About 250 spinach specialists from eight countries gathered for the 2015 International Spinach Conference held in Yuma, Ariz.

The Feb. 24-25 event included production and scientific presentations addressing challenges in spinach breeding, downy mildew disease, molecular sequencing efforts with spinach, food safety, and more. 

Field tours of spinach plots located next door to the Yuma Agricultural Center featured the latest spinach hybrids from seed companies and breeders.

The chairman of this year's conference was spinach researcher Jim Correll of the University of Arkansas.