. This event is just over a week away, December 3-10, 2020. Schedule of sessions and registration can be found here.

For the bramble growers, check out the North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association conference, coming up February 21-25, 2021. Specifically for new or novice bramble growers, they are holding a pre-conference short course, focused on “Fundamentals of Raspberry and Blackberry Production”. It doesn’t look like registration is open just yet, but you can find out more, or sign up for their newsletter here.

Do you know of other meetings that would interest berry growers? Email me at ejp9@cornell.edu and I can share them in a future post.