Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762
Performing Department
Geosystems Research Institute
Non Technical Summary
Growing Christmas trees takes time--up to five years before they're ready to sell. During that time, the trees can be damaged by bugs, diseases, and bad weather. In the southeastern US, farmers face extra challenges because there isn't enough local research to guide them. They often have to rely on advice meant for other parts of the country, which doesn't always work well in the Southeast's unique climate and soil. This can lead to wasted money, extra work, and harm to the environment. We are working to give Christmas tree farmers better tools and information. We intend to make Christmas tree farming more efficient, affordable, and sustainable by focusing on two main problems. (1) Water stress. Many farmers lose trees because they plant types that don't match their land's water conditions. We will conduct scientific studies on different tree types and create guides and digital tools to help farmers choose the right ones for their farms. (2) Overuse of Fungicides. Some farmers use chemicals to fight disease even when it's not needed, which represents a significant cost in the overall budget. We will develop digital tools and informational guides to help farmers know when treatment is actually necessary. This project is special because unlike our crop commodities, there aren't many digital tools made just for Christmas tree growers. When we support Christmas tree farms, we support agritourism in local economies, limit loss of farmlands, and keep real Christmas trees affordable for community members.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
60%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Christmas tree farms benefit their surrounding communities by contributing to local agritourism and protecting against agricultural land loss. In the southeastern US, Christmas trees are often planted on acreage that is poorly suited for other enterprises due to low acreage (i.e., acreage too small to support row crops) or marginal soil quality (e.g., highly erodible). Thus, such farms fill a niche in preserving farmland for farming, avoiding land sales, and making the best use of the resource. Christmas trees require up to five years to reach maturity during which they remain vulnerable to pests, pathogens, and extreme weather events. On this front, growers in the Southeast are at a particular disadvantage due to a lack of up-to-date research and Extension on regionally specific management practices. As such, these growers are obliged to make decisions based on what systems are successful in other regions. This situation necessitates unnecessary costs and labor demands, along with overuse of synthetic products to maintain productivity as tree varieties are often planted which are not well-adapted to local conditions. Such activities impact grower finances and thus farm sustainability. Against these challenges, the longevity of the Christmas tree industry within the region cannot be guaranteed.Our long-term goal is to support grower decision-making with locally relevant recommendations. Inherently, smaller farms are often left behind on the technology curve, reducing their ability to adopt innovations available to those with more acreage, more cashflow, and/or more fashionable commodities, yet for these farms every dollar is just as vital. The financial liability of growers can be mitigated by reducing their input costs and baseline risk. The overall objective of this integrated research and Extension effort is to equip growers with digital tools that improve their long-term viability. The specific objectives of this project are to (1) improve farm resiliency to water stress and (2) reduce overapplication of fungicides. The Extension materials developed under this projectwill provide knowledge that may be otherwise difficult to procure for new and beginning farmers. As such, we expect to have the largest impact on program priority J, but also some impact on priority B, through our research and Extension efforts that "develop new tools to ensure that the next generation of small and medium-sized farmers have access to the information and resources they need to operate their farms on a sustainable and profitable basis" and "develop affordable small farm appropriate digital agriculture tools that improve production, labor management and farm profitability." This work represents a critical first step towards a robust, comprehensive decision support system for both new and veteran Christmas tree growers.
Project Methods
The goal of Objective 1 is to assist growers with identifying tree varieties that are best suited to their climate and landscape. From observation, tree mortality is high when trees with low tolerance for waterlogging are planted in low areas, and vice versa. Our rationale is that by considering the topography of the landscape and the soil drainage capacity, growers can assign zones within their farm and select varieties that are genetically superior for their situation. Our expected outcome is that mortality can thereby be reduced in areas previously experiencing loss due to challenges with water. Under Task 1.1, we will investigate water needs of tree varieties in greenhouse and field settings while also documenting grower planting practices via PRE and POST surveys. The latter is intended to inform the extent to which we have created change in knowledge and action within the grower community, and thus the Extension impact of Objective 1. The greenhouse study consists of a randomized controlled experiment with six commercially available Christmas tree varieties, some native and some non-native, to develop foundational knowledge related to water needs. Our field study will be conducted on working Christmas tree farms to investigate real world relationships between tree variety, placement on the landscape, and associated landscape parameters such as soil texture, pH, drainage class, and topography. Under Task 1.2, we will prepare the necessary data and data-driven management tools that will be transitioned to operational use within the stakeholder community. These include both our economic model and variety selection tool. The variety selection tool is based on the farm production budget we will create and will identify varieties with the highest rate of return based on the specific farm conditions. Under Task 1.3, we will support our stakeholders with Extension via tangible materials, associated training, and regular contact as we transfer the knowledge gained through this Objective. The goal of Objective 2 is to assist growers with more strategic application of fungicide. From observation, growers prophylactically apply fungicide to all trees, regardless of risk. Our rationale is that by increasing grower capacity to identify disease and understand risk, growers can reduce fungicide applications. Our expected outcome is that growers can mitigate the financial burden imposed by profligate application, while also improving the sustainability of their operation. Under Task 2.1, we will quantify operational costs of fungicide use while also documenting grower disease management practices via PRE and POST surveys. The latter is intended to inform the extent to which we have created change in knowledge and action within the grower community, and thus the Extension impact of Objective 2. Under Task 2.2, we will tune our deep learning model to distinguish between healthy and diseased trees in digital photographs, thus developing a sharable, labelled image dataset. Under Task 2.3, we will support our stakeholders with Extension via tangible materials, associated training, and regular contact as we transfer the knowledge gained through this Objective. We do not anticipate most growers will be ready for a fully automated disease identification process; however, we expect to develop a decision identification decision tree that functions as a human-in-the-loop system to guide diagnosis by human observers.