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32nd Annual Florida Seed Association/ UF-IFAS Seedsmen Seminar

Wednesday June 8th, 2016

University of Florida Gulf Coast Research & Education Center

14625 CR 672

Wimauma, Florida 33598

Agenda

7:30 AM - Registration Open

8:25 AM - Welcome – Florida Seed Association President, Paul Hoover

Moderator: Gene McAvoy, Regional Vegetable Extension Agent IV

8:30 AM – Mr. Jerry Hayes, Monsanto – Honey Bee Health

Mr. Hayes will discuss new “bee statements” on pesticide labels and outline industry initiatives to help

reduce impacts on bee and other pollinators. He will also speak about things growers can do to avoid

harming bees and other pollinators.

9:00 AM – Mr. Craig Campbell, Valent – Valent Mycoapply

Mr. Campbell will talk about the use endomycorrhizal fungi as a seed treatment of transplant

application to help improve water and fertilizer utilization for a healthier plant that withstands stresses

and optimizes yield potential.

9:30 AM – Mr. Ben Hinson, Tri-Hishtil LTD - Overview of Grafted plants in the USA

Mr. Hinson will discuss the use of grafting in watermelon and tomatoes to provide options for soil

borne pest and disease management which are challenging growers with the phase-out of some

fumigants. Additional benefits of grafting include: greater yield, survivability, quality, as well as water

saving, and less chemical usage benefitting the environment.

10:00 AM – Break

10:30 AM – Dr. Sam Hutton, UF/IFAS GCREC – Update on UF/IFAS Tomato Breeding Program

Dr Hutton will highlight advances in the UF/IFAS Tomato Breeding Program include potential new high

yielding releases with improved disease resistance and discuss the focus of his program with regard to

new sources of disease resistance.

11:00 AM – Dr. James Olmstead, UF/IFAS Horticulture Department - Marker-Assisted Selection in

Breeding

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Dr. Olmstead will describe how marker assisted selection is used to make plant breeding more efficient,

reducing the time needed to select new hybrids and making it easier to transfer traits for desirable

characteristics between plants.

11:30 – Dr. Francesco Di Gioia, UF/IFAS SWFREC - Microgreens and the power of seeds

Dr. Di Gioia will discuss the production and growing interest in novel, fresh, functional and high value

food products such as microgreens.

12:00 – Lunch

1:00 – Dr. Gary Vallad, UF/IFAS GCREC - From seed to fork: Advancing integrated practices for managing

bacterial spot in tomato.

Dr. Vallad will discuss new comprehensive ntegrated disease management approaches for managing

bacterial spot in tomato.

1:30 – Dr. Bala Rathinasabapathi, UF/IFAS Horticulture Department - Building Better Peppers: Novel

fruit variations for breeding specialty peppers for Florida

Dr. Rathinasabapathi will provide an overview of his efforts to breed more nutritious, more resistant

specialty pepper varieties for Florida conditions

2:00 – Dr. Kevin Folta, UF/IFAS Horticulture Department – Introducing Crispr Cas 9 –the Revolutionary

Gene Editing Technique

Dr. Folta will provide an overview of the new CRISPR-Cas9 molecular gene editing technique that is

being touted as the most profound discovery in the history of mankind which could revolutionize

traditional plant breeding by editing a plants own genome to enhance yields, stress tolerance, disease

resistance and other traits.

2:30 - Break

3:00 – Mr. Wade Carter, Highland Precision Ag – Introducing Highland Precision Ag

A representative from Highland Precision Ag will discuss the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and other

precision agriculture techniques to Increase help growers increase yields by utilizing precision

agriculture technology to identify soil characteristics, detect disease and make quicker, more accurate

decisions.

3:30 – Dr. Shinsuke Agehara, UF/IFAS GCREC – Use of Bio-stimulants as Biological Seed and Transplant

Treatments

Dr. Agehara will discuss the use of agricultural biostimulants including diverse formulations of

compounds, substances and micro-organisms that are used as seed and transplant treatments to

improve crop vigor, yields, quality, disease resistance and tolerance of abiotic stresses.

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4:00 – Mr. Todd Zehr, SoilBiotics, Carbon balancing with the influence of microbiology

4:30 – FDACs – TBA – Seed Lab

A representative from the Florida Department of Agricultural Services will provide and update on the

activities and role of the FDACS Seed Laboratory.