Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
(N/A)
BURLINGTON,VT 05405
Performing Department
PLANT & SOIL SCIENCES
Non Technical Summary
This proposal is a Research and Extension Planning Project focused on Greenhouse Ornamentals, including bedding plants and ornamental potted plants. Within the Northeast, the greenhouse industry has become critical to the vitality and expansion of the agricultural economy, but adoption of IPM practices to reduce growers' reliance on agrochemicals has been slow. The long-term goal of this effort is to enhance environmental sustainability and profitability of the greenhouse ornamentals industry in northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) through IPM implementation. A critical needs assessment, based predominantly on grower inputs, will be an essential first step toward this long term goal. We will establish a regional public-private coalition including growers, researchers, extension specialists and educators, socio-economists, biocontrol and pesticide suppliers, state agricultural personnel and other key industry representatives. Multiple means of survey data collection will be employed, including discussion sessions at IPM workshops, survey collection via internet and mail, regional and state meetings of greenhouse growers, and one-on-one interviews. Survey summaries and analysis will be presented to key cooperators via a Partnership Conference at which the grower needs will be prioritized and then used by the coalition to establish teams to address these priorities through a comprehensive project concept for submission to the Specialty Crops Research Initiative in 2009. This planning project will build on our 12-year tri-state grower-research-outreach collaboration, which has been a highly successful despite limited funding and has demonstrated significant impacts though increased IPM implementation and use of biological control by involved growers.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
This proposal is a Research and Extension Planning Project focused on Greenhouse Ornamentals, including bedding plants and ornamental potted plants. The overall long-term goal of our research and outreach efforts is to enhance environmental sustainability and profitability of the greenhouse ornamentals industry primarily in northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) and the Northeast in general. In order to achieve this long term goal, the immediate goal of this planning project is to identify the critical needs for growers, the primary stakeholders in the greenhouse industry, using a public-private partnership among growers, researchers, extension specialists and educators, biological control suppliers, state agricultural personnel, economists and representatives of other key industry sectors. Through this project a comprehensive regional survey of the stakeholders will be conducted. Once the grower needs are identified and prioritized, our intention will be to address the key priorities through a multi-disciplinary effort submitted to the Specialty Crops Research Initiative in 2009. The specific outputs from this project will include: 1) workshops on IPM in which growers will provide input on their needs for increasing IPM implementation; 2) an analysis of the needs of growers of greenhouse ornamentals throughout the northern Northeast region to improve productivity and reduce chemical pesticide inputs; 3) a coalition of stakeholders in the greenhouse industry which will serve as the foundation for preparing collaborative research and extension activities; and 4) a framework for a trans-disciplinary proposal for future submission to the Specialty Crops Research Initiative.
Project Methods
A needs assessment will be the first step toward enhancing grower productivity through IPM. We will establish a regional public-private coalition including growers, researchers, extension specialists and educators, socio-economists, biocontrol and pesticide suppliers, state agricultural personnel and other key industry representatives. Multiple means of data collection will be used, including discussion sessions at IPM workshops, survey collection via internet and mail, regional and state meetings of greenhouse growers, and one-on-one interviews. The survey instrument will be crafted to facilitate data collection and to be amenable to analysis to assess accuracy. We have planned specific times within the program to hold open discussions and will record remarks for data analysis. Because the survey tool is critical to obtain as much information in as short a time as possible, it will be developed with input from a statistician and economists to design questions to solicit information quickly without introduction of source errors. The survey will collect baseline data reflecting current grower practices and IPM adoption and value measurement as to the needs of the industry. The information gathered will be designed so we can apply appropriate biostatistical analysis to infer the usefulness of responses for generating priorities. The survey will be designed to be easily understandable with short answers, but will allow for additional comments. We will conduct an online survey using email lists available through State Departments of Agriculture and grower associations. Some growers who do not attend IPM workshops may go to Farm/Trade Shows, twilight meetings, horticulture field days or the New England Greenhouse Conference, where the surveys will be available. Data will be entered to determine response distributions and evaluate the possibility of multilevel or data hierarchies. Appropriate analysis will allow us to determine trends in different segments of the greenhouse industry. Following data analysis, we will host the Partnership Conference to bring together key cooperators involved with the industry to refine and prioritize the identified needs into a structured gap analysis for greenhouse IPM implementation. The structure of the conference will foster open exchange of information among participants. Dr. Mark Whalon, Michigan State Univ., an expert in research and outreach on biological control and IPM, will serve as the facilitator. Armed with the prioritized needs, our outcome for the Conference is to formulate the foundation for a trans-disciplinary research/outreach proposal to the Specialty Crops Research Initiative. A project title, goal, scope and objectives will be developed and teams will be created to address priorities. Team leaders will be identified to guide preparation of each proposal component. Results from the survey and priorities established at the Conference will represent the most current source of stakeholder input on the needs of the greenhouse industry relevant to IPM, and will be circulated to appropriate organizations, such as the Northeast IPM Center and regional and national grower associations.