February 12, 1998
by Linda McCandless
Geneva, NY - Growers will have the opportunity to improve their knowledge and management skills for apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums at the first-ever New York Stone Fruit School scheduled for March 16 and 17 in Geneva, NY. Stone fruit growers from New York and neighboring provinces and states are invited to attend.
"The theme of the conference is 'Strength through Diversity'," said organizer Robert L. Andersen, who is the stone fruit pomologist at Cornell University.
Andersen and others believe New York orchardists should consider their options to diversify operations by expanding their plantings of stone fruits. "We have new and improved varieties of stone fruits and have developed management techniques that improve quality and yield," said Andersen. "We would like to help growers develop other profit centers out of stone fruit, and spread their labor and equipment expenses over a longer harvest season. Consumer demand is there for fresh, u-pick, and processed fruit."
Sessions are being led by breeders, plant pathologists, and entomologists from the NYS Experiment Station, the Hudson Valley Lab, and other universities. Growers, nurserymen, and industry leaders will also participate. Topics will include ground cover management, replant considerations, irrigation, higher density cherry orchards, copper and bacterial pest control, options for the NY sweet cherry orchards, apricot, cherry and plum varieties to consider, peach varieties and rootstocks, cankers and associated problems, nutritional requirements of stone fruits, brown rot, and stone fruit profit centers. Steve Hoying, leader of the Lake Ontario Fruit Team, invites growers of new sweet cherry orchards to bring slides to show and tell.
Activities will begin with registration at noon on Monday, March 16, and run until late afternoon on Tuesday, March 17. An industry banquet will be held Monday night at which Susan Hosey, a New York consumer affairs food consultant, will speak on "Local Chains Really Do Want Your Stone Fruits."
The event is being sponsored by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, the Statewide Fruit Program Committee, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the NYS Horticultural Society.
The meetings will be held at the new Geneva Lakefront Ramada on Rtes 5 & 20 in downtown Geneva, NY. Registration for the fruit school may be made by calling Dr. Andersen at 315-787-2235. The price of $100 covers the cost of the sessions, banquet on Monday, lunch on Tuesday, breaks, and a school handbook. The deadline for registration is March 1.
Attendees are urged to make their own arrangements for overnight accommodations by calling the Ramada Inn directly at 315-789-0400.
Contact: Linda McCandless, Communications Services
Telephone: (315) 787-2417
e-mail: llm3@cornell.edu
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