28th Annual HITFC Registration Now Available

HTFG file photo.

The 28th Annual Hawai‘i International Tropical Fruit Conference is in coming up. From Sept. 20 to 23, 2018, at Leeward Community College in Pearl City on O‘ahu and continues with five gatherings on the Neighbor Islands. Dates run consecutively Sept. 25 to 29 with mini-conferences moving to both Kona and Hilo on Hawai‘i Island, and Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i and Maui.

Geared to farmers, educators, orchard managers and proponents of sustainable agriculture, the multi-day conference is presented by the statewide Hawai‘i Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG) and open to the public.

The 2018 conference is titled “Bringing It All Together” and offers a lineup of visiting researchers and agro experts sharing information and breakout sessions on a variety of topics. Peter Salleras will do the keynote presentation, “Growing, Packaging and Marketing Fruit in Australia-How We Can Up Our Quality in Hawai‘i.”

HTFG Executive Director Ken Love said the conference will provide research and legislative updates on numerous commodities from a host of Hawai‘i facilities and agencies, plus a talk on “Producing Clonal Rootstocks for Avocados.” Breakout sessions will focus on post-harvest technology, value-added food innovation, sustainable farming systems and select commodities like chocolate, vanilla and black pepper.

Registration forms and fee schedule are available online, or by contacting Love at kenlove@hawaiiantel.net or Mark Suiso at suiso@aloha.net. Those registering before August 1, will receive a $50 discount.