Northern Nut Growers Association / Chestnut Growers of America 2024 joint annual conference

The Northern Nut Growers Association and the Chestnut Growers of America will hold their joint annual 2024 conference July 21-24, at The Collegian Hotel in Syracuse, New York.  The conference will bring together commercial nut growers, scientific researchers, and hobbyists. There will be presentations on all aspects of growing, processing, and marketing nuts and their products; a visit to the labs and trial planting fields of SUNY ESF; tours of working nut tree orchards/processing operations, and social events.  Choose an offsite field trip on Wednesday afternoon and check out the hazel/chestnut orchard and seedlings at Z's Nutty Ridge (5296 Town Line Rd., McGraw, NY), dig into the operational details of a producing orchard of cold hardy Chinese/Chinese hybrid chestnuts for zone 5b at Finger Lakes Nut Farm (5287 Booth Hill Road, Locke, NY), or participate in a tree to table black walnut experience at Black Squirrel Farms (590 State Route 14, Penn Yan, NY). An additional stop on Wednesday afternoon or on Thursday could be the New York Tree Crops Alliance Cooperative (NYTCA Coop.) processing center, the “Nut Hub”.  

Conference registration includes Sunday's welcome dinner and an evening of short "lightning" talks, two days of technical sessions on Monday and Tuesday including lunch and snacks/coffee breaks, a Tuesday night banquet and a Wednesday morning campus laboratory tour at ESF followed by a field tour at the ESF’s chestnut field research site. To help you remember the experience, a conference favor and a printed program with the session abstracts are also included. You may purchase an additional ticket to attend one of the Wednesday afternoon offsite field trips (transportation is not provided).

• The full price of conference registration is $295.
• Conference companion registration (includes all conference events with the exception of the Monday/Tuesday technical sessions and Monday/Tuesday lunch and snacks) is available for $110.
• One day only conference registration is available for $50/person for Sunday and $110/person for Monday or Tuesday.
• A student registration is offered--if you are a registered student, apply the appropriate discount code from the table below.
• Wednesday afternoon field trips each require a separate ticket/registration. Each ticket includes the price of a lunch that will be distributed after the Wednesday morning field tours.  Please choose one option.  If you change your mind, we can make the adjustment at the conference.
• Exhibitors must reserve table space in advance and exhibitor tables are available for $50/table. 6' tables will be provided and there is a limit of 2 tables / exhibitor.
• Extra banquet tickets are available for those who wish to bring a guest or for one-day participants (the banquet is included in the full price and companion tickets)

Discounts are available!

• Members of either the Northern Nut Growers Association, Chestnut Growers of America or New York Nut Growers Association are eligible for a $10 discount off any conference registration.
• Students are eligible for a $100 full conference registration discount or a $35 one day conference registration discount on Monday or Tuesday.
• Conference participants who are also exhibitors are eligible for a $25/table discount and this discount can be used in addition to a conference discount code during checkout.

See the table below to find the applicable discount codes.

To use the discount codes, click on the "Do you have a promo code?" link that appears during checkout and type in the applicable code(s).  Discount codes are case sensitive.

Sponsorships Available

Do you wish to support the research and training activities of the Northern Nut Growers Association and the Chestnut Growers of America?  Consider a donation or become a conference sponsor. Sponsors will be highlighted in the conference materials and the NNGA and CGA publications. Sponsorship levels are Tree-$500, Sapling-$200, and Seedling-$100.  You may include your sponsorship contribution using the "Donation" button at the end of the registration.

Monday Night's Auction

Plan to participate in the fundraising auction Monday evening.  It is a fun, entertaining and sometimes amazing way to raise funds for our research activities.  Auction donations are welcome, nut related or not; books, artworks, homemade items, trees, tools, gift baskets, gift certificates, and the ever popular nut based goodies (which are often shared!).

Refunds

A full refund will be allowed before July 5, 2024.  From July 5 to July 16, a full refund less a $50 processing fee is supported. Registration fees are nonrefundable after July 16th although exceptions may be made for extraordinary circumstances. Please contact nngacga2024@gmail.com to request a refund.

A group rate for accommodations is available at The Collegian Hotel & Suites (315-476-4212). The group rate (single or double occupancy) is $115 plus 15% taxes per night. To book, please use this link or reach out directly to the Collegian Hotel and ask to speak to Lauren Cali or use the group rate code 072124NOR. Don't wait, our block of reserved rooms expires on July 5th.

If flying, plan to fly into the Syracuse Hancock International Airport (8 miles from the hotel) and take the shuttle to the Collegian Hotel.