The past couple of weeks have been busy for the ATTTA team attending meetings in and outside of our region. Attendance at these meetings is important for several reasons. It allows us to keep current on new and changing practices in our industry. Making useful contacts and networking is also an important aspect of meeting participation. The overall key is to bring all of the information back to share with our beekeeping industry. This weeks blog will summarize the New Brunswick Hort Congress and next week we will provide an overview of the recent American Honey Producers Association 2025 conference and trade show.
Report on the New Brunswick Hort Congress 2025
Held in Fredericton over two days (December 2 – 3), this
biennial meeting attracted well in excess of 300 delegates, presenters and
trade show participants. The theme of
the NB Hort Congress 2025 was “Cultivating Connections” and this was certainly
a great opportunity to make useful connections across the horticulture
sector. As the main organizer and
sponsor, the NB Department of Agriculture, put together a busy agenda with a
broad range of excellent speakers.
The first day began with an energetic presentation by Shaun
Haney, founder of RealAgriculture and RealAg Radio show host. This discussion of the challenges faced by
the current agricultural sector, was followed by four themed, parallel sessions
for the remainder of the day. The themes
were: Pollination and Wild Blueberry, Controlled Environment Agriculture,
Floriculture, Small Fruit. ATTTA launched
the pollination session with the first presentation. This talk went over some examples of climate-smart
tools which could be used to increase efficiency of wild blueberry pollination. Two other sessions, which closed out the
morning, included researchers from Maine discussing production practices. The pollination theme continued in the
afternoon with Dr Jess Vickruck (AAFC) discussing some local research which
tracked native pollinators around wild blueberry fields. Two researchers from University of Laval
finished the pollination sessions by informing the group of their recent wild
blueberry research. The day was
concluded with a plenary talk, delivered by John Fletcher, on Farming for
Mental Health. This session was a very
good reminder of the importance of self-care under the umbrella of six
universal pillars of mental health.
Day two began with a very informative presentation from
Fredericton local, Peter Chapman. Peter
shared many useful anecdotes of his time in retail merchandising from his start
in Fredericton, as a teenage bag boy, to a senior manager at one of Canada’s
largest food retailers. Again, across the
rest of the day, four themes allowed for a broad selection of topics,
presentation and technical talks. The
day was concluded with a lively panel discussion, chaired by Peter Chapman, presenting
several challenges and opportunities of the sector. Closing remarks, from Josee Dunphy, Assistant
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, concluded the meeting.
There were also occasions to interact with trade show
presenters, an evening social mixer and breaks between sessions. New Brunswick's Minister of Agriculture,
Aquaculture, and Fisheries, the Honourable Pat Finnigan, gave a well received,
optimistic address at the evening social which outlined the importance of
agriculture to the province. Time was allowed
for important discussions and networking, which are sometimes overlooked when
organizing these events, across the two days.
Overall, a highly successful event for our region's horticulture
industry.
Connecting with ATTTA Specialists
If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:
visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/
Email attta@perennia.ca
