The 26th ISGA Convention took place May 2 – May 6, 2016 in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

Click HERE to recapture the spirit of he 2016 Convention

Speaker Biographies

Click HERE to view Biographies

Convention Presentations

The links below will take you to the presentation material.  The main topic of the presentation is enclosed in parenthesis.

Food and Health by Rob Baan
(Implementation of good nutrition on a national scale)

The Produce Safety Regulation for Sprouters by Dr. Annemarie Buchholz
(FDA Food Safety Modernization Act – includes changes in final rule)

Bio Control in the Age of Microbiome: The Confluence of Predictive Understanding, Big Data, and Cultural Memes by Jay Garland
(sprout safety – methods of controlling harmful bacteria)

The Sprout Safety Alliance: Overview and Progress by Dr. Kaiping Deng
(Sprout safety – training for commercial sprouters)

The Story of Sproutman by Ari and Noah Meyerowitz, “The Sprout Brothers”
(A memorial to Steve Meyerowitz, a pioneer in sprouting and promoter of healthy living)

Organic Seed Alliance by Marialice Galt
(Challenges and opportunities in building the organic seed sector)

Ancient Metagenomics, the Paleo Diet and Competitive Exclusion
by Steve Massey
(Microbial gut diversity is linked to good health—can sprouts be a good source?)

Panels

Marketing Panel – Those who sat on the panel represented Eatmore Sprouts & Greens, Jonathans Sprouts, and Koppert Cress.  Ari and Noah Meyerowitz represented Sproutman.  Major points of discussion were: marketing today vs. marketing in the past, impact of social media, what drives you, what is your passion, the most important message to consumers.

Future of Seed Supply – This panel was moderated by Marialice Galt. Those who sat on the panel were Ray Jones of ISS, Maggie Mumm of Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds, Corey Caudill of Caudill Sprouting, and Hilde Mazereeuw of Rijk Zwaan.

Tours

Attendees enjoyed the following tours:
A tour of a local Biome lab and view of what is involved in a DNA extraction analysis;
A tour of El Yunque Rainforest, a biologically diverse area with hundreds of species of plants and animals, and cascading waterfalls and nature trails.

Pictures

Click HERE to view a group picture of those who attended the 2016 ISGA convention.