Farwest Show 2015 reports increased attendance

More than 6,000 nursery industry professionals turned out for the three-day 2015 Farwest Show in Portland, Ore., a 10 percent jump from 2014 attendance figures.

The "far from ordinary" trade expo also featured 40 new exhibitors, according to a press release from the Oregon Association of Nurseries.

Farwest was held from August 27-29, 2015 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. The show, founded in 1973, is produced by the Oregon Association of Nurseries (OAN), which represents Oregon’s $830 million nursery industry.

This year’s show included the debut of the Solution Center for Growers, featuring 28 mini-seminars on the show floor. It also featured an increased presence of retail goods; seminars with industry experts; nursery and retailer tours; networking events such as the Farwest Pub Crawl; and, earlier in the week, the International Trials Conference, which brought plant breeders from all over the world to Portland to discuss trialing standards and to network.

Farwest 2015 featured a free keynote presentation by globally known customer service expert Ron Rosenberg. Other experts also appeared, including Dr. Allan Armitage, Anne Obarski, Lloyd Traven and many others. They shared new ways the green industry can anticipate and meet evolving customer needs and capitalize on the market opportunities of the future.