Indiana Horticultural Congress

On Jan. 19 I attended the Indiana Horticultural Congress in hopes of learning more about farmers markets, marketing and agritourism. The annual IHC is sponsored by several Indiana horticulture associations and Purdue University.  The sessions and trade show were chock-full of opportunities for farmers, students and Hoosier food leaders to exchange ideas in the areas of fruit and vegetable productions, agritourism, organics, wine grapes, farmers markets and raw products. The trade show featured more than 60 exhibitors and countless tempting samples. Exhibitors were eager to share information about their products and better yet, the narrative behind production.

A representative from Corticeira Amorim, a wine cork producer, shared the story behind cork trees from Portugal and the different types of cork used for varying levels of wine quality. He corrected my misinformed belief that cork trees are endangered by explaining that this false claim was created when plastic corks came into the market. Although I was only able to attend one of the three days of the event, I learned a tremendous amount about Indiana’s current and future horticultural scene.

For more information on the Indiana Horticultural Congress, visit http://www.inhortcongress.org/index.html.

This post was written by Brittany Smith, an intern with the Indiana Humanities Council. Brittany is a senior Communications major at Butler University. A strong passion for food and agriculture brought her to the Council’s Food for Thought campaign.