Conference brings regional agriculture professionals together in St. Joseph

By Jazmine Knight

Farmers, producers and growers are sharing their ideas and learning new skills this weekend at Missouri Western State University thanks to an annual agriculture conference.

The 28th annual Great Plains Growers Conference welcomes fruit, vegetable and other crop producers from the Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota regions.

The conference officially began Thursday and runs for three days. This year, workshops covered topics including agritourism, production standards/produce safety, farm-to-school grower training, specialty corn and beekeeping.

Denice Ferguson, field specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, said she enjoys hosting the conference every year because of all the different knowledge she teaches and then receives from other growers.

“It’s great for networking and we’re starting to kind of increase the agricultural business piece because a lot of the growers are very entrepreneurial. So I just like all the networking and all the collaboration.”

Throughout the conference, attendees can explore different tracks each day, such as tree fruit, vegetable production, business development and marketing, organic/regenerative agriculture and more.

Friday’s session features keynote speaker Karen “Mimo” Davis, who is the vice president of the Association of Speciality Cut Flower Farmers and co-founder of Urban Buds in St. Louis, Missouri. She will be talking about finding a farming niche over the long haul.

Along with workshops, growers will gather together for Innovation Night to share their ideas on new equipment designs, growing techniques, marketing and more. From there, the best ideas are selected to receive various prizes.

Ferguson said since the conference has been running for 28 years, familiar faces pop up for each edition.

“It’s almost like a little reunion of the folks, the growers that come are very excited to get here,” Ferguson said.

Eight-year attendee Dennis Epperly said he enjoys collaborating with other people in the industry.

”Being able to work for the other growers and visit with other growers, and we’re very diverse,” Epperly said.

Visit https://www.greatplainsgrowersconference.org/ for information on how to attend.