Many thanks to everyone who braved the March weather, to attend our Spring Growers Meeting! It was a great meeting with stimulating presentations, good food, and successful distribution of nuts and supplies. The morning weather was not good and many reported delays and accidents and poor driving conditions. Despite that we filled the meeting space and enjoyed a very pleasant day at Fort Hunter.
Special thanks to our presenters for braving the weather and sharing their time with us:
Jose D. Fuentes is a Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University. His research deals with emissions, transport, and chemistry of the gases produced by plants. He studies the influences of plant-emitted gases on air quality and regional climate. He will speak about the impacts surrounding the loss of the American chestnut on air quality and climate in the eastern United States.
Thomas J. Hall, PhD. is a Plant and Forest Pathologist for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He will present an overview of Pennsylvania’s Forest Health Program, siting current activities with regard to a variety of insect and disease issues in Pennsylvania and the Northern Region. Special emphasis will be placed on his work with genetic conservation of butternut and American beech exhibiting beech scale resistance in an effort to reduce the impact of beech bark
Gary William Micsky is a Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator with Mercer County Extension. He will be wrapping the days meeting with a presentation and review of best practices for growing chestnuts, after which he will lead a question and answer session with a panel of growers.
Note: There will not be a PA-TACF Fall Meeting, as the ACF Annual Meeting will be held in Pennsylvania this fall. We hope to have a strong attendance with our membership. For more information follow this link.