The Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium will once again be presenting its Winter Fruit Meeting Series. Below you will find registration information for the 2026 series offerings.
This series is presented to you by the Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium which consists of: Ms. Elizabeth Garofalo, Extension Educator, University of Massachusetts Extension Fruit Program; Dr. Terence Bradshaw, Chair of the Department of Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment Director of the UVM Horticulture Research and Education Center Associate Professor, University of Vermont; Mr. Jeremy Delisle, UNH Cooperative Extension, Merrimack County; Dr. Renae Moran, Professor of Pomology and Mr. Glen Koehler, Associate Scientist Maine Food and Agriculture Center, University of Maine; Mr. Evan Lentz Assistant Extension Educator - Fruit Production and IPM, University of Connecticut; Michael Basedow, Regional Tree Fruit Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program; Dr. Maria Gannett, Weed Management Specialist, Extension Educator, University of Massachusetts Extension Fruit and Vegetable Programs; Dr. Keiddy Urrea-Morawicki, Director & Diagnostician, Plant Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Rhode Island.
2026 Winter Seminar Series Registration is Open!
Registration is open for the 2026 Northeast Extension Fruit Consortium Winter Webinar Series. This is a series of six webinars hosted by UVM Fruit Program, UMass Extension, and Cornell Cooperative Extension and supported by URI, UNH, UMaine, UConn Extension. Registration and pesticide applicator credits are handled by the UVM Fruit Program; after registering, you will receive a link to the Zoom session hosted by UMass Extension. Be sure to save the confirmation email which contains the links to your webinars. We are charging $10 per webinar to register, with discounts for registering for multiple webinars. Webinar registration fees support the annual meeting of the Northeast Tree Fruit IPM Working Group which facilitates shared programming and collaborative research and Extension projects among IPM professionals across the region. Extension activities are available to all growers regardless of ability or interest to pay. If you would like a discount code for free registration, please email madeline[dot]baughman[at]uvm[dot]edu (madeline[dot]baughman[at]uvm[dot]edu).
Pesticide credit(s) will be available for indicated sessions. Pre-registration is required. Please be advised, those seeking pesticide recertification credits must register and log in to the session individually so that we can show proof of attendance to the certifying agencies. When logging in, be sure your screen name matches the name on your license.
Dates, Times and Session Details:
Session 1:
February 4, 2026 noon -1:00pm
Title: Management of Up and Coming Strawberry Diseases in the Northeastern United States (credits applied for)
Speaker Bio: Dr. Nathanial Westrick is a plant pathologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station whose research focuses on the biology and management of fungal plant pathogens on a range of specialty and field crops.
Description: Increases in plant movement across state lines and warming climates have led to the introduction of new invasive plant diseases to our region, with Anthracnose, Neopestalotiopsis, and Black Root Rot being particularly devastating examples. This talk will discuss the current IPM strategies which can be used to limit the spread of these diseases and novel research into varietal resistance and chemical control of the pathogens.
Session 2:
February 11, 2026 noon - 1:00pm
Title: Kiwiberry Production in the Northeast (no pesticide credits)
Speaker Bio: William Hastings, MSc, is a Food and Agriculture Field Specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension based in Coös County. He is the author of Growing Kiwiberries in New England: A Guide for Regional Producers
Description: This talk provides an overview of kiwiberry production in the Northeast, from establishment to post-harvest considerations, along with a discussion of economic potential and marketing considerations.
Session 3:
February 18, 2026 noon - 1:00pm
Title: Heat Mitigation: Sunburn and Fruit Coloring (no pesticide credits)
Speaker Bio: Dr. Lee Kalcsits is an Associate Professor of tree fruit physiology in the Department of Horticulture at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, Washington, USA. He serves as the Endowed Chair of Tree Fruit Environmental Physiology and Programmatic Lead at the WSU Wenatchee Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center. His research program works towards understanding the physiological interactions between environment, horticultural management and genetics of apple, pear, and sweet cherry.
Dr. Lailiang Cheng is a professor of fruit crops in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University. He works on tree mineral nutrition in relation to rootstock and nutrient supply for effective orchard nutrient management to improve tree productivity and fruit quality and reduce fruit physiological disorders.
Description: Hot summer and full temperatures can reduce fruit quality and orchard profitability. In this webinar, we will discuss the physiology behind sunburn, how heat contributes to poor fruit coloring, and best management strategies to mitigate these issues to maximize fruit coloring in hot years.
Session 4:
February 25, 2026 noon - 1:00pm
Title: The Dating Game; Updates in Lepidopteran Mating Disruption (credits applied for)
Speaker Bio: Dr. Tracy Leskey holds a Ph.D. degree in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA; a M.S. Degree in Ecology from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; and a B.S .degree from Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA. She is the Director of and Research Entomologist at the USDA-ARS, Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV and is an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Tech. Her research has focused on development of behaviorally-based management tools for invasive and native pests of fruit crops. She has published over 180 peer-reviewed journal articles, three patents and over 40 other publications including book chapters and proceeding articles. Dr. Leskey has been interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and NPR, has appeared live on Fox News and C-SPAN and has done several stories with National Geographic.
Description: Mating disruption is becoming an essential tool for managing key orchard pests in the Northeast. This session will highlight practical guidance from recent USDA-ARS Leskey Lab research on using pheromone-based disruption for codling moth, oriental fruit moth, and major borers.
Growers will learn the basics of how disruption works, how to choose and deploy dispensers effectively, and how to integrate the approach into existing monitoring and spray programs.
Session 5:
March 4, 2026 noon - 1:00pm
Title: USEPA Endangered Species Act Strategies and Pesticide Use (credits applied for)
Speaker Bio: Steve Dwinell has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural and environmental policy, with a background in pesticide and pest-control regulation and agricultural water policy at both state and national levels. He has also worked internationally as a consultant to the Asian Development Bank and as a member of a United Nations Environment Programme advisory group. After retiring from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, he conducted quality-assurance audits for the Rollins family of pest-control brands. Steve now serves as Director of the Division of Public Health and Agricultural Resource Management at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
Description: An overview of the USEPA strategies for protecting threatened and endangered species from pesticides announced in 2022 and being implemented through addition of requirements for runoff mitigation and drift buffer to pesticide labels. The talk will discuss the components of the EPA strategies, what the new requirements are, how applicators can comply with these requirements, and which pesticides registered in Vermont have these additional requirements.
Session 6:
March 11, 2026 noon - 1:00pm
Title: Practical Drought Management for Fruit Growers (no pesticide credits)
Speaker Bio: Manuel Diaz Gonzalez is a licensed Professional Engineer with 16+ years of NRCS and agricultural water-resources engineering experience across the Northeast, Rocky Mountain, and Northwest regions, specializing in irrigation systems, drainage, flood mitigation, and other resilient farm infrastructure.
Description: As drought stress becomes an increasingly common challenge across the Northeast, fruit growers need reliable, cost-effective strategies to optimize limited water supplies while protecting crop health and yield. This session will provide a practical, engineering-based approach to drought management, with a focus on planned deficit irrigation, soil moisture monitoring, and automated irrigation tools suitable for diversified orchards and fruit operation.
The session will cover how to select, install, and interpret data from soil moisture sensors, and how to integrate these sensors with automated or semi-automated irrigation systems to ensure timely, precise water delivery. Growers will also be guided through the process of developing a farm water budget, including estimating crop water demand, evaluating existing water supplies, and identifying system bottlenecks during dry periods. The session will conclude with a framework for creating a property-level water plan, outlining how to assess opportunities to expand or diversify water sources—such as ponds, wells, storage tanks, and captured runoff—to improve long-term drought resilience.
You can view the NEFC's 2025 Winer Webinar Series Recordings here:
2025 NEFC Winter Webinar Series
Please be sure to check out what the rest of the team is up to!