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.
The largest agriculture education each year in the Garden State, there almost 650 attendees drawn from among NJDA personnel, 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, Executive Dean of Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) and Executive Director of NJAES, addressed the convention. She underscored the pivotal role of NJAES and its crucial statewide partnership in ensuring the viability and success of the agricultural industry in New Jersey. Lawson also 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.
As the state’s land-grant institution, Rutgers leverages its extensive research and knowledge to meet the mission of community engagement, access, outreach and service that addresses the pressing needs identified by the agricultural community. Guided by input from growers, NJAES’ well-established record of innovative agricultural research enables it to be responsive to both current and emerging agricultural issues, ensuring a more sustainable and resilient industry.
This reciprocal relationship among SEBS, the experiment station, and the agriculture community was reflected in the strong turnout among the NJAES executive leadership team. This included Mazen Shehat, Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Administration; Lia Papathomas, Director of External Relations and Strategic Initiatives; Josh Kohut, Dean of Research & NJAES Director of Research; Jim Oehmke, Chair of the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics and NJAES Director of Economic Development; and Brian Schilling, Director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension. Several NJAES department heads also attended, including 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.
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).
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.
