Laura Lawson, SEBS Executive Dean and NAES Executive Director, addresses the 2025 New Jersey Agricultural Convention in Atlantic City, NJ. Credit: Chris Gutierrez, OPOC.
The 2025 New Jersey Agricultural Convention and Trade Show, a collaborative effort among the Vegetable Growers Association of NJ, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA), and Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE), was held from February 4 – 6 at Harrah’s Resort and Waterfront Conference Center in Atlantic City, NJ. Each year, RCE plays a leading role in developing and hosting a series of educational sessions, led in recent years by co-chairs and RCE agricultural agents, William Bamka (Burlington County) and Michelle Infante-Casella (Gloucester County).
Brian Schilling, RCE Director, third from right, listens attentively at the 2025 NJ Agricultural Convention in Atlantic City, NJ. Credit: Chris Gutierrez, OPOC.
Close to 650 attendees included personnel from NJDA, delegates of the NJ State Board of Agriculture, farmers, commodity groups, trade show vendors, along with a strong contingent of Rutgers officials, some of whom served as key presenters at more than a dozen sessions held during the three-day event.
Laura Lawson, SEBS Executive Dean and NJAES Executive Director, addressed the convention, underscoring the pivotal role of NJAES and its crucial statewide partnership in ensuring the viability and success of the agricultural industry in the Garden State. She unveiled the 2024 NJAES Annual Report, which featured a wide range of experiment station research and outreach activities in service to New Jersey businesses and residents. Copies of the annual report were available to all attendees.
Lawson also recognized the executive leadership of SEBS/NJAES, some of whom were recently appointed. The executive leadership team in attendance included Mazen Shehat, Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Administration; Lia Papathomas, recently appointed Director of External Relations and Strategic Initiatives; Josh Kohut, new Dean of Research & NJAES Director of Research; Jim Oehmke, new Chair of the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics and NJAES Director of Economic Development; and Brian Schilling, Director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
L-R: Kevn Sullivan, Josh Kohut, Peter Oudemans, Mazen Shehat, Lia Papathomas, and Laura Lawson. Credit: Chris Gutierrez, OPOC.
Among the major presentations at the convention was “Agrivoltaics 101” by A.J. Both, professor and extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Sciences. Both and several colleagues comprising the Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program have undertaken a research and demonstration project to test whether installation of a vertical bifacial solar array at the university’s Animal Farm at SEBS will enable modern farming practices to be combined with generating solar energy.
The all-day workshop, “FSMA Produce Safety Rule Growers Training” that fulfills FDA requirements and covered topics like produce safety, worker hygiene, and water management, was chaired by RCE agricultural agent Meredith Melendez (Mercer County).
Among the NJAES leadership in attendance were Rachel Lyons, Chair of the Department of 4-H Youth Development; Peter Oudemans, Professor and Director of the Marucci Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension Center; and Peter Nitzsche, Director of the Clifford E. & Melda C. Snyder Research and Extension Farm.
The SEBS Office of Development and Alumni Engagement hosted a table at the convention in an effort to connect with Rutgers alumni in attendance. Since many of our alumni specialize in agriculture, this event served as a great opportunity to make connections, promote support for SEBS and our students, and update alumni information, all with the goal of facilitating school and university initiatives.
