Michigan Ag Connection - Bean and Beet Symposium to Enlighten Producers

Michigan Ag News Headlines

Bean and Beet Symposium to Enlighten Producers
Michigan Ag Connection - 02/08/2010

Dry bean and sugar beet growers looking for information on improving production, saving money and preventing diseases can attend the 2010 Bean and Beet Symposium Feb. 16 at the Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw. The Michigan Bean Commission and Michigan State University (MSU) Extension host the event.

In the morning, the event will address sugar beet production, beginning with a welcome at 9:30 a.m. by Steven Poindexter, MSU Extension's senior sugar beet educator. Shortly thereafter, Tom Schwartz, executive vice president of the Beet Sugar Development Foundation and the American Society of Sugar Beet Technologists, will lecture about the status of Roundup Ready sugar beets. The sugar beet program will close with a presentation by Mike May, head liaison at Broom's Barn Research Centre in Suffolk, England.

The dry bean program will begin at 1 p.m. After an introduction by Michigan Bean Commission chair Fran Carlson, four MSU researchers will present informative lectures for growers. The program will close with a presentation by Larry Sprague of the Kelly Bean Company.

The symposium has been held every year for almost 30 years and is the largest agriculture trade show and education event in the Saginaw area.

"We expect about 600 producers to attend and have more than 90 exhibitors," said Poindexter. "Attendees can expect a high quality trade show, facilities and educational programs."

The symposium is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. No registration is required. For more information on the Bean and Beet Symposium, call the Saginaw County MSU Extension office at 989-758-2500 or e-mail poindex2@msu.edu or burd@msu.edu.