Major General (Ret.) Gary Dylewski, speaking on behalf of Mission: Readiness will deliver the keynote address Farmers on the Frontline: Fueling our Forces to the Second Annual Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA) Conference, Feb. 17, 2016. The full-day conference will be held at the Renaissance Denver Stapleton Hotel.
“We are very pleased to have Major General Dylewski kick off the CFVGA’s second annual conference with a message of the vital role nutrition plays in ensuring our U.S. troops are ready to defend Americans,” said CFVGA President Robert Sakata, Sakata Farms, Brighton, Colo. “We have a day chocked full of great information for Colorado produce growers, allied industries, and interested organizations and consumers.
Dylewski has over 25 years of experience in leadership positions, including government, industry and academia. He is an acknowledged expert in guiding large organizations in bringing state of the art aviation and C2 capabilities to operational status for the war fighter. He is the former Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the Center for Character Development at the United States Air Force Academy.
According to Mission: Readiness, “Nearly one in three young Americans is too overweight to serve, one of the leading reasons 70 percent of Colorado’s young adults cannot serve in the military.”
Mission: Readiness has been a leading voice in the effort to improve school nutrition. In 2010, its members released “Too Fat to Fight,” the landmark report that revealed the number of young Americans too heavy to join the military and called for passage of what became the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.
In addition, the conference will feature a review of new FSMA regulations for produce, Justice Greg Hobbs addressing water issues, grower/buyer networking and other hot topics within the areas of labor, nutrition, business development and production/research. In addition, the CFVGA membership will elect a new board members and vote on other items of business. Registration begins in early December. For more information and to register, visit http://cfvga.org
The CFVGA is comprised of more than 150 members, including growers of all sizes and types of production throughout the state, as well as representatives of allied industries. The Colorado fruit and vegetable growing sector contributes nearly $300 million to Colorado at the farm gate and is multiplied as it goes through the distribution chain. Over 60,000 Colorado acres are in fruit and vegetable production. For more on the CFVGA, visit http://coloradoproduce.org
Source: Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (CFVGA)