July 23-26

Columbia, Missouri

See the Joint Conference web page for the most up-to date information.

Agenda (PDF, 159 kb)

This program has been reviewed and is approved for professional CFE credits by the Society of American Foresters. Category 1-CF : 15.0 (7/23 = 1, 7/24 = 4.5, 7/25 = 6.5, 7/26 = 3).

Walnut Council/Northern Nut Growers Association/Chestnut Growers of America

2023 Meeting Agenda

(subject to change)

 Sunday, 23 July

10:00 – 11:30          Walnut Council Foundation Board of Directors Meeting, Hampton Inn Columbia

at the University of Missouri (guests welcome)

12:30 – 3:30            Walnut Council Board of Directors Meeting, Hampton Inn (guests welcome)

3:30 – 7:00              Registration, Anheuser Busch Natural Resource Building (ABNR) Lobby

3:30 – 6:00              Set up Posters, Exhibits, and Silent Auction, ABNR Lobby and Room 123

4:30 – 6:00              Dinner TBD

5:45 – 7:00              Welcome Reception, ABNR Lobby

6:00 – 7:00              Poster Session, (see listing of potential posters on pg 4)

7:10 – 8:30              Show and Tell, ABNR Conservation Hall

7:10 – 7:20          Welcome, Mike Gold, Session Moderator

7:20 – 7:30          Charlie Novogradac, Construction and Operation of a Low-Cost Air Cleaner For Small Chestnut Orchards

7:30 – 7:40          Jeff Polfer, Abundant Harvests, Soil Health, Nutrients and Plant Health

7:40 – 7:50          Open

7:50 – 8:00          Bill Hammitt, Establishing Clover Cover Crops in Black Walnut Plantations

8:00 – 8:10          NNGA Cultivar Inventory Database

8:10 – 8:20          Rick Hartlieb, Setting Up a New Diversified Orchard with Hazelnuts and

Chestnuts

8:20 – 8:30          Mike Gold, Monday field day logistics

 

Monday, 24 July

There is an all-day tour at the HARF or choose one morning tour at HARF and afternoon at Walnut Council member Mike Trial’s property to tour timber management.

7:50 – 8:45        Travel on your own to Horticulture and Agroforestry Research FARM (HARF), 10 Research Center Road, New Franklin

8:45 – 9:00              Ron Revord, Welcome

2 different wagon tours and 1 walking tour concurrent, repeated during the day. (Black walnut will be discussed in tours 2 and 3, choose one tour before lunch)

9:00 – 11:00      Tour 1 (Wagon Near Loop): Chestnut Repository 1; Chestnut Cultivar Trial; and Chestnut Repository 2

Tour 2 (Wagon Far Loop): Northern Pecan Repository; Hazelnut Breeding Block; and Black Walnut Mapping Populations and Selection Trial

Tour 3 (Walking): Black Walnut Repository and       Progeny Block; Precocious Swamp White Oak Planting; Hazelnut Selection and Cultivar Traits

11:00 – 12:30   Concurrent Demonstrations around Hay Barn:         Chestnut, Pecan, and Walnut Harvesters; Electric Deer Fencing; Drones for Insecticide Applications; Orchard Irrigation Considerations; Elderberry Culture and Weed Management Trial; Grafting and Control Pollination videos

11:30 – 12:30          Lunch

12:15 – 1:00      Drive to Alternate Timber Management Field Tour at Mike Trial property, 301 North Highway UU, Columbia

1:15 – 1:30                Welcome at Mike Trial property field tour

1:30 – 4:00                Black Walnut Plantation Tour with topics to include:

• Small sawmill operations, demo/discussion of thinning a plantation and utilizing the cut trees as sawmill logs
• Removing fescue from plantations and replacing with cover crops or warm season grasses/forbs
• Invasive species control demo/discussion, removing woody invasives such as bush honeysuckle and autumn olive.

12:30 – 4:30            For those who stayed at HARF: HARF Tours 1, 2, and 3 repeat two times

4:00 – 5:00              Return to Columbia

5:30 – 7:00        Dinner on your own

7:00 – 7:30              Poster Session

7:30 – 9:30              Live Auction in ABNR Conservation Hall. Proceeds will be used to support tree related research and special projects.

Tuesday, 25 July

7:00 – 8:00              Coffee available in ABNR Lobby

7:45 – 8:15              Walnut Council Business Meeting, Agriculture Science Building

7:45 – 8:15              NNGA Business Meeting, ABNR 210

8:20 – 8:30              Technical Presentations: Welcome/Overview, Mike Gold, ABNR 210

8:30 – 9:15              Ron Revord, Keynote Presentation -Updates on UMCA Chestnut and Other Nut Tree Research

9:30 – 3:00              Companion Program, Meet in Lobby of Hampton Inn. Sites to be determined, lunch included with companion registration.

Concurrent Session B Presentations, Agriculture Sciences Building

Attendees can choose whichever session (A or B) or switch between sessions. Concurrent B are expected to be of most interest to Walnut Council members. See Concurrent session A listing below for sessions on chestnut, hazelnut, pecan, and pawpaw.

9:20 – 9:40              Thomas Goff – Current Status of the Walnut Resource

9:40 – 10:00            Brian Brookshire – Eastern Black Walnut, An Industry Perspective on Domestic and International Lumber and Log Markets

10:00 – 10:20          Q and A for Goff and Brookshire

10:20 – 10:40          Break

10:40 – 11:00          Tim Martinson – Economics and the Walnut Council

11:00 – 11:20          Lenny Farlee – Timber Taxation and Expenses: Resources to Navigate

11:20 – 11:40          Joe Alley – NRCS Updates and New Cost-Sharing Opportunities

11:40 – 12:00          Q and A

12:00 – 1:00      Lunch

1:00 – 1:20              Shaneka Lawson – Growth Patterns and Soil Suitability Studies in Juglans nigra and Quercus rubra L. plantations

1:20 – 1:40              Jerry Van Sambeek – Hardwood Fertilization for Timber and Nuts

1:40 – 2:00              Q and A

2:00 – 2:20              Break and Closing of the Silent Auction

2:20 – 2:40        Stephanie Adams/Fredric Miller – Oak Decline and Death in Illinois: What Role Does Phytophthora Play in Overall Tree Decline?

2:40 – 3:00        Bruce Moltzan– National Perspective on Forest Health Issues

3:00 – 3:20        Matt Ginzel – Hardwood Tree Improvement & Regeneration Center’s Strategic Responses To Forest Health Threats

3:20 – 3:40              Q and A

3:40 – 4:00        Ben Knapp/John Kabrick – Contributions of Hardwood Forest Management to Climate-smart Forestry

4:00 – 4:20              Brian Schweiss and Hank Stelzer – The White Oak Initiative Update

4:20 – 4:40        Lauren Pile Knapp – Controlling Invasive Plants and Grape Vines in Hardwood Plantings

4:40 – 5:00              Q and A

Concurrent Session A Presentations, ABNR Conservation Hall

This session on nut tree crops occurs concurrently with the walnut/forest management session. Attendees can choose whichever session they prefer or switch between sessions.

9:20 – 9:40              Jeanne-Romero-Severson, AIMS: Update on Chestnut Ancestry

9:40 – 10:00            Mike Nave, Cross Species Breeding for Eastern Chestnut Growers

10:00 – 10:20          Greg Miller, Grafts vs Seedling for Chestnut Production

10:20 – 10:40          Break

10:40 – 11:00          Amy Miller, Our Experience with Oak Wilt in Our Chestnut Orchards

11:00 – 11:20          Seth Gillium, Success, Challenges, and Opportunities of Scaling Regenerative Agroforestry with Chestnut Trees

11:20-11:40             Louis Naeger, Planning for Farm Succession

11:40 – 12:00          Charlie Novogradac, Practical Tips, Cautions, Observations, Tried, and Yet to Be Ideas on Establishing Chestnut Orchards Organically

12:00- 1:00       Lunch

1:00 – 1:10              Jesse Marksohn, The Case for Chestnut Flour: Early Research and Findings

1:10 – 2:00              Chestnut Marketing, Mike Gold, Moderator

Amy Miller – Route 9 Co-op; Roger Blackwell- New Era Chestnuts; Roger Smith-Prairie Groves Chestnut Growers; Debbie Milks – Chestnut Charlie’s Organic Nuts; Tom Wahl – Red Fern Farm; Dale Black – Chestnut Ridge of Pike County

2:00 – 2:20              Break and Closing of the Silent Auction

2:20 – 2:40       Thomas Molnar, An Update on New Cultivars from Rutgers Univ. and Strategies for Propagation

2:40 – 3:00              Dan Jacobs, Making Informed Decisions on Pollinizer Selection and Distribution Throughout a Hazelnut Orchard

3:00 – 3:20              Nick Meier, Breeding for Durable EFB Resistance Through the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium

3:20 – 3:40        Jason Fischbach, Updates on Hazelnut Germplasm and Industry Development from the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative

3:40 – 4:00              Warren Chatwin, Picturing Pecans: New Cultivar Releases and Modernizing the USDA ARS Pecan Breeding Program

4:00 – 4:20              Dan Shepherd, My Mistakes In 50 Years of Being a Pecan Farmer

4:20 – 4:40              Ron Powell and Neal Peterson, Pawpaw Culture

4:40 – 5:00              Rodney Dever, Who Needs Pawpaw Cultivars?

5:00 – 6:00              Silent auction bidders pick up items

6:15 – 7:00              Social with cash bar

6:30 – 6:45              Group Photo

7:00 – 8:00              Banquet, Brewer Field House

8:00 – 8:30            Keynote Speaker, Shawn Mehlenbacher

8:30 – 9:15        NNGA/Walnut Council/Chestnut Growers of America Announcements and Awards

Wednesday, 26 July

8:15 – 12:00            Session C Presentations, ABNR Conservation Hall

8:15 – 8:30              Announcements, Greg Miller, President, NNGA

8:30 – 9:20              Mark Coggeshall, Ron Revord, and Nick Meier, Past, Present, and Future of Black Walnut Breeding at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry

9:20 – 9:40        Doug Wallace, Using NRCS Web Soil Survey for Evaluating and Developing Tree Plantings

9:40 – 10:00            Chung-Ho Lin, Exploring the Economic Opportunities and Health Benefits of Black Walnuts

10:00 – 10:20          Break

10:20 – 10:40          Bill Stouffer, Alley-cropping, Tree Management, and Nut Production

10:40 – 11:00    Josh Payne, Cover Crops and Soil Health Impacts for Orchards and Tree Plantings

11:00 – 11:20    Samantha Bosco, Updates on Efforts to Map the Demand for Agroforestry – Research Gaps, Bottlenecks, and Possible Solutions

11:20 – 11:40    Brian Hammons and Pierce Hollingsworth, Nut Markets for the ‘BOLD, WILD Walnut’ – Flavorful, Healthy & Sustainable.

11:40 – 12:00          Announcements/Closing

 

Poster Presentations, ABNR Lobby

Sunday July 23, 6:00-7:00 & Monday July 24, 7:00 -7:30 (posters subject to change)

• Casey Calvert and Tim Martinson, Forestry Co-ops: A Model to Consider
• Aziz Ebrahimi, et al. – Conserving Threatened Butternut Trees Using a Multi-nomics Approach
• Carrie J. Fearer and Anna Conrad, Walnut Witches’-broom Disease: A Threat to Butternut Restoration
• Max Huchteman, Weed Management Trials in Elderberry
• Caleb Kell, et al. – Mixed Nuts: Evaluating Field Performance and Improving Regeneration of Pure and Hybrid Butternut
• Sarah Phipps and Rosalee Knipps, Where are We on Thousand Cankers Disease?
• Shaneka Lawson, Swamp White Oak precocity
• Shaneka Lawson, Soil suitability and tree growth
• Amy Miller, Chestnut Anthracnose aka Blossom End Rot
• Tim Martinson and Greg Vogel – Walnut Council Impacts: Results of Survey of Number and Size of Walnut Plantation
• Jim McKenna, Blight Resistance of OxO American Chestnut in Indiana
• Jim McKenna, Bark Cracking of Walnut Trees - a Tough Nut to Crack
• Nolan Monaghan, Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping in Eastern Black Walnut
• Sydney Moore, Genotype x Environment Cultivar Trial
• Ron Revord, Ozark Chinquapin Conservation
• Andrew Thomas, et al., Shaking Black Walnut Trees for an Earlier and More Valuable Nut Harvest
• Michele Warmund and Jerry Van Sambeek, Improving walnut seed germination with GA 4+7 pre-stratification treatments