SHOW DATES: AUGUST 20-22, 2025 SHOW HOURS: Wednesday: 10am – 5pm | Thursday: 10am – 5pm | Friday: 10am – 2pm Contact: 503-682-5089

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H-2A: Tips and Tricks for Navigating Your Way Through

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Cheyenne Protz, H-2A Coordinator, Labor Consultants International
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
At LCI, there is over 20 years of guest worker visa experience. Every day we help our clients expertly navigate the guest worker programs utilizing experience, intuition, and industry involvement. We have seen every situation, roadblock, and victory in this industry and are directly involved with every political, legislative, and industry discussion and forum for these visa programs. Let us share our knowledge with you to produce the best season possible with skilled, reliable labor.

FREE

Reducing Plastic Pots: Adopt Air Pruning Strategies

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Michael Taylor, Senior Nursery Specialist, Blackmore Company
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
Learn about the Ellepot system and discover the benefits of air pruning roots. Air pruning reduces production costs, creates more root mass, uses less media, and reduces the number of plastic pots ending up in landfills. Plus, it helps the consumer have a better gardening experience!

FREE

A Baker’s Dozen of Pollinator Trees

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

A Season-long Menu for Attracting Pollinator Guests to the Garden
Speaker: Nancy Buley, Communications Director, J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
Most pollinator research for determining the best nectar and pollen sources is focused on perennials and annuals. Garden centers can increase their tree sales throughout the year by offering a sequence of trees that bloom from early spring until fall.

FREE

Biopesticide art-of-use in IPM

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Maryna Serdani, Product Development and Technical Service Manager PNW, Marrone Bio Innovations
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
The use of biopesticides can form a very valuable part of an Integrated Pest Management program. However, it is critical to understand how these products are best used to optimize their efficacy as well as those of other inputs, such as classical biological control agents and conventional pesticides. In this presentation, Maryna will cover the various types of biopesticides, their art-of-use, how they fit into an IPM program and introduce some of the biopesticides from Marrone Bio Innovations that are available to growers.

FREE

Pruning / Topiary Demo

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Presented by: Bountiful Farms
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
Join the Bountiful Farms team as they perform a LIVE demo of pruning and topiary techniques. Get some fun new ideas, tips, tricks, and best practices.

FREE

Soil Oxygen: Tips for Ensuring Plant Roots are Healthy and Thriving

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Wei Zhang, PhD, VP of R&D, TreeDiaper
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
Inspired by Professor Linda Chalker-Scott and Mr. Jim Uraban, two well-known professionals in the green industry, this presentation will be interactive with a live demo! We will explore why we must water our plants so often, what makes Plant Available Water different from irrigation water, and why we can’t supply plants with 1 month of water at a time. Wei will explain why roots don’t grow deep in the soil, why compacted soil is bad for your plants, and why volcano mulching is bad for your trees while piles of leaf litter in natural forests is not, and so much more!

FREE

New Can Yard and Traveler Irrigation Sprinkler Technologies: Save Water, Power and Labor

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Steve McCoon, Territory Manager, Nelson Irrigation Corporation
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
Join Steve to learn about some of the latest sprinkler irrigation tools for saving water, energy, and labor in nursery irrigation. How can sprinkler selection and operation create droplets that best irrigate your crops? How does sprinkler mounting height really affect irrigation in a can yard? Discover what really affects irrigation uniformity, and how to improve yours. This session will also cover irrigation with a traveler, and ways to save labor and improve the application of that irrigation platform.

FREE

Pruning / Topiary Demo

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Presented by: Serendipity Nursery
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
The Serendipity Farms team will perform a LIVE demo of pruning and topiary techniques. Get some fun new ideas, tips, tricks, and best practices.

FREE

Soil Moisture Sensors: Should You Use Them?

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Ahmad Dowlatabadi, PhD, Principal, Aivaka
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
Soil moisture sensors are intended to help us conserve water, reduce plant disease, and save both our time and the environment. But do they? In this session, we will examine how sensors work, how to use them, if they are worth the effort and cost, and if they can simply be integrated into an existing irrigation setup. Join Ahmad as he presents a summary of his journey in search of the perfect sensor and lessons learned along the way.

FREE

Overcoming Substrate Shortages with a Proven Solution

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Shahin Ashraf, Head of Sales, North America Sunterra Horticulture, Profile Products / HydraFiber
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
The horticulture industry continues to endure raw material shortages and faces numerous logistical constraints. Profile Products has a proven solution with HydraFiber® - a domestically produced, engineered fiber substrate that is readily available and reliable as a high-performing replacement for other raw materials. Top growers across North America have already adopted HydraFiber into their mixes, and are now increasing inclusion rates to help overcome shortages of other raw goods. Learn more about this game-changing technology and how it can transform YOUR operation.

FREE

Current Market Demands New Approaches to Container Growing

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Co-Presenters: Tom Springer, Chris Murphey, NurserySource
This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass!
NurserySource’s and RediRoot’s goal is to help nurseries and grow operations integrate new approaches to container production and gardening. Their markets span nursery, cannabis and home gardeners giving them a unique look into the ways all growers are learning from each other and improving their production. They see the pressure labor and regulatory costs have upon different operations and work to help clients mitigate those challenges. This seminar will briefly detail their observations and recommendations.

FREE

Profiting With Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Mary Choate, Chief Operating Officer, Pest Wizard Brands LLC

Integrated Pest Management is good for the environment, but did you know it is also good for your bottom line? IPM is a great tool for improved profitability for Independent Garden Centers (IGCs) and for growers. Learn how to implement an effective IPM strategy in your greenhouse or nursery to reduce costs and decrease loss from pests. For IGC, we’ll discuss how IPM can be a key marketing strategy to improve sales through cross-marketing and upselling for your entire line, from irrigation to green goods.

FREE

Make Signs People Will Read

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Bridget Behe, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University

Bridget will present research-based information about how consumers read or ignore signage in the retail store. Signage is essential to communicate many things about the plants (and other products) people can’t know without you telling them.

FREE

Pruning with Design Intent

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Maryann Lewis, APA Certified Aesthetic Pruner®, Lewocks Tree Studio LLC

Let’s face it, every pruning cut has a biological AND aesthetic result. Learn tips from the aesthetic pruning approach to elevate your pruning decisions so you can develop beautiful trees and shrubs.

FREE

Prune Clematis Like a Pro! (Pruning Demo)

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Linda Beutler, Rogerson Clematis Garden

Forget everything you have ever heard about Clematis pruning. Linda, the curator of the Rogerson Clematis Garden, North America's only accredited collection of clematis through the Plant Collections Network, will share her wealth of knowledge is this fantastic pruning demo. Rather than learning the "rules", follow some common sense-based suggestions to open a world of beautiful possibilities for your garden and your clematis.

Indoor Gardening: The Hottest in Lawn & Garden Retail

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Joe Farinacci, Director New Market Development, BFG Supply Co.

Grow Your Own!! The hottest trend in Lawn & Garden Retail. Retailers have been selling seed starting products for decades. It's time to take Indoor Gardening to the next level. We will talk about what Indoor Gardening is today, what products and brands young and old gardeners are looking for, and how to get the consumer into your store.

FREE

Topiary Demo

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Todd Nelson, Bountiful Farms

Join Todd Nelson, as he shares his topiary knowledge with the audience in this one-of-a-kind demo! Learn tips and tricks to the art of clipping shrubs into ornamental shapes such as boxes, spirals and spheres.

FREE

Soil Health – The Role of Water Demo

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Vance Almquist, Vice President of Oregon Society of Soil Scientists, Instructor at OSU

One of the primary characteristics of soil, which allows it to support such a wide variety of organisms, is its ability to store and release water. This talk will focus on unpacking the complex processes which affect soil water storage and what measures we can take to improve the water storage characteristics of soils, whether natural or man-made.

FREE

Pollinators of the Rogerson Clematis Garden

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Linda Beutler, Rogerson Clematis Garden

Linda, the curator of the Rogerson Clematis Garden, North America's only accredited collection of clematis through the Plant Collections Network, will share the Clematis that attracts pollinators and which pollinators those are. Additionally, she will share her knowledge of the many native, native-vars, and non-native companion plants that enhance our clematis garden.

FREE

Discover the 50% Off Solar Project USDA REAP Grant Program

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Zachary Peek, Owner, Atlas Consulting LLC

Join this session to learn how Nurseries, Farms, Ranches and Rural Small Businesses are eligible to receive an award equal to 50% of the total solar system cost. Zack will describe eligibility, timing considerations, and next steps for interested organizations. Attendees will also learn how all the available incentives can be combined to bring the payback period of a solar installation to just 1 or 2 years.

FREE

Reduce the Cost of Spraying Your Nursery

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Timothy Schaal, CEO, Airtec Sprayers, Inc.

Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of spray applications in your nursery by selecting the correct sprayer for the application. Using the correct equipment to manage pests and diseases is critical to reducing waste and improving efficiency.

FREE

Importing Plants? Learn how to meet Oregon’s requirements

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Kara Mills, Lead Horticulturist, Oregon Department of Agriculture – Nursery & Christmas Tree Programs The Oregon Dept. of Agriculture reviews laws and nursery responsibilities

Hydrangea Pruning

Solution Center (end of Aisle 10,000)

Speaker: Nita-Jo Rountree This FREE mini-session is included with your trade show pass! Pruning Demo

How To Reach the Emerging Generations

Speaker: Jeff O’Brien, Brands in Blooms If you own or work at a garden center, you may have noticed that your customers are getting older,

Clematis Pruning: Forget Pruning Groups

Speaker: Linda Beutler, Curator, Rogerson Clematis Collection Pruning Demo. Because many new clematis species are used in hybridization, and because clematis are now used in

Rose Pruning

Speaker: Nita-Jo Rountree, author, speaker, and garden writer Pruning Demo. 

Iodine as a Plant Nutrient

Speaker: Doug Snyder, Business and Product Development Manager, SQM Specialty Plant Nutrition N.A. This presentation will discuss the newly registered plant nutrient iodine and its

Copyright® 2024 Farwest Show
The Farwest Show is produced by the Oregon Association of Nurseries
SHOW DATES: AUGUST 20-22, 2025 | SHOW HOURS: Wednesday: 10am – 5pm | Thursday: 10am – 5pm | Friday: 10am – 2pm
SHOW LOCATION: Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland, OR 97232
MAILING: 29751 SW Town Center Loop W., Wilsonville, OR 97070
Phone: 888-283-7219 | 503-682-5089 | farwest@oan.org
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