Approximately 50 small fruit experts from across the United States, Mexico and Canada descended on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Oct. 21-24 for the annual meeting of the North Central Cooperative Committee-22 (NCCC-22) working group. Cooperative Committee working groups are formed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to share information about various agricultural commodities. Dr. Barclay Poling, professor of horticultural science, and Connie Fisk, North Carolina Cooperative Extension associate who works with muscadine grape growers, organized the meeting. Poling described attendees as “sort of the brain trust of the whole small fruit industry.” While the meeting focused on reports on small fruit programs around the nation, it also included tours of the Centennial Campus and the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, as well as a tour and wine tasting at an area vineyard. Also on the itinerary was a tour (pictured here) of the JC Raulston Arboretum at N.C. State University. The tour was conducted by Tim Alderton (in green shirt, foreground), horticultural science research specialist.

— Dave Caldwell