2023 Joint Conference
of the Northern Nut Growers Association,
the Chestnut Growers of America, and the Walnut Council
July 23-26, 2023
University of Missouri - Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm (HARF)
Columbia, MO
Conference Highlights
PLEASE NOTE:
If you are interested in attending the annual meeting in Columbia, Missouri July 23-26, a reminder that the hotel deadline for the group rate is June 23. The Hampton Inn and Suites Columbia at the University of Missouri, 1225 Fellows Place, Columbia is approximately 0.8 miles south of the campus. (There is another Hampton Inn in town, make sure you book at the Fellows Place location) Call 573-214-2222 by June 23 to book at the special “Walnut Council” group rate of $115 + tax per night or book online at www.bit.ly/3jIBuXc.
The registration deadline at the early bird rate is also June 23. After that date the registration increases $50.
For 2023 the Northern Nut Growers Association 114th annual meeting will be a joint conference with the Chestnut Growers of America and the Walnut Council. The updated program materials will be available in the summer NNGA Nutshell newsletter and here on the NNGA website if there are any changes.
Date: Sun. July 23 to Wed. July 26, 2023
Location: University of Missouri campus in Columbia, MO, with field tours at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center in New Franklin, MO.
Overview: The university is located in the middle of the state with easy access off Interstate 70 and Highway 63. If you stay in the university housing, the meeting rooms, dormitories, cafeterias, and parking are within close proximity of each other (see map on page 14). For more information about the campus and to view their online tour, go to missouri.edu. For information on restaurants, lodging, shopping, parks, trails, and nature areas in Columbia, visit visitcolumbiamo.com, or request a visitor’s guide at visitcolumbiamo.com/request-visitorsguide. The conference is open to everyone with an interest in trees managed for nuts and/or timber.
Posters will be set up in the ABNR lobby. Posters should be formatted to fit a 36 x 40-inch poster board set on a two-sided easel. Poster presenters are expected to register for the conference and be present (or have a colleague) by their posters during the two scheduled poster sessions from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Sunday and from 7:00-7:30 p.m. on Monday.
Exhibits and displays will be in the ABNR lobby or ABNR 123 if they need to locked up when not attended.
Registration for exhibitors includes a table and one full registration to attend all events or choose display or exhibit registration which includes one unattended table without a registration. If you are unable to attend and have a display or exhibit, please call or contact Caroline Todd (toddcs@missouri.edu) to arrange for shipping and setting it up. A ‘staging room’ will be set up inside the Agriculture Sciences Building (700 Hitt Street). Use the city’s metered parking (quarters or credit card) along Hitt Street while loading and unloading vehicles.
Please plan to donate items to the live and/or silent auctions that will be conducted to support the NNGA and WC Foundation research grant programs. The NNGA/CGA will host a live auction on Monday evening. The Walnut Council Foundation, the educational arm of the Walnut Council, will set up a silent auction that will be open from Sunday evening and run through the break on Tuesday afternoon. Be sure to complete the donation sheet that will be printed in the summer issue of The Nutshell or at the door so we know your preference as to live or silent auction, distribution of proceeds, and if you have a reserved bid.
On Tuesday, an alternative program is being arranged for those who do not register for the technical sessions.
Participants on the Companion (or CAPS) program will tour several local sites which are still being arranged and
enjoy lunch together. The meeting place will be announced at the Sunday Show and Tell.
Sunday’s welcome reception, Monday’s field tour lunch, Tuesday box lunch and breaks, Wednesday’s breaks, and Tuesday’s Social/Banquet are included in the registration fee. Other meals are on your own. The Plaza 900 cafeteria (900 Virginia Avenue) will be open for breakfast ($10), lunch ($12), and dinner ($12). Payment must be by credit card. The Student Center (901 E. Rollins Street) one block from the conference venue has a cafeteria as well as a gift shop and bookstore. The downtown area has numerous local restaurants within a five-block walk
(visitcolumbiamo.com).
Campus housing will be in the College Avenue residence halls (1300 Rollins Street) accessible off Rollins Street.
Single rooms with one twin bed and double rooms with two twin beds are available for $180 and $200 ($100 per person) for a Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night stay that includes linens and towels. If you need Saturday or Wednesday night, call Caroline Todd (573-884-2874).
Rooms have both Wi-Fi and air conditioning. Each room shares a common bathroom with another room. Housing reservations need to made by May 21 and paid for on the registration form. After May 21, call Caroline Todd (573-884-2874) to see what is available. Fifty percent of the housing fee will be refunded if cancelled 10 to 60 days before the conference.
For those staying in the College Avenue campus housing, plan to use the parking behind the residence hall and Bingham Commons. The least expensive option for parking is to purchase a 7-day pass for $24 that allows you to park in the lot behind the residence hall and the Hitt Street Parking Structure (metered parking is not included). There is a pedestrian overpass over College Avenue that leads to the Plaza 900 cafeteria and Virginia Avenue to conference area. Golf carts will be available to help those with limited mobility move between the residence hall and ABNR on campus.
Because the University is between sessions, there should be plenty of parking near the conference area. You are encouraged to park along Hitt Street during the day and feed the meters with quarters or credit card or keep it simple and purchase a 7-day pass for $24 to park in the Hitt Street Parking Structure (309 Hitt Street) any time day or night. We will have golf carts shuttling people between the parking garage and ABNR.
If you have an ADA placard or license plates, you can park first come/first serve in any non-reserved and non-restricted accessibility spaces on campus including the Hitt Street Visitor Lot (HSVL) across the street from the Agriculture Sciences Building with the purchase of a $24 7-day pass.
We have booked a block of rooms with discounted rates as an alternative to the residence hall. The Hampton Inn and Suites Columbia at the University of Missouri, 1225 Fellows Place (not 3410 Clark Lane) is approximately 0.5 miles south of the campus. Regardless of which organization you are a member of, call 573-214-2222 to book at the special “Walnut Council” group rate of $115 + tax per night or book online at bit.ly/3jIBuXc. This includes a free hot breakfast and free parking. Pets are allowed with an additional one-time charge of $50 for up to 4 days. Consider walking between the Hampton Inn and ABNR or the Brewer Field House to avoid purchasing a 7-day pass or feeding meters.
On Sunday, the Board of Directors meetings for the Walnut Council Foundation and Walnut Council will be held in the Hampton Inn meeting room.
The visitcolumbiamo.com website lists more than thirty other lodging options within five miles of the campus.
The closest RV and MH park is Pine Grove Village (573-474-4412) at 3900 Clark Lane just east of the I-70 and US 63 interchange or 15 minutes from campus. For information on other camping sites, visit visitcolumbiamo.com/section/camp.
Columbia has an airport served by American Airlines with five flights daily through Dallas/Ft Worth or Chicago (flycou.com). The Hampton Inn and campus are approximately 12 miles from the Columbia Regional Airport. Car rentals (National, Alamo, and Enterprise) are available at the Columbia airport (573-442-3250). Taxi cabs are available between the airport and campus (flycou.com/parking-transportation).
The next closest airport is St. Louis, 90 miles east and then Kansas City airport, 120 miles west of Columbia.
Both airports have multiple agencies offering car rentals.
Mo-Express offers shuttle service (moexpress.com; 877-669-4826) between St. Louis and Columbia with ten round trips daily. Advance reservation is required. Door to door is $70 one way or $135 round trip plus gratuity with online registration.
Online registration with credit card will be available at https://centerforagroforestry.org/event/2023-nut-growerconference. Alternatively, complete the registration form located here and mail to Caroline Todd, 1111 East Rollins Street, 302 ABNR, Columbia, MO 65211 along with a check made payable to University of Missouri. Register by June 24 to take advantage of the early bird special rate. Full refunds on registrations are available through July 13.
We are asking each adult attendee to complete an individual registration including accompanying adult companion(s). Children should register with an adult companion who is not attending the field trip and technical sessions. Full registration includes program packet, favor, Sunday’s welcome reception, Monday’s field tour lunch, Tuesday’s box lunch and break refreshments, Wednesday’s break refreshments, and Tuesday’s Social/Banquet. It does not include transportation or lodging.
Plan to drive your own vehicle on Monday to the field tours 26 miles from the campus (allow 45 minutes).
There is plenty of parking at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm (10 Research Center Road, New Franklin) by the haybarn (pavilion) surrounded by a gravel parking lot and along the roads on the farm. Directions from Columbia to HARF (that avoid the US-40 road closure between Hwy 240 and Hwy 5) involve taking I-70 W to US40 W (exit 121) to MO-240 W (toward
Fayette) to State Route P south into New Franklin. Alternatively, take I-70 W to MO 87 (exit 106) toward Boonville to Hwy 5 and follow Hwy 5 north through Booneville past the casino and into New Franklin. Once in New Franklin, stay on Broadway (Hwy 5) past the school, turn left on Research Road just before the New Franklin Car Wash. After the curve, HARF will be on the right.
Follow the gravel road for approximately one mile past the HARF shade house and office to the hay barn (pavilion).
The field tours will start with a welcome at 8:45 a.m. and run through 4:30 p.m. We will use bleacher wagons (capacity 30 to 45 people) for the near and far-loop tours. A walking tour is planned for the field stops around the haybarn and demonstration area. All three tours are scheduled to be repeated two times. Stops are scheduled for most of the repositories, progeny, and cultivar trials for chestnut, hazelnut, black walnut, and northern pecan.
Equipment planned for the demonstration area include irrigation, electric deer fence, and nut harvesting. How-to videos for topics such as grafting that we cannot demonstrate in the summer will be shown in the haybarn.
After lunch, you will need to decide whether to take the other two field tours at HARF or travel to the alternate timber management field tour at a private woodlot (301 North Highway UU – 1 mile south on UU of eastbound US 40 at I-70 Exit 121). Various field stops are planned to discuss vegetation management, sawmilling and small log utilization, thinning, and an equipment display.
We are trying to set up a few post conference tours you could participate in after the conference on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. Mark your interest on the back of the registration form. If there is no demand, we will not plan those tours. Below is a partial list of some post-conference tour opportunities listed in order of increasing distance from Columbia giving general direction, travel times, and miles from Columbia. Check the summer issue of The Nutshell, the NNGA website, or the printed program at the conference to see which post conference tours have been organized.
Brundage/Wilson HTIRC Black Walnut Clonal Trial, Harrisburg, MO.
Grafts of the HTIRC’s fifteen best timber selections in 2007 were planted in replicated plots on a wide floodplain less than an hour (20 miles) northwest of Columbia. Check the summer The Nutshell to see if this becomes a Sunday afternoon pre-conference tour. Missouri Pacific Lumber, 694 State Rte. DD, Fayette,
MO (mopaclumber.com; 660-248-3000). Web banner: Setting the Gold Standard in American Black Walnut for Over 40 Years. Less than an hour (25 miles) northwest of Columbia.
Shepherd’s Pecan Valley, 1580 County Road, Clifton Hill, MO.
Dan Shepherd (dan@cvalley.net) manages one of the largest pecan orchards (shepherdfarms.com), processes his own pecans and markets pecans via the internet and farm store. Located about 1 hour (50 miles) north and west of Columbia.
Cedar Hill Farms, 31229 Mount Olive Rd, Marshall, MO 65340.
Bill and Sue Ellen Stouffer (cedarhillfarm.com, 660-287-4510) manage over 20 acres of chestnut trees in an alley cropping agroforestry practice about 1 hour (60 miles) west of Columbia (Hwy 41 of I-70 W).
Forrest Keeling Nursery, 88 Forrest Keeling Lane, Elsberry, MO. The Lovelace family owns and operates a tree nursery (fknursery.com, 573-898-5571) noted for its air-root pruned (RPM) planting stock about 2 hours (103 miles) northeast of Columbia (Hwy E off I-70) and 1 hour (53 miles) to St. Louis Airport.
Chestnut Ridge of Pike County, US 54, Rockport, IL. Dale Black manages 30 acres of ‘Dunstan’ chestnut plantings (chestnutridgeofpikecounty.com) along the bluffs above the Mississippi River Valley about 2 hours (105 miles) northeast of Columbia (US 54E off I-70 E) and 2 hours (95 miles) from St. Louis Airport (I-70 E off US 61 S).
Hammons Products Company, 105 Hammons Dr., Stockton, MO 65785.
The Hammons family has owned and operated a commercial black walnut processing facility (black-walnuts.com, 417-276-5181) for three generations about 3 hours (160 miles) southwest of Columbia. (US 65 S of I-70 W).
Chestnut Charlie’s Organic Tree Crops, 1841 E 1450 Road, Lawrence, KS.
Chestnut Charlie and Deborah (chestnutcharlie.com) manage 20 acres of nut orchards organically and market 30,000 pounds of chestnut annually about 3 hours (165 miles) west of Columbia off I70 and 1 hour (50 miles) from Kansas City airport.
• The UMCA Chestnut and Other Nut Tree Programs
• AIMS: Update on Chestnut Ancestry
• Cross Species Breeding for Eastern Growers
• Chestnut Repository 1 and 2 and Cultivar Trials
• Seedling vs Grafted Chestnut Performance
• Nutrient Enhancer for Growing Crops and Chestnut
• Cover Crops and Soil Health Impacts in Tree Plantings
• Successful Chestnut Alley Cropping Practice
• Deer Fencing and Irrigation
• Tips and Ideas for an Organic Chestnut Orchard
• Construction and Operation of a Low-cost Air Cleaner
• Our Experience with Oak Wilt in Chestnut Orchards
• Regenerative Chestnut Agroforestry
• Considering Farm Succession for Chestnut Orchards
• The Case for Chestnut Flour: Early Findings
• Marketing Chestnuts – A Panel Discussion
• Ozark Chinquapin Conservation
• New Hazelnut Cultivars from Rutgers University
• Strategies for Hazelnut Propagation
• Breeding EFB Resistance Hazelnut in Missouri
• The Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium
• Hazelnut Breeding Block and Cultivar Trial
• Hazelnut Germplasm and Industry Development Update
• The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative
• Diversified Hazelnut and Chestnut Orchard Setup
• Hazelnut Pollinizer Selection and Orchard Distribution
• Mapping the Demand for Agroforestry
• Agroforestry Adoption: On Farm Surveys
• Processing Hazelnuts and Hickory Oil;
• NNGA Cultivar Inventory Database Project;
• Walnut-Past, Present & Future for Nuts and Timber
• Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping in Black Walnut
• Black Walnut Mapping Population and Selection Trials
• Black Walnut Repository and Progeny Block
• NNGA Cultivar Inventory Database Project;
• The Black Walnut Resource in the Eastern U.S.
• NRCS Web Soil Survey for Evaluating Tree Plantings
• NRCS Updated Website and Cost Sharing Opportunities
• GA 4+7 Pre-Soaks Increase Walnut Seedling Production
• Number & Size of Walnut Plantings—Survey Results
• Hardwood Fertilization for Timber and Nuts
• Alternatives to Grasses in Tree Plantings
• Establishing Clover Cover Crops in Walnut Plantings
• When too Thin and Tree Spacing
• Sawmilling and Small Log Utilization
• Shaking Walnut for Earlier and Higher Quality Nuts
• Nut Markets for the ‘BOLD, WILD Walnut
• Forestry Co-ops: A Model to Consider
• Walnut Lumber & Log Markets--Industry Prospective
• Timber Basis and Taxation Considerations
• Economic Opportunities & Health Benefits of Walnut
• Conserving Threated Butternut
• Butternut Artificial Regeneration and Performance
• Witch’s Broom: A Threat to Butternut
• Pecan Cultivar Releases & ARS Breeding Program
• Pecan Repository
• Using Drones for Pecan Insect and Disease Control
• My Mistakes in 50 Years of Being a Pecan Farmer
• Climate Smart Forestry with Walnut and Oak
• Soil Suitability and Growth Patterns for Walnut & Oak
• The White Oak initiative
• Swamp White Oak Precocity
• Pawpaw Management
• Who Needs Pawpaw Cultivars?
• Increasing Utility of Native Persimmon Stands
• Elderberry Cultivar Trial
• G x E Interactions in an Elderberry Plantings
• Strategic Responses to Forest Health Threats
• Controlling Invasive Plants in Hardwood Plantings
• Where are We with Thousand Cankers Disease?
• Identification and Distribution of Spotted Lantern Fly
• Native and Exotic Ambrosia Beetles
• What Role Does Phytophthora Play in Oak Decline
• Oak Wilt in an Oak Chestnut Planting