By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

URBANA, Ill. — Farmers will have a new industry conference to attend this December – provided they are out of the field by then.
The inaugural AGMasters Conference will be conducted by the University of Illinois at the “I” Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign Dec. 1-2, and will offer farmers a significant departure from the university’s discontinued Crop Protection Technology Conference, formerly held each January.

“We’ve decided to change things up a bit and start a new conference,” said Carl Bradley, UoI extension plant pathologist and conference committee co-chair. “AGMasters will be a two-day conference, but it is actually more like two separate conferences.
“The first day will be very similar to the crop protection conference, which also went by different names over the years (Agricultural Pesticides Conference, Custom Spray Operator’s Training School). We will host a range of speakers from out-of-state who’ll be coming in to talk.”

Following the first day’s presentations, several “mixers” will be hosted for registrants to discuss the day’s topics and speakers with colleagues. The second day of the conference will feature eight 2-hour “advanced” sessions, with each participant allowed to register for four of the classes.

“The second day, which requires an additional registration, is very different from the first day and is a very unique aspect of this conference,” Bradley said. “We have had a lot of people tell us in the past that they wanted more advanced material, so our second day will be very similar to a classroom experience, with a limited capacity of 30 people per room.

“The two-hour sessions will be more intense and more advanced than what you would typically see at university conferences like this.”

Bradley said speakers, which will include noted radio and television agriculture reporter Max Armstrong, Dr. Harry Vrooman, consultant Murray Wise and many others, will hit on “all the hot topics” in agriculture today while also offering a glimpse at the future.

“We’ve got plant pathologists, entomologists, agronomists, geneticists and people from both industry as well as other universities. We are very lucky to have the caliber of speakers that we are bringing in,” Bradley said.

Registration for the AGMasters Conference will be strictly on a first-come, first-serve basis with total enrollment limited to 120 individuals. A conference website containing the full itinerary of events and speakers has been created online at www.cropsci conferences.org/agmasters

Corn & Soybean Classics

The UoI has also announced the meeting dates and locations for its 2010 Corn & Soybean Classics. The conferences provide producers with the most current and timely information related to crop production, marketing and pest management.
Days and locations are as follows:

•Jan. 6: Mt Vernon (Holiday Inn)
•Jan. 8: Champaign (I Hotel & Conference Center)
•Jan. 11: Springfield (Crowne Plaza)
•Jan. 12: Bloomington (DoubleTree Hotel)
•Jan. 13: Moline (i wireless Center)
•Jan. 14: Malta (Kishwaukee College)

Registrations for AGMasters and the Corn & Soybean Classics are also available online at www.cropsciconferences.org
For further information or a brochure, call Sandy Osterbur at 800-321-1296.