Registration now open for CEA Summit East conference

Indoor Ag-Con and the Virginia Tech-Institute for Advanced Learning and Research Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center are working together to bring growers the third annual Controlled Environment Agriculture Summit East Oct. 1-2, 2024.

The conference will be held at the IALR Institute Conference Center, 150 Slayton Ave., Danville, Virginia.

CEA Summit East is a conference featuring speakers highlighting different aspects of the CEA industry, including greenhouse, vertical farming and indoor agriculture, in keynotes, panels and showcase sessions.

A standard pass includes access to the following:

• All keynote and conference sessions
• Networking event with tabletop exhibits
• All-day coffee/snacks
• Lunch on days one and two
• Day one evening refreshments
• Tour of CEA Innovation Center

The standard pass early bird rate is $495, with the price increasing after Aug. 23. There's also a graduate student pass available for $395.

Here's what we know about the agenda:

Production track sessions

• Ensuring safe harvests: A primer on food safety in CEA
• Branching out: Crop selection and diversification for CEA
• Effective insect pest and plant pathogen management in CEA
• Aquaponics deep dive

Business track sessions

• Understanding the economics of CEA
• Strategies for cost-effective energy management in CEA
• Bridging innovation in CEA: Collaborative research & development between academia & industry
• Building international partnerships in CEA

Education, training and workforce

•  Charting the course: Identifying education and training needs in CEA
•  Collaborative pathways: Industry, university and state partnerships in workforce training in CEA
•  Cultivating leadership: Training the future leaders of CEA
•  Onboarding new employees: Company training programs for success
  

The conference will also have tabletop exhibits, showcasing the latest CEA technology and practices.

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Virginia Tech-IALR CEA Innovation Center research facility.

For more information, visit ceasummit.com. For information on attending or exhibiting, call 404-991-5186 or email hello@indoor.ag.