Registration is underway for the event formally known as CSS & Seed Expo and the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) is excited about the newly named Field Crop Seed Convention to be held December 5-8 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando.

“We see really strong participation numbers in our registration, outpacing where we have been in previous years,” said ASTA President and CEO Andy LaVigne. “The expo floor is nearly two-thirds sold out.”

LaVigne says it is bitter sweet to not be meeting in Chicago after more than 75 years in that location, but Orlando has lots of great advantages in the weather and local attractions, and the convention layout will offer new opportunities for people to network. “We’re going to have a larger expo floor, a lot of the traffic going to any of the sessions will just about have to go through the expo floor,” he said. “That ability to see people and run into them easily is exciting for us.”

LaVigne says the conference will still include the same great educational opportunities as always, including the annual economic outlook for agriculture by analyst Dan Basse. The conference is expected to draw around 2,000 attendees from 36 countries, working in all field crops, from corn and soybean, to wheat, rice, cotton, sorghum and more.

In this interview, LaVigne talks about what to expect at the conference, as well as the big issues ASTA is watching, including the farm bill negotiations.