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

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.

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.