VCTGA Spring 2017

VCTGA News Journal

‒

Spring 2017

| 3

Virginia Christmas Tree

Growers Association Inc.

383 Coal Hollow Rd.

Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721

PH: 540-382-7310

Fax: 540-382-2716

secretary@VirginiaChristmasTrees.org www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org

VCTGA News Journal – Spring 2017

Page 3

From the President

Good day everyone. I hope this mes-

sage finds all of you in good health,

well rested and ready for another suc-

cessful year. By most accounts, both

real and anecdotal, we have heard

that many members enjoyed their

most successful season in years. The

VCTGA wants to help each of you

continue with your success.

Elsewhere in this edition of the

Journal you will find information

regarding the 2017 VCTGA An-

nual Meeting

. Vice President John

Carroll has put together an excellent

program for the meeting which we

believe you will find interesting and

useful in your everyday work. The

dates are August 10-12 at the Wythe-

ville Meeting Center. Please mark

your calendars now and plan to at-

tend. The Annual Meeting is a great

time to meet other members and ex-

change ideas. We hope you will make

every effort to attend.

I recently attended a meeting with

representatives of the Virginia Farm

Bureau, the State Fair of Virginia and

other commodity producers. The pur-

pose of the meeting was to exchange

ideas on how to improve attendance

and traffic through the agriculture pa-

vilion at the Fair. Different layouts

were discussed as well as more sign-

age and promotion. We are encour-

aged by these efforts as we believe

the State Fair is an excellent show-

case for our industry.

Speaking of the State Fair, please

mark your calendars for this year’s

event: September 29 through Octo-

ber 8

. VCTGA is always in need of

volunteers to staff our exhibit and we

hope you will consider participating

later this year.

The VCTGA has once again ap-

plied for a specialty crop grant

. The

USDA has given approximately

$360,000 in total grant money to Vir-

ginia. The grants are managed by

VDACS. Many thanks to Greg Lem-

mer for taking time to write the grant

application. If approved, we will use

the money for a number of different

projects. We will redo our printed

material and update our exbibit dis-

plays and web site to take advantage

of the national marketing campaign

being implemented by the Christmas

Tree Promotion Board. We hope to

know by early fall if our application

is approved.

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy

this edition of the Journal. As always

if you have any questions or sugges-

tions please don’t hesitate to contact

me or any member of the Board to

pass along your thoughts. Thank you.

Jeff Gregson,

President VCTGA 2016-17

Contributing

and Coordinating Editors

Membership

Paris Rasnic

Technical Support

& Production

John Carroll & Kyle Peer

Mount Rogers Report

Jackie Davis, President, MRCTGA

Pathology & Disease

Norman Dart

Pests

Eric Day

VDACS Support & Updates

Danny Neel

Dave Robishaw

Marketing, Promotion,

& Social Media

Sue Bostic

Grant Updates

Greg Lemmer

Editor in Chief - Jeff Miller

Virginia Christmas

Tree Growers Association Inc.

383 Coal Hollow Rd

Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721

PH: 540-382-7310

Fax: 540-382-2716

secretary@VirginiaChrist-

masTrees.org www.VirginiaChristmasTreees.org

Coordinating and

Coordinating Editors