Fruit & Vegetable Magazine

News Business Associations
Upcoming farm events postponed due to COVID-19 concerns

March 13, 2020  By Fruit and Vegetable


Several events for fruit and vegetable growers have been postponed or cancelled due to concerns about the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The annual Muck Vegetable Growers Conference, scheduled for April 1 and 2 in Bradford, Ont., has been postponed. No new dates for the conference have been released.

The Ottawa Valley Farm Show, scheduled for March 17 to 19 in Ottawa, has been cancelled.

“It is with great sadness that the Ottawa Valley Seed Growers Association has decided to cancel the Ottawa Valley Farm Show in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic,” the Ottawa Valley Seed Growers Association release said. “After a risk assessment as recommended by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the executive came to the difficult but unanimous decision of cancelling the show, with full support of the board of directors.”

The farm show, which brings in hundreds of growers from surrounding areas, was cancelled at the request that gatherings of 1,000 people or more be cancelled or postponed. The Association says it is looking into strategies that will “manage the impact this decision has on our exhibitors, visitors, vendors, and volunteers.” The 2021 Ottawa Valley Farm Show, scheduled for March 9 to 11, remains unaffected.

Elsewhere around the world, other events have faced similar fates. The International Strawberry Symposium, an international event for the strawberry supply chain scheduled for May 2 to 6 in Rimini, Italy, has been postponed to 2021. The ISS2020 event’s site has been updated with the message, “Unfortunately, due to the spread of COVID-19 in Italy and other EU and non-EU countries, the ISS2020 Symposium has been postponed to 2021. Further information will follow as regards to new dates and reimbursement policies.”

 


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below