From The Road: IFTA Conference Day 5

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Growers are accustomed to coping with whatever hand Mother Nature deals you. Wednesday was no different than another day out in the orchard. While in morning sessions, she decided to hand the IFTA tour goers a picturesque snow storm. The Annapolis Valley looked like one giant Christmas card.

Snow is no stranger to IFTA bus tours, and one of my bus mates on Wednesday began to sing “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like An IFTA Bus Tour,” to the tune of “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.” It was very appropriate. There was a lot of moisture in the snowfall, which made perfect packing snow. Naturally, snowball fights erupted.

But, the local tour hosts rebounded and opened barns and community centers to keep us out of the cold. We did manage to get out in one orchard and saw some V trellised pears.

IFTA’s Past, Present, And Future
The morning sessions were held at the Old Orchard Inn in Wolfville, and focused on the fire blight epidemic in 2014 in Nova Scotia. Steve Blizzard gave the Carlson Lecture and highlighted IFTA’s past. Growers reminisced during a slideshow of photos from the early years of the association. Following Blizzard’s presentation, outgoing IFTA president Phil Schwallier pulled all the young growers together for a photo. There were approximately 40 growers under the age of 30 pictured. Many of these young orchardists received scholarships from IFTA and sponsors (including American/Western Fruit Grower). So, I’d say the future looks very bright for the organization.

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Local Fare
Tour goers were treated to a traditional Nova Scotia lobster dinner with gingerbread cake, a popular dessert in this area, in the village of New Minas. A local band also played traditional Nova Scotian folk songs, to the delight of diners.

More Updates
For more from IFTA, be sure to check out my Twitter feed @HerrickAFG, where I am sending updates from all the sessions and catch the April issue of American Fruit Grower magazine for a recap of the conference. Missed one of the recaps? Check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.

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