Seeley Summit Set For June 22-24, 2014

ITHACA, NY — The Board of Cornell University's Seeley Conference is pleased to announce that the next Seeley Summit will take place June 22-24, 2014 in Lisle, Illinois – conveniently located for ease of travel into Chicago O'Hare and Midway airports.

The Board has chosen to tackle the insipient issue of water scarcity for its 2014 focus. The Board believes water availability will be among the greatest challenges facing the floriculture industry in coming years The water scarcity topic is particularly well suited to the Seeley Summit as floriculture and horticulture's major growing regions are in areas of regular water scarcity (arid west) or regions of occasional extreme shortage (southeast) and no region is completely immune (Midwest drought, summer 2012). Ultimately, all sectors of the floriculture supply chain including growers, retailers, landscapers, and the end consumer are, or will be, affected by water scarcity.

The interactive think-tank atmosphere of the Seeley Summit will allow for plenty of interaction with fellow industry leaders and water experts from outside our industry regarding these timely issues:

    What if you had to deal with the real cost, including distribution, of water?
    What if the direct cost of water to grow a pot plant, flat or hanging basket was equal to or exceeded the cost of the plastic or growing medium used?
    What would this do to your business?
    How do we make changes in our (your) business to accommodate the current and future ever-increasing costs of water?
    In drought conditions, how do we convince the legislators (and consumers) to consider and factor in the environmental, social, economic, health/wellnesss benefits of plants, trees and flowers into any water restriction guidelines they're considering?

For more information regarding the 2104 Seeley Summit visit www.seeleysummit.com, or Facebook users can refer to the Seeley Summit fan page.
About Seeley Summits

John Seeley
John Seeley
1915-2007

Seeley Conferences were established in 1986 in honor of Dr. John G. Seeley after his retirement from Cornell University. Each year, the Board of Directors chooses a conference topic important to the future of floriculture.

The first 26 Seeley Conferences were held on the Cornell Campus in Ithaca, N.Y. After a two-year hiatus during 2012 and 2013, the Seeley Conference Board of Directors is relaunching the gatherings with a new name (Seeley Summit) and location (Lisle, Ill.). The conference has been rebranded the Seeley Summit to reflect a more modern, interactive "meeting of the minds." Attendees can expect round-table discussion, Q&A with speakers and panelists, and lots of face-to-face networking. The change in location was made in attempt to make the gathering more accessible to travelers.

Seeley Summits promote discussion of issues important to the future of commercial floriculture. The meetings are structured to foster discussion by industry leaders and increase the level of understanding of topics through presentations by speakers with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. The goal of the Summit is to better prepare attendees to make decisions on issues that have a great impact on their businesses and the industry as a whole.

To assure free exchange of ideas, participants, including representatives of the trade press, are asked not to attribute comments or points of view to speakers or industry leaders unless such dissemination is agreed to by the person expressing their point of view.

• Dr. Bill Miller (President, Seeley board) wbm8@cornell.edu
• Dr. Neil Mattson (Executive Secretary, Seeley board) nsm47@cornell.edu

Source: Cornell University