27th Annual Texas Plant Protection Conference
December 8 & 9, 2015
at the Brazos Center, Bryan, TX

“Innovations for Texas Agriculture – Strategies for Implementation”

Betsy Pierson, TPPA Vice-President, Eric Castner, TPPA President and Ray Smith, TPPA Chairman and the Planning Committee are busy finalizing the 2015 Texas Plant Protection Conference program.

Check out the photo gallery from the conference!

Conference Registration and Payment

This year we will again offer online payment by credit card for conference attendees. Of course, we still offer registration and payment by mail.

Mail-in registration form
Pay online by credit card (no registration form required)
- Fee schedule for online payment
  Conference Registration (before 11/15) ………………………$85
  Conference Registration (after 11/15) …………………………$100
  Student Registration …………………………………………………$25
  Farmer Registration ………………………………………………….$25
  Exhibitor/Sponsor………………………………………………………$350
  (includes 1 membership dues & conference registration)
  TPPA Scholarship Donation ……………………………………… $optional

Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

The following CEUs have been approved for the 2015 TPPA Conference:

Certified Crop Advisers (CCA)
A maximum of 13.5 CCA CEUs are available due to concurrent sessions
Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA)
12.0 TDA CEUs are available

Click here for all the details on the approved CCA & TDA CEUs.

Hotel Information

The hotels listed below have blocked rooms for those attending the conference. Please contact them direct to make your room reservations.

Hilton- College Station, 801 University Drive, College Station
$129.00, Group Code TPPA 15, Cut Off Date: November 16, 800/445-8667

Hampton Inn & Suites, 925 Earl Rudder Freeway, College Station
$119.00, Group: TX Plant Protection Assn., Cut Off Date: November 6, 979/694-2100

Aloft- (new hotel), 1150 University Dr East, College Station
$109.00, Group: TX Plant Protection Assn., Cut Off Date: November 7, 866/7168143

Conference Highlights

TPPA Awards Luncheon and Business Meeting– Be sure to attend the luncheon at noon on December 9. The TPPA Awards will be presented.
Poster Section- The conference will have a Poster Section where researchers, including graduate students, can display information about their work. The graduate students also compete for cash prizes for the top 3 posters. To enter a poster or for more information on the poster section, contact this year’s Poster Chair, Gary Schwarzlose. His email address is: gary.schwarzlose@bayer.com
Pest ID Contest –Conference participants are invited to participate and are challenged in the Pest ID Contest on their skills of identification. The 2015 TPPC Pest ID Contest will be conducted on Tuesday, December 9th from 3:00 to 3:45 pm. Contest participants will be asked to identify 10 agriculture insect pests, 10 crop diseases or viruses and 10 weed pests. Pests chosen for the contest can be related to cotton, corn, rice, sorghum, watermelons, grapes, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, citrus, pastureland and rangeland. Although the contest is challenging, this session serves as time to learn how to identify current pests of concern. Barron Rector, Session Chairman, provides each participant with a contest sheet. The session concludes by going over all of the contest pest specimens for the participants reference. Awards and cash prizes are given to the top three identifiers. Winners are recognized at the TPPC Awards Luncheon. Scores from this contest are not shared with bosses, colleagues, or friends.
Exhibition Hall- The industry displays will be in this high traffic area along with the Posters and coffee breaks.

Who Attends the Conference?

Agribusiness – dealers, distributors, manufacturers, applicators, consultants, ag lenders, farmers, ranchers
Research – Texas A&M AgriLife Research, USDA, graduate students, crop protection and seed company researchers
Extension and educators – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, University faculty, USDA, graduate students
Ag press
Regulatory – TDA, USDA, EPA, TCEQ

Conference Agenda

Poster Session

The Poster Session is a key element of the conference and a great venue to share the latest information regarding your research project with the diversity of TPPA members and guests who attend the conference annually.

Please plan on presenting a poster and encourage your fellow researchers to do the same. Be a part of the excitement!

Deadline for poster titles and abstracts is November 1.

If you are a student wishing to compete, please indicate this in your email. Awards of $150, $100, and $75 will be presented to the top 3 graduate student posters.

Please send your title and abstract to Gary Schwarzlose, Incoming TPPA Vice President & Poster Session Chairman.

Please click on the following for abstract information and template:

27th Annual Texas Plant Protection Conference December 8 & 9, 2015 at the Brazos Center, Bryan, TX