USHBC Tech Symposium and Tour Comes to Oregon

Steve Erickson, CEO of Pan American Berry Growers, has given many tours of Pan American over the years. Never, however, had he spoken of blueberries in front of a camera for the purpose of making a video.

“It was definitely a new experience for me,” Erickson said. “All I can hope is that my passion for the industry and some thoughts of where the industry could strive to improve comes across.

“We were able to share some of the advancements that we have implemented as a company at PBG in an effort to remain relevant in this fast growing and ever changing industry,” he said. “And if those messages were not clear, I can always hope for good editing.”

Erickson, Josh Dietrich, PBG’s Farm Operations Manager, and Andrew Herr, Chief Marketing Officer from Littau Harvesters, were involved in filming at Pan American Berry Growers, which was one stop on a virtual tech tour that was part of the USHBC and North American Blueberry Council’s Technology Symposium, held September 28 and 29 in Salem.

The virtual tour, which also included stops at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center and Halls Ferry Farms in Independence, was put together as a complement to the presentation portion of the symposium, which was held at the Salem Convention Center on September 28.

“The technology tour is the ‘show’ portion of our Symposium’s ‘Tell and Show’ for the industry,” said Kasey Cronquist, president of the USHBC and NABC. “And this video was a way for our virtual attendees to also have an opportunity to experience what our in-person attendees were seeing on the ground.”

The event was the second technology symposium for the organization and the first tech tour. The virtual tour included the same stops as the physical tour.

Mandy Boarman, meeting and events coordinator with USHBC and NABC, said the organization received tremendous response from its membership in terms of people signing up for the symposium and tour, with more than 200 tickets sold for the first physical get-together for USHBC since COVID protocols shut down in-person meetings.

Asked why the organization came to Oregon for the event, Cronquist said, “Oregon is a leader for innovation in agriculture and going out directly into the field to see the latest tech in action adds tremendous value to the learning and collaboration we do at our annual meetings.”

In the video, Erickson discussed how Pan American Berry Growers incorporates technology when applicable to its operation and embraces opportunities to be involved in research at Oregon State University, Washington State University and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

“We welcome the opportunity to volunteer to be a part of the research that may better our industry, and some of that research has turned into processes that we have implemented, and the Tech Tour and Video gave us an opportunity to share that with the industry,” Erickson said.

“It will be crucial for our industry to remain relevant by working together with each other and industry cooperators and define together what relevance means and ways to accomplish it,” Erickson said.

“On the video, we spoke to how, due to the growth of our industry, we need to put our best product forward to continue to grow markets and consumption worldwide and how we are going to do that together with the companies that are out there that want to work with our industry,” he said.

“We spoke to the continued need for our industry to keep moving forward and how that process will include working together with manufacturers who want to provide for the industry and then touched on a few of the things that we are doing already,” Erickson said.

Erickson said the filming company, which came up from Eugene for the day, was easy to work with and at times helped steer the video format.

“It was a two-person film crew and I appreciated that they knew that I was uncomfortable and helped direct me in a way that hopefully created the best possible outcome with the information presented,” Erickson said.
“It was definitely a new experience for me,” he added. “I have enjoyed giving tours, but when you put a camera in front of me, that is a different story.”