Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current, August 17, 2018, Page 4, Image 28

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CapitalPress.com
August 17, 2018
Nursery industry meets at Farwest Show
By DESIREE BERGSTROM
The Capital Press
Desiree Bergstrom/Capital Press
Allan Niemi is director of the
2018 Farwest Show, held in
Portland.
Farwest Show
A view of the display floor at the Farwest Show, held annually at
the Oregon Convention Center.
Spider Mites: Bio Control of
Broad, Russet and Cyclamen
Mites” to “Irrigation Efficien-
cy and Management in Nurs-
ery Crops” and “Driving Foot
Traffic for Green Industry
Retailers with Digital Market-
ing.”
This year’s keynote speak-
er is Ali Noorani, executive
director of the National Immi-
gration Forum. He will speak
on the importance of immi-
grants to the economy within
agriculture as well as other
U.S. industries. Jeff Stone, ex-
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PORTLAND, Ore. — The
annual Farwest Show fills
the Oregon Convention Cen-
ter each year with more than
6,000 nursery industry profes-
sionals from all corners of the
U.S. and provides space for
more than 400 exhibitors to
display their wares and meet
with buyers.
This year’s theme, “Meet
Me There,” gets at the essence
of the event — to meet, make
connections and branch out,
said the show’s director, Allan
Niemi.
The show, Aug. 22-24, is
more than just a trade show.
“Face-to-face still matters,
especially in the agriculture
industry,” Niemi said.
Each day usually begins
with the educational portion of
the show, with seminars rang-
ing from “Not All Mites Are
ecutive director of the Oregon
Association of Nurseries, the
organization that puts on the
Farwest Show, said the nursery
industry has been struggling
with a lack of labor in part be-
cause federal immigration pol-
icy is uncertain.
The goal of the speakers and
seminars is for the thousands of
attendees to come together in
one space and ask questions
about big issues facing the in-
dustry and to learn how to nav-
igate those issues, Niemi said.
Seeing things first-hand,
whether it be the operations of
nurseries and garden centers or
how to make greenhouses more
efficient, is something that the
show is also aiming for, offer-
ing bus tours the day before the
trade show begins.
Also featured are the New
Varieties Showcase, New
Products Showcase, Grow-
ing Trends Showcase, a Solu-
tion Center and the Retailers’
Choice Awards.
The day after the show, at-
tendees can also travel from
the convention center to GK
Machine in Donald, Ore., for
equipment day and watch the
equipment they saw at the
show in action.
A walk around the show
floor offers showcases for dif-
ferent products, new plants and
current trends in the industry.
The Farwest Show is the
largest show of its kind in the
West, Niemi said.
“The strength of the OAN is
its members; the strength of the
show is our exhibitors,” Niemi
said.
While the goal of the show
is to sell products, the Farwest
Show also focuses on fostering
connections between profes-
sionals in the industry. Niemi
said that a couple of ways the
show attempts to further those
connections is by offering so-
cial events in the evenings.
One night attendees can
stick around for a happy hour at
the convention site, and on the
next night the show arranges a
“pub crawl” through Portland.
“Why shouldn’t you go?” is
how Niemi replies when some-
one asks him why they should
go to the event, he said, “You
have to be there to see it and
make the connections.”
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