Welcome to the 2025 Canadian Turf & Forage Seed Conference - Improve Your Soil and Bottom Line!
On March 4th and 5th, 2025 forage seed growers, researchers, extension staff and agribusinesses will congregate for the 2025 Canadian Turf and Forage Seed Conference. The conference will be hosted at the Pomeroy Hotel & Conference Centre, Grande Prairie, AB.
The goal of this conference is to unite the industry throughout Canada and increase awareness and interest in forage seed production. With the current challenges in Canadian grain markets, we have a great opportunity to increase awareness of the benefits of incorporating forage seed crops into any cropping system. Perennial forage seed crops can offer these growers market diversity and dispersal of timing in terms of workload. For the faithful forage seed grower, it will be an opportunity to hear about new technologies in the industry and where research is headed.
Conference planning is underway and some great speakers have been confirmed to join us in Grande Prairie! We are very excited to have speakers travelling from Oregon, Minnesota and beyond to bring an international perspective to the conference.
Why not hang around in town for the annual PEACE COUNTRY CLASSIC AGRI-SHOW from March 6th through 8th.
We hope that you now feel as excited about the conference as we are and have marked the dates in your calendar to join us in Grande Prairie next March.
Early bird Registration rates (in CAD):
Student - $175
General admission - $275
Couples admission - $500
REGISTER HERE
Conference Agenda
The conference will be hosted at the Pomeroy Hotel and Conference Centre.
The conference will kick off at 12:30 pm Tuesday March 4th and we plan to end at 4:00 pm on Wednesday March 5th. There will be an optional morning session for everyone on March 4th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm involving provincial forage seed research and extension updates.
The following is a draft agenda which is subject to change:
2020 Conference Presentations - Improving the Cropping System Resiliency
On February 25th and 26th, 2020 forage seed growers, researchers, extension staff and agribusinesses congregated for the first Canadian Forage Seed Conference since 2006! The conference was hosted at the Fantasyland Hotel, attached to the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, AB.
The goal of this conference was to unite the industry throughout Canada and increase awareness and interest in forage seed production. This event brought together over 90 individuals involved in the forage seed industry whether they were growers, researchers, extension agents, sales representatives, or government officials. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the conference and the opportunity to connect after a nearly 15-year hiatus. The provincial forage seed associations agreed that another conference should be organized sooner and there is talk of potentially hosting the International Herbage Seed Conference in 6-8 years somewhere in Canada.
- Seed Yield & Seed Loss with Different Swathers - Nicole Anderson, Field Crops Extension Agent, Oregon State University
- Turf Grass Market Outlook - Brenda Tjaden, Sustainable Grain
- Remote Sensing for Pest Management - Chris Neeser, Weed Research Scientist, AAF
- Forage Breeding In Canada - Bill Biligetu, Forage Breeder, University of Saskatchewan
- Perennial Ryegrass Production in Minnesota - Dave Grafstrom, University of Minnesota
- Lesser Clover Leaf Weevil Projects - Dan Malamura, University of Saskatchewan
- Insects in Grass & Clover Seed Production - Jennifer Otani, Pest Management Biologist, AAFC
- Growth Regulators on Grasses - Calvin Yoder, Forage Seed Specialist, AAF
- Optimizing the Use of Plant Growth Regulators in Grass and Clover Seed Crops– Nicole Anderson, Field Crops Extension Agent, Oregon State University
- Seasonal Distributions of Economic Pests Occurring in Alfalfa Seed Production - Boyd Mori, Associate Professor, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta
- Plant Bugs in Seed Alfalfa - Hector Carcamo, Research Scientist, Insect Pest Management, AAFC
- Alfalfa Leafcutting Bees in Southern Alberta - Brad Alexander, Research/Extension Manager for Alfalfa Seed Commission of Alberta
- Technology to Monitor Crop Health - Matthias Loeseken, Blackbird Environmental
- Rudd Farms Virtual Tour- Brett Rudd, Idaho Grass Seed Grower
- Crop Rotations: Economics & Benefits - Nityananda Khanal, Integrated Forage Crops Scientist, AAFC
- Prairie Pesticide Minor Use Registration Overview & Representative Crops Project Update - Ron Pidskalny, Prairie Pesticide Minor Use Consortium
- Herbicide and Weed Control Update on Grass Seed Crops- Calvin Yoder, Forage Seed Specialist, AAF
- Cover Crops: Mixes & Opportunities - Mike Schellenberg, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Canadian Grasslands Protocol: Voluntary Carbon Market Opportunity- Cedric MacLeod, Canadian Forage and Grassland Association
Conference Posters
- Boron Effects on Red Clover Seed Production and Quality- Nicole Anderson, Oregon State University.
- Effect of Trinexapac-ethyl Plant Growth Regulator on Seed Yield and Canopy Height of Red Clover- Nicole Anderson, Oregon State University.
- Investigation of new SDHI Fungicide For Stem rust Control in Perennial Ryegrass Seed Crops- Carol Garbacik, Oregon State University
- Effects of Plant Growth Regulator Combinations on Turf-Type and Forage-Type tall Fescue Seed Crops-Tara M. Hudgins, Oregon State University.
- Diseases of Forage Seed Crops in the Peace River Region- Nityananda Khanal,, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Do Seed Weight and Germination Timing of Grass Species Relative to Pre-Harvest Weather- Nityananda Khanal, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada
- Epidemiology and Management of Fungal Diseases- H.W. Klein-Gebbinich, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Trinexapac-ethyl Effects on Crimson Clover Seed Yields In The Willamette Valley-Mohamed Morad, Oregon State University
- On-Farm Turf and Forage Seed Research In The Peace River Region-Calvin Yoder, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
- Effect of Plant Growth Regulator on Seed Yield of Red Clover Grown in The Peace River Region of Alberta, Canada-Calvin Yoder, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
- Crop Tolerance and Rattail Fescue Control with Dry/Liquid Herbicide Formulations in Dryland Creeping Red Fescue Seed Production in Northeastern Oregon-Darrin Walenta, Oregon State University
- Is the Red Clover Casebearer Moth Decreasing Seed Yields in Eastern Oregon?-Darin Walenta, Oregon State University