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The 42nd International Carrot Conference will be held at the Marriot Convention Center in Bakersfield, California, on June 2-3, 2026. The conference will be hosted by the University of California Cooperative Extension and the California carrot industry. California is a major carrot production region and the home of two of the world’s largest carrot producers. Bakersfield is located in the heart of carrot production for the United States.
The International Carrot Conference is a biennial meeting held every 18 to 24 months with the purpose of bringing together anyone interested in carrots. Attendees include growers, packers, shippers, seed producers, breeders, pathologists, sellers, marketers, university and government researchers, Extension specialists, and students. The conference is set up to allow people to exchange ideas and concerns in all aspects of carrot production. Topics such as breeding, production challenges, economics and pest management are discussed in oral presentations and poster sessions on the first day of the conference, followed by a field tour on the second day. The field day will showcase a variety trial, Alternaria screening trial and mechanical harvest of carrots in a field. There will also be opportunities to interact with others in social gatherings.
In addition to carrots, vegetable crops such as processing tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, onions, melons and many winter vegetables are grown in Kern County. Almonds, grapes and citrus are the largest crops grown in Kern County. Meeting organizers hope to make time during the conference for attendees to see many of the crops in the region. Bakersfield is also centrally located in California. Beaches are a couple of hours away, as are Los Angeles, the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the Mojave Desert.
To register for the conference, visit internationalcarrots.org.