Symposium Tour and Closing Banquet – Friday, June 13
The final day of the ISSPA Symposium will be an all day tour showcasing North Carolina agricultural research and concluding with the Symposium Closing Banquet and J.B. Jones Award Ceremony.
| Symposium Tour Agenda | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Activity | Description | |
| 7:30 a.m. | Depart Durham | Attendees meet at the Bull at 7:00 a.m. for an on-time departure. "Major" the Durham Bull |
 |
| 8:00 a.m. | Oxford Tobacco Research Station | The Oxford Tobacco Research Station was established in 1910 to research problems related to tobacco production and is now also the home to research in emerging crops. Visitors will see test plots for fiber hemp, tobacco and sesame. | |
| 10:00 a.m. | NCDA&CS Agronomic Services | Established in 1939, the Agronomic Services Division operated by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is the largest by volume, publicly funded, agricultural testing lab in the U.S., analyzing nearly 400,000 samples per year. Visitors will tour labs performing soil, plant tissue, manure & compost, water & nutrient solutions, and greenhouse media testing. | |
| 11:30 a.m. | Lunch on the Go | ||
| 12:00 p.m. | NC Plant Sciences Initiative | North Carolina State University's NC Plant Sciences Initiative is an advanced plant sciences research enterprise focused on accelerating discovery and applied solutions that solve agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary, team-based science. | |
| 3:30 p.m. | Sandhills Research Station | Established in 1940, the Sandhills Research Station, is located in the heart of the N.C. peach-growing region. In addition to peach research, the stations hosts a wide variety of horticultural crops, row crops and turf. Dr. MIke Parker will describe peach production in N.C. Dr. Hudson Ashrafi will discuss blueberry production and provide a blueberry varietal taste-testing. Brad Thompson will give visitors an overview of the unique soils, climate and crop production of the Sandhills. | |
| 5:00 p.m. | Closing Banquet at the Fair Barn | The Closing Banquet and J.B. Jones Award Ceremony will be held at the historic Fair Barn in Pinehurst. This modernized, Mission-style barn tucked in the middle of the oldest continuously operating equine sports complex in the state is the premier, public venue in the Sandhills region of the state. | |
| 8:00 p.m. | Return to Durham | Buses will begin returning to the Durham hotels at 8:00 p.m. with the last bus arriving in Durham by 10:00 p.m. | |