Oct 3, 2018

Colorado prepares for fifth annual specialty crop conference

The Colorado Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) will hold its fifth annual conference Feb. 25-26, 2019, at the Renaissance Denver Stapleton Hotel, again with the two-day format and Produce Innovation Technology Pitch introduced in 2018.

Added to the line-up for 2019 are deep dives, which are educational sessions formatted for day one of the conference to allow participants to choose a topic and spend more than an hour learning about it. Planned deep dive topics include food safety, succession planning and scaling up for beginning and small farmers.

In addition to plenary sessions, deep dives and the ever-popular grower-buyer networking session, day one of the conference will include CFVGA’s annual meeting. Day two will feature the CFVGA awards luncheon, which culminates in presentation of the 2018 CFVGA Member of the Year Award. In addition, day two includes the tech pitch, a highly-popular and energetic event introduced last year. The conference will again include a trade show over the entire two-day conference, with 40 or more exhibitors expected to participate.

“We want to encourage any grower, allied industry or other entities and individuals involved in the Colorado produce industry to attend CFVGA’s fifth annual conference,” said CFVGA President Robert Sakata, Sakata Farms, Brighton, Colo. “This is the best way to learn what is new in the industry, connect with potential business partners and network with fellow produce industry folks. Besides, we try to have a lot of fun!”

More information on the CFVGA conference, including links to registration and lodging will be available by Dec. 1 at: https://cfvga.org Exhibitor request forms and tech pitch proposals will be accepted prior to this. For questions or more information contact CFVGA at 303.594.3827 or [email protected] Use the same links to inquire about sponsorship opportunities.

The CFVGA is comprised of more than 250 members, including growers of all sizes and types of production throughout the state, as well as representatives of allied industries. The Colorado fruit and vegetable growing sector contributes nearly $485 million to Colorado at the farm gate and is multiplied as it goes through the distribution chain. Over 90,000 Colorado acres are in fruit and vegetable production.