NNGA's 113th Annual Meeting
July 21-24, 2024
State University of New York (SUNY)
College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Syracuse, NY
Northern Nut Growers Association / Chestnut Growers of America
Meeting Highlights
Please Note:
The conference will begin with registration on Sunday afternoon, July 21, followed by a welcome reception that evening. Both NNGA and CGA will hold board meetings on Sunday and business meetings later in the week. Anticipate the traditional Sunday evening Show & Tell, Monday evening auction, and Tuesday evening banquet.
OVERVIEW
The joint annual conference/meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association (NNGA) and Chestnut Growers of America (CGA) will take place July 21-24, 2024 at the Collegian Hotel and Suites (315-476-4212), 1060 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13210 with the SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry (ESF) co-hosting. The conference will include a show and tell session, two all-day technical sessions, and field tours to multiple sites along with a welcome dinner, auction, and social/banquet. The Collegian Hotel and Suites is the conference center for all indoor events. Plan to take advantage of the group rate for lodging. In addition to a café and restaurant inside the hotel, there are several restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. A free shuttle is available from the Hancock International Airport eight miles away and the AMTRAK station three miles away. If you drive in, plan to use your own vehicle to participate in the Wednesday field tours. We will arrange on -site for carpooling or possible bus transportation to the field sites on Wednesday for those coming without vehicles. Please contact nngacga2024@gmail.com if you have questions about the conference that are not answered here.
Posters and exhibits will be set up in the lobby of the Collegian Hotel outside Genesee Ballroom B. Poster presenters are expected to register for the conference and be present by their posters during the two scheduled poster sessions on Sunday and Monday from 6:00 to 7:00 pm each evening. exhibitors should plan to staff their exhibits during these times as well. If you need to ship materials for displays or exhibits before the conference, please contact Andrew Newhouse (aenewhou@esf.edu, 315-470-6744) to make arrangements to receive and store your materials for the
conference.
Registration packets will be assembled on Sunday between the Board meetings. If you have fliers or other items you would like included in the registration packet, arrange to have them in Genesee Ballroom A and B before 2:00 pm on Sunday. If you need to ship your fliers and other materials, please contact Andrew Newhouse (aenewhou@esf.edu, 315-470-6744) to arrange to receive and store them.
The traditional NNGA auction is scheduled on Monday evening. Please consider donating items to the auction regardless of which organization you belong too. You can specify on the donation sheet which organization should receive the proceeds. Both the NNGA and CGA use the proceeds to support their research grants program for tree related research. In the past, auction items have included artwork, handmade donations, plant material, nut products, baked goods, and/or gift certificates. If you donate baked goods, please label your treats as to whether they are nut, dairy, or gluten-free. If you are an exhibitor, consider adding items, especially the items you have for sale, to the auction to increase your exposure at the conference.
We anticipate half day Companion (CAPS) program on Monday and Tuesday from mid-morning to mid-afternoon planned in conjunction with the Syracuse visitors center.
Details as to where the group will go and have lunch will be included on the NNGA website when available and in the summer 2024 The Nutshell. The companion registration covers the welcome dinner, social and banquet, ESF tour, and normal conference Axed expenses, but does not include entrance fees and lunch for either day.
We will be on our own for breakfast each morning and dinner on Monday night. The Salt Restaurant and Bar in the Collegian Hotel is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. You can find their menus at www.scholarhotels.com/scholar-hotel-syracuse. Room
Service is available from 11 am to 9 pm. The Starbucks café in the lobby has beverages only and open from 7 am till 11 am. A variety of beverages and snacks are available in the Collegian Marketplace directly behind Starbucks. Only the suites have kitchenettes in the Collegian Hotel.
There are multiple locally-owned restaurants within a half mile walking distance that include vegan, Mexican, Asian, and American cuisine. We plan to compile a list of local options to be distributed at the conference. Although it is safe to walk alone in downtown Syracuse, it would be best if we walked as small groups to these restaurants.
The Collegian Hotel and Suites (315-476-4212) (1600 E. Genesee Road, Syracuse, NY 13210) is a smoke-free double tower hotel in downtown Syracuse. We have booked a block of rooms with a discounted rate of $115 plus 15% tax (single or double) through July 5, 2024. Choose from a room with two queen sized beds and no refrigerator, with a king-sized bed and mini-refrigerator, or studio with king-sized bed and kitchenette.
To book a room, reserve online at bit.ly/grouprate2024. The block code is 072124NOR. Book as early as possible, the block of reserved rooms expires on July 5th. We have guaranteed the Collegian Hotel more than 60 sleep nights from Sunday through Wednesday. Reservations made
through the front desk and online booking groups will not count toward the sleep nights. Check in is at 3:00 pm and check-out is at noon.
Parking is self-parking and free at the Collegian Hotel if registered for the conference; otherwise, it is $10 per night. There is no valet parking.
The Collegian Hotel & Suites Syracuse is pet friendly. They accept up to two pets each less than 30 pounds and $50 for the first pet and $25 for the second pet per stay. Guests will be required to sign their Guest Pet Agreement at check-in. These fees do not apply to service animals.
Other hotels within a mile of the conference site include the Hotel Skyler (0.2 miles), Crown Plaza (0.3), Parkview Hotel (0.3), Sheraton (0.4), Clarion Point (0.7), Marriott (0.8), and Best Western (0.9).
The nearest RV/campground is in Green Lakes State Park (7900 Green Lake Road, Fayetteville, NY 13066) about 9 miles (24 minutes) from the Collegian Hotel. Sites start at $18. Call 315-637-6111 for availability and pricing.
The Collegian Hotel and Suites is conveniently located off I-81 taking the Genesee (Hwy 5) exit east. Hancock International Airport located 8 miles north of the Collegian Hotel is served by nine airlines and six car rental agencies. The Collegian Hotel offers a free shuttle between the airport and hotel. Call the front desk to arrange for pickup or drop off.
Syracuse is also served by AMTRAK on the Empire Service with multiple departures daily between New York City and Niagara Falls. Trains operate out of the William F. Walsh Transportation Center located 3 miles north of the Collegian Hotel. Free shuttle service is available if arranged through
the Collegian Hotel’s front desk.
Registration is now open. Online registration with credit card will be available through the NNGA and CGA websites or at bit.ly/nngacga2024. Alternatively, complete the registration form on pages 13-14 in this The Nutshell and mail to Northern Nut Growers Association, %Debbie Milks, PO Box 1166, Lawrence, KS 66044 along with a check made payable to the Northern Nut Growers Association. Full refunds will be available through July 5, full refund less a $50 processing fee through July 16, and no refunds after July 16 with few exceptions.
Full and student registrations include registration packet; printed program with abstracts; favor; Sunday’s welcome reception and Show and Tell session; Monday’s technical sessions, lunch, breaks, and auction; Tuesday’s technical sessions, lunch, breaks, social, and banquet; and Wednesday’s SUNY-ESF laboratory and field station tours.
Companion registrations do not include Monday and Tuesday’s technical sessions, lunches, or breaks. None of the registrations include transportation or lodging.
If convenient, we would like each attendee to complete their own registration either online or using the form in this issue of The Nutshell. Additional copies of the registration form can be downloaded here. Children should register with an adult companion who is not attending the Monday and Tuesday technical sessions.
Field tours are scheduled on Wednesday to the ESF laboratories on campus and the research station on Lafayette Road as part of the full and companion registration. In the afternoon, choose one of three off-site field tours with an additional registration. Plan to drive your own vehicle or
carpool on Wednesday morning to the ESF laboratories and field research station and an afternoon field tour to one of three field sites (separate registration needed for afternoon field stops). We will have a signup list at registration for you to sign if you need to carpool and which off-site field tour you are registered for. If carpooling cannot be arranged for everyone, the plan is to rent vans or buses and ask riders to pay a proportionate share of the rental fees.
Z’s Nutty Ridge Orchard and Nursery (5296 Town Line Rd., McGraw, NY 13101) is a hazelnut/chestnut orchard and nut tree nursery operation owned and managed by Jeff and Dawn Zarnowski. The farm is on a hillside that overlooks a beautiful valley with a view that is worth the visit alone. Visit a farm that started out with thousands of hazelnut seedlings 30 years ago, then started cross breeding and now has hazelnut cultivar offerings. In anticipation of the tour, explore their website at http://znutty.com. The orchard and nursery are about 30 miles south of Syracuse. (Separate registration needed)
Finger Lakes Nut Farm (5287 Booth Hill Rd Locke, NY 13092) is a hobby turned commercial chestnut operation located in the Owasco Valley about 40 miles south of Syracuse. Marvin Russell’s original planting has over 1200+ cold-hardy seedling Chinese and Chinese hybrid trees from 14 mother trees and a second planting on 13 acres within a deer fence and are fully irrigated. Operation includes a small-scale processing setup a vacuum harvester, dip tank, sorter, and walk-in coolers. Visit http://www.Fingerlakesnutfarm.com to learn more about the farm. (Separate registration needed).
Nut Hub Processing Facility, officially the New York Tree Crops Alliance Cooperative (NYTCA Coop) Processing Center (Commerce Center, 839 NYS Rt 13, Courtland, NY 13101) features a NYS certifiable kitchen. Facility has all the equipment needed to process hazelnuts and chestnuts in shell or cracked and processed into value added products including flours, pancake mix, roasted nuts, and nut oils. Tour of this facility included on return trip after leaving Z’s Nutty Ridge Orchard and Nursery or Finger Lakes Farm.
Black Squirrel Farms and Restaurant offers a tree to table black walnut experience. Black Squirrel Farms grows and processes black walnuts, sells black walnut products, and manages a regional black walnut collection area which serves over 150 individual tree owners. In anticipation of the tour, explore their website at https://www.blacksquirrelfarms.net/. The farm (590 State Route 14, Penn Yan, NY 14527) is approximately 70 miles southwest of Syracuse. Sara J. Tyler, General Manager. (Separate registration needed).
On your way home on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday you may want to participate in a post-conference tour. A more complete list than below is planned for the summer 2024 The Nutshell, the printed program in your registration packet, and the NNGA website.
The Nut Hub Processing Facility, officially the New York Tree Crops Alliance Cooperative (NYTCA Coop) Processing Center, Cortland Commerce Center, 839 NYS Rt 13, Cortland, NY 13101. The facility will be open all day Thursday July 25 to accept visitors. The processing center features a NYS certifiable kitchen with all the equipment needed to process hazelnuts and chestnuts(mainly) in shell and then crack and process into value added products. Products include flours, pancake mix, roasted nuts, and oil from nuts like bitternut hickory. Cornell Agritech provides the needed safe processes and procedures for staff and equipment.
The Cornell Botanical Gardens (124 Comstock Knoll Dr, Ithaca, NY) is approximately 1.5 hours or 60 miles south of Syracuse adjacent to the Cornell University campus. It features 25 acres of specialty gardens and the 150-acre F.
P. Newman Arboretum which specializes in trees and shrubs native to New York. It has a small collection of grafted chestnuts. The walnut collection is the oldest collection and includes black walnut, butternut, and heartnuts. The grounds and welcome center are open 7 days a week from 6 AM to 6 PM. Suggested route take I-81 south to NY-281 west to NY13 into Ithaca.
The following is the current list of the presentations to be scheduled for the conference.
During the conference, we will have a mix of 10-minute "Show and Tell" or “Lightning” talks, keynotes, 15- and 30-minute presentations, poster presentations, exhibits/displays, and field stops. The summer 2024 The Nutshell will have a full listing of presentations.
Sunday Show and Tell
| Bugbee, Louise | An Update on NNGA Plantings in Pennsylvania |
| Ferver, Buzz | Searching for Zone 4 Hardiness in Persimmon |
| Zarnowski, Jeff | Deer and Rodent Protection for Your Trees |
| Spalholz, Hans | Lighting for Indoor Nut Tree Nurseries |
| Tankel, Alex | Hurdle Jumping: The Case of the Hickories |
| Carlson, Erik | Allegheny Chinquapins |
| Clark, Sawyer | Propagating Chestnuts via Tissue Culture |
Monday Presentations
| 8:30 | - | 9:00 | NNGA Business Meeting | |
| 9:00 | - | 9:45 | Newhouse, Andrew | Using Biotechnology to Restore Threatened Trees |
| 9:45 | - | 10:15 | Springer, Kelly | The Nutritional Benefits of Nuts |
| 10:15 | - | 10:30 | Hietter, Joe | Using the NNGA Annual Reports 1910 to Today Thumb Drive |
| 10:30 | - | 11:00 | B R E A K | |
| 11:00 | - | 11:30 | Fulton, Albert E. | Holocene Paleoecology of Mast Tree Taxa in the Northeast and Great Lakes Regions |
| 11:30 | - | 11:45 | Aleksiewicz, Daniel | Paleobotany |
| 11:45 | - | 12:00 | Coville, Robbie | Agroforestry Opportunities in Pennsylvania: Updates and Broader Horizons |
| 12:00 | - | 12:15 | Howell, Adam C | How NY FarmNet Helps State Farmers |
| 12:15 | - | 1:15 | L U N C H | |
| 1:15 | - | 1:45 | Winkel Dick | Effect of Late Spring Frost on Chestnut Crop |
| 1:45 | - | 2:00 | Niesz Kutsch, Maya | Effective Pollination Distance of Transgenic American Chestnuts |
| 2:00 | - | 2:30 | Sherman, Sasha | The Great Chestnut Experiment - Direct Marketing Added Value Chestnut Products in NYC |
| 2:30 | - | 3:00 | Smith, Gabe | Facilitating Regional Hazelnut and Chestnut Industries through Identification of Improved Genetic Materials and Management Practices |
| 3:00 | - | 3:30 | B R E A K | |
| 3:30 | - | 4:00 | Neiger, Jono | Land Tenure: Our Three Pathways to Land Access for Tree Crop Agroforestry |
| 4:00 | - | 5:00 | P A N E L S - Choice of | |
| The Business of Nut Growing: Harry Greene, Jono Neiger, Russell Wallach, Jeff Zarnowski, Frank Cetera, Eric Wolske | ||||
| For Beginning Nut Growers: Nancy Newbury, Peter Haarmann, | ||||
| Chestnuts: Andrew Newhouse, Hill Craddock, Greg Miller, Roger Blackwell | ||||
Tuesday Presentations
| 8:30 | - | 9:15 | Craddock, James Hill | Conservation of Castanea genetic resources: American Chestnut breeding for disease resistance in the Southeast |
| 9:15 | - | 9:45 | Albers, Carl | Growing English Walnuts in the Northeast |
| 9:45 | - | 10:15 | Grimo, Enrie | Hot Callous Pipe Grafting in Ontario |
| 10:15 | - | 10:45 | B R E A K | |
| 10:45 | - | 11:15 | Powell, Ron | Pawpaws: Success Begins and Ends with Good Planning |
| 11:15 | - | 11:30 | Brison, Rj | The Versatile Honey Locust |
| 11:30 | - | 12:00 | Turner, Greg | Addressing the Decline of Allegheny Woodrats in Pennsylvania |
| 12:00 | - | 12:15 | Vander Yacht, Andrew | Roasted Nuts: Past and Future Relationships Between Wildland Fire and Native Hard-Mast Producing Trees of the Northeastern US |
| 12:15 | - | 1:15 | L U N C H | |
| 1:15 | - | 1:30 | Judge, Lou Marie | Nuts for the Next Generation |
| 1:30 | - | 2:00 | Neri, Giulio | Nut Production in Québec |
| 2:00 | - | 2:30 | Carlson, Erik and McKenna, Jim | Comparing and Contrasting Chestnut Blight and Butternut Canker Diseases |
| 2:30 | - | 3:00 | Gilrein, Dan | What Bugs Nut Growers: Pest Management Issues in Northeast Nut Production |
| 3:00 | - | 3:30 | B R E A K | |
| 3:30 | - | 4:00 | Molnar, Thomas | Eastern Filbert Blight of Hazelnuts: an Update and Approaches to Manage this Devastating Disease in the Long Term |
| Knezick, Don | Propagation of EFB Resistant Hazelnut Cultivars | |||
| 4:00 | - | 5:00 | P A N E L S - Choice of | |
| Hazelnuts: Tim Molnar, Don Knezick, Shawn Mehlenbacher, Jeff Zarnowski, Lois Braun | ||||
| Grafting: Jim McKenna | ||||
| Black Walnuts: John Kelsey, Sara Tyler | ||||