Tom Tabler

Professor and Extension Poultry Specialist

The Tennessee Poultry Association (TPA) has announced its lineup of speakers and topics for the 2026 Service Tech Workshop to be held April 15 beginning at 9:00 am at the Farm Bureau Expo Center in Lebanon, TN.  This year’s list of topics and speakers includes:

Litter Management – Dr. Joey Bray – Jones-Hamilton

Egg Quality – Dusty Cagle – Cobb-Vantress

Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments – Blaine Hyle – USDA-APHIS

Lunch – Cracker Barrel

Composting – Ray Hilburn – Alabama Poultry and Egg Association

Effective Communication Strategies – Jeremy Martin – Aviagen

This year’s lineup from TPA addresses some of the greatest challenges those of us in the poultry industry face on a daily basis.  Litter management and composting are issues that every commercial poultry grower deals with on a daily basis.   Hatching egg quality has never been more important to the industry than it is today.  Avian influenza continues to burn through the poultry industry like wildfire with 196 million birds being lost or euthanized as of the end of February 2026, making biosecurity more critical than ever.  Effective communications may be the greatest tool service techs can carry today as the industry adapts to a changing grower base with different skills and talents than growers of the past and new challenges we have not faced before.

To register or to learn more about vendor and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jocelynn Magan with the TN Poultry Association at 270-290-0193 or jocelynn@tnpoultry.org.