March 2020 - 12

Mid-Atlantic Convention deemed a success by organizers
By Gary Pullano
Managing Editor
About 1,800 growers and other fruit
and vegetable industry members - plus
400 exhibitor representatives - met
at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey,
Pennsylvania, for the 43th annual
meeting of fruit and vegetable growers in
the mid-Atlantic.
The educational program for the
the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable
Convention held Jan. 28-30 featured
speakers from across the nation along with
more than 160 exhibitors at the trade show.
Todd Hunt of the Hunt Co. presented
the keynote address on " Communication
Bleeps and Blunders in Business. " The
convention also included the annual
Grower Banquet, Apple Grower
Reception and Ice Cream Social along
with other receptions sponsored by
individual companies.
Growers who missed the convention
are able to purchase the proceedings
that contains summaries of many of
the presentations in the vegetable,
greenhouse, small fruit and marketing
sessions. Those interested can send
a check for $20 to the Pennsylvania
Vegetable Growers Association (PVGA)
at 815 Middle Road, Richfield, PA 17086
or they can be ordered online on the
event's website, www.mafvvc.org.
Each year the Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers Association gives its annual
and aphid-vectored viruses in legumes.
Fleischer's Extension activities focus
on IPM in vegetable crops, with a
priority on advancing economically
feasible management that improves
worker and environmental safety. His
sampling plans have been adopted in
alfalfa and hardwood forests in the U.S.,
and leafy greens in the Caribbean.
The PestWatch web-mapping platform
From left, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers Association President Jonathan Strite, Shelby Fleischer and Penn State University
Director of Extension Brent Hales. Photos: Gary Pullano
award to an individual who has a
long-standing record of service and
dedication to the vegetable, potato
and/or berry industry or the association.
This year's annual award and a life
membership in the association were
presented to Shelby Fleischer, professor
of entomology at Penn State University
(PSU) for his 29 years of serving the
vegetable growers of Pennsylvania as the
vegetable Extension entomologist.
The presentation was made during
the annual Fruit and Vegetable Growers
Banquet on Jan. 28.
" The association is pleased to present
its 2020 Annual Award and a life
membership in the association to Dr.
Shelby Fleischer for this long-standing
record of outstanding service and
dedication to the vegetable growers of
Pennsylvania and to the association, "
said PVGA President Jonathan Strite.
A native of Washington, D.C.,
Fleischer attended St. Mary's College
in Maryland where he earned his
bachelor's degree in biology. According
to information released by the event
organizers, Fleischer attended Virginia
Tech for his master's degree and went on
to Auburn University for his doctorate -
both degrees in entomology. He worked
as a research associate at Auburn
before returning to Virginia Tech as a
research scientist from 1987 to 1991. In
1991, he started at PSU as an assistant
professor with a research and Extension
appointment in entomology.
Fleischer served as a grants panel
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10 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
member for regional and national
integrated pest management (IPM)
programs, the Methyl Bromide
Transitions Program, the Biotechnology
Risk Assessment Grants Program, and
on an EPA Scientific Advisory Panel. He
has been an invited symposium speaker
at the French Association of Plant
Biotechnology, multiple land-grant
university seminars, multiple symposia
organized by the Entomological Society
of America and a plenary speaker at the
Eastern Branch of this society.
He received the Distinguished
Achievement Award in Extension from
the Eastern Branch of the Entomological
Society of America in 2011.
Fleischer's more than 100 research
publications with over 3,400 citations
focus on the structure, dynamics and
management of insect populations and
communities in agroecosystems. He
was a team member in the analysis that
demonstrated area-wide reductions of
European corn borer from adoption of
Bt-maize, which influenced the debate
about the risks, benefits and regional
scale implications of using transgenes
in agriculture.
His work involving neonicotinoids as
seed treatments is receiving increased
attention due to effects on bees. Recent
work is demonstrating the ability of
wild bee communities to achieve the
ecosystem service of pollination in the
earth's agroecosystems. Managing insects
that vector plant pathogens has been a
research focus, with diabroticites that
vector bacterial pathogens in cucurbits
Brian Campbell, left, incoming Pennsylvania
Vegetable Growers Association president,
presents outgoing President Jonathan Strite
with a plaque of appreciation.
Also at the annual meeting, the
results of the balloting for members of
the board of directors was announced.
Christopher Harner, Christopher Powell,
John Shenk, Jeffery Stoltzfus and Joel
Weaver were elected to three-year terms
on the board by the members in the
mail-in balloting while Rita Resick was
selected by the board.
All but Weaver are incumbent
members of the board. Each year, the
members elect five members of the board
and the board selects one additional
director - chosen to insure diversity,
geographic representation and/or special
expertise on the board. VGN
Fleischer initiated in 1998 for sweet corn
IPM was used by 15 PSU Extension
educators in 2019. Data flowed from 32
sites distributed among 22 counties in
Pennsylvania, plus sites in Minnesota, New
York, Delaware, Virginia and Maryland.
Now a full professor, he has traveled
the state speaking to vegetable growers at
numerous local meetings over the last 29
years helping them learn how to control
their insect pests - both the common
ones affecting sweet corn and cucurbit
crops, but also the new arrivals like the
allium leafminer. He has also helped
growers evaluate new technologies like
Bt sweet corn and neonicotinoids and as
well as developing the sweet corn insect
monitoring network many growers use
each year to time their spray schedules.
He and his wife Barbara have two
daughters and three grandchildren.
Leadership changes hands
Brian Campbell was elected as the new
president of PVGA after the association's
annual Meeting at the 2020 Mid-Atlantic
Fruit and Vegetable Convention. He
succeeds Jonathan Strite who will
assume the office of past president. Rita
Resick was elected first vice president
and Peter Flynn was tabbed to be second
vice president. William Reynolds was
re-elected secretary-treasurer.
http://www.mafvvc.org http://www.herbrucks.com http://www.VegetableGrowersNews.com
March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2020
