For horticulturists in the United States, fall means the American Society for Horticultural Science is gathering for its annual conference. Our team at the Horticulture Innovation Lab has been busy preparing to make the trip to Waikoloa, Hawaii, to meet with our partners, colleagues, and fellow horticulture innovators.

You can find members of the Horticulture Innovation Lab network in action every day in Waikoloa. For example:

• Kick off your time at the conference with a “Brief Overview of Horticulture in Hawaii” presented by Robert Paull of the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, who is also one of the founding members of the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s International Advisory Board.
• Come see the insightful work of our Trellis Fund fellows, including Tiare Silvasy, as they present posters on their international development experiences.
• Make sure to get lunch tickets to see our partner from Purdue University, Stephen Weller (ask him about African indigenous vegetables!), speaking about how rewarding international work can be at his talk, “Trials, Tribulations and Lessons Learned Over 30 Years of International Horticulture Research.”

We know many of our horticulture research colleagues will also be attending the ASHS conference, so let us know in the comments if you will be sharing a presentation or poster, so we can try to connect.

‘Nutrition Security’ special session hosted by the Horticulture Innovation Lab

Open to all ASHS attendees is the Horticulture Innovation Lab special session, “Food and Nutrition Security in the Developing World: Challenges and Opportunities,” 12-4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 20 in the conference meeting room Kohala 1. The goal of this workshop is to have a dialogue about global food security and nutrition security issues and assess the impact of horticulture in certain countries using case studies.

Some of our network’s most talented academics and distinguished government partners will be speaking, including John Bowman of USAID, Kate Scow of UC Davis, Thibaud Martin of CIRAD, and Gurbinder Gill of Agribusiness Associates. Presentations will include:

• The Nexus of Food Security & Nutritional Security, Sustainability and Hunger: Multidisciplinary Educational and Research Opportunities and Challenges
• New Trends in Food Security at USAID: The Role of Horticulture
• Innovative Technologies to Enhance Availability of Nutritious Foods in Bangladesh
• Building Horticultural Postharvest Capacity and Entrepreneurship: Experiences from Rwanda and Burkina Faso
• Insect Exclusion Netting As a Profitable and Affordable Technology for Smallholder Growers to Produce Healthy Vegetables Under Tropical Climates
• Farmer-Led Innovation in Irrigation for Smallholder Vegetable Production in Uganda
• African Indigenous Vegetables, a Neglected Treasure, for Improved Nutrition and Income in Eastern and Southern Sub-Saharan Africa

Mitcham takes seat as ASHS Vice President

We are very proud to say that the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s director, Elizabeth Mitcham, will officially begin her term as the Vice President of the International Division for ASHS this year. We think this is a great opportunity for the Horticulture Innovation Lab to further share our development expertise with some of the most qualified horticulturists.

Visit the Horticulture Innovation Lab booth

Lastly, please come by our booth! We will have many of our innovative technologies for the developing world on display, with fruits and vegetables to taste. I will be staffing the booth along with Angelos Deltsidis, international postharvest specialist, and Archie Jarman, program officer. We are ready to answer questions, discuss international horticulture topics and provide more information about our work. You can also enter a raffle to win a prize by answering one of our very difficult horticulture questions.

Aloha! We hope to see you in Hawaii, and if you cannot be there, we look forward to sharing the cutting-edge research we learn about.

More:

• Follow #ASHS2017 on Twitter for live tweets from the event
• Horticulture Innovation Lab workshop: Food and Nutritional Security in the Developing World: Challenges and Opportunities, 12-4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20