Oct 8, 2015

Illinois specialty crops conference Jan. 6-8

The Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism and Organic Conference will be held Jan. 6-8 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. The conference, which features nearly 100 speakers and 60 trade show exhibitors, will again host four concurrent preconference workshops, general sessions and breakout sessions aimed at helping Illinois specialty growers cultivate their operations.

Wednesday, Jan. 6, participants may attend one of the preconference workshops, including Pumpkins and Ornamental Vegetables, Small Fruits, Social Media, and Legal Issues for Small Farmers.

Thursday, Jan. 7, keynote speaker Tom Turpin, professor of entomology at Purdue University, will stress the importance of insects as pollinators, what role they play and how growers can promote their success.

Participants also are invited to attend breakout sessions Thursday, Jan. 7, and Friday, Jan. 8, featuring: Agritourism and Marketing, Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs, Organic Foods, Emerging Issues and Opportunities.

Following Thursday’s breakout sessions, the annual banquet will include a keynote speech titled, “How Social Media Has Revolutionized and How We Drive Traffic to our Farm,” by Chris Eckert of Eckert’s Orchard. Cider contest winners will be announced during Thursday evening’s festivities.

To receive registration materials or obtain exhibitor information, call Diane Handley at 309-557-2107, or email [email protected]. A detailed conference agenda can be viewed at www.specialtygrowers.org.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at a rate of $94 per night. Call the hotel at 217-529-7777 and ask for the Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism and Organic Conference room block to make a reservation at the conference rate.

Cider contest. The 27th Annual Cider Contest and 14th Annual Hard Cider Contest will be hosted at the conference.

Illinois contestants will compete against other Illinoisans for the state awards. Illinois ciders makers also will have the opportunity to challenge out-of-state entries for the North American and Midwest awards. Midwest awards are open to states surrounding and including Illinois, and North American awards are open to all cider makers in North America. Contestants are asked to submit a 1-gallon container of unclarified apple cider that may be fresh or have been stored frozen.

Those making hard apple cider will want to get started now, in order to have the maximum amount of fermentation time. Make sure your product is hard apple cider, not hard apple cider wine. Although there is no definite break or definition where hard apple cider stops and wine starts, we are looking for a hard apple cider product with alcohol content below 8 percent. Hard apple ciders containing other fruit flavoring, such as pear, cherry, peach or cranberry, will not be considered for judging. Hard apple cider contestants are asked to submit a 1-quart, but no more than 1-gallon, container of product for the hard cider contest.

Registration for all apple cider contests will be on Thursday, Jan. 7, from 8-9:45 a.m. Judging will commence at 10 a.m. The fee will be $10 per entry for each contest, with one entry per orchard and/or farm family. Awards will be announced during the dinner banquet on Thursday, Jan. 7. Entry forms can be found here.

For more information, email Elizabeth Wahle, contest coordinator, or call 618-344-4230.