BREEDING, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR ORGANIC VEGETABLE GROWERS IN THE NORTHEAST

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1004538
• Grant No.: 2014-67013-22409
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $33,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2014-04439
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2014
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2016
• Grant Year: 2014
• Program Code: [A1141]- Plant Health and Production and Plant Products: Plant Breeding for Agricultural Production

Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853

Performing Department
Plant Breeding and Genetics

Non Technical Summary
The goal of this conference is to develop a vision for future organic vegetable breeding and the research and outreach necessary to support the continued growth of northeast organic vegetable production. The objectives include determining: 1) target traits in major vegetable crops that are priorities for breeding and new cultivar introduction for this region, 2) major production issues that transcend growers' differences in scale of production and marketing focus, and 3) gaps in educational outreach of existing research and successful production techniques. The conference will be preceded by a series of planning activities to engage the community broadly such as a widespread survey of organic vegetable growers in 2015 and interactions at conferences within the region and events outside the region that can provide insight for our planning. These preparatory events will culminate as a retreat conference with a select group of key stakeholders to form a working group. These working group participants will synthesize the collected information to develop priorities for organic vegetable breeding and the additional outreach and research that is needed to accompany and complement it. A proceedings and summary of the conference will be made available widely to help steer future organic breeding, research, and extension activities.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

30%

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

70%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
205	1499	1081	50%
205	1499	3020	50%

Knowledge Area
205 - Plant Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education; 1081 - Breeding;

Keywords

breeding

collaboration

organic

sustainable

vegetable

Goals / Objectives
An organic breeding needs assessment has not been done since a breeding survey was completed for New York in 2004 and northeast regional breeding roundtables were held in 2005. Although the results of past breeding roundtables have been very useful in helping to steer organic breeding projects, organic agriculture has undergone significant changes in the past ten years and we need to know the specific current production constraints and needs of growers in order to inform all future organic breeding. We also plan for the first time to link breeding needs with additional research and outreach needs of growers, as breeding is just one technique that can be used to help growers prosper.Goal 1: Assess organic vegetable breeding needs for the Northeast.This will be accomplished through the completion and analysis of surveys in conjunction with a conference with a working group retreat format.Goal 2: Engage growers outside the Northeast regionThis will be accomplished by participation by a Northeast grower in a Southeast conference and vice versa and the participation of those growers in the working group conference where they will share new perspectives they have gained.Goal 3: Disseminate this information to interested partiesThis will be accomplished by targeted emailing and posting of the final report on eOrganic and other websites.

Project Methods
The conference will be preceded by a series of planning activities to engage the community broadly. The project will begin with a preliminary survey of organic growers throughout the Northeast. Growers contacted will include those on the current database of the USDA National Organic Programs Certified Organic Operations. For all major vegetable crops, questions will relate to production constraints, varietal preferences, breeding needs, and gaps in production knowledge and research. Growers will be classified based on their location, scale, and marketing focus. The results will be compiled ahead of the conference. Through participation in regional organic conferences and workshops throughout 2015 we will reach out to growers for their input. We will foster collaboration between Northern and Southern states to gain experience with how familiar challenges are magnified by warmer weather and without the benefit of very cold winters that reduce pest and pathogen populations. To better learn from other regions we will send at least one grower to the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG) winter conference to interact with growers from the south to learn how growers in different regions are managing production constraints. We will also bring one grower from the south to our conference to bring a perspective from outside the region.These preparatory events will culminate as a retreat conference with a select group of key stakeholders to form a working group. These working group participants will develop priorities for both organic vegetable breeding and the additional outreach and research that are needed to accompany and complement it.As an overview, a timeline of our proposed activities is as followsWinter 2015: Online survey released to collect grower input, Presence at a least 3 organic focused conferences to gather input and encourage survey participation, Southeastern state grower joins Northeast organic conference to explore synergies and peer learning, Northeastern state grower (from planning committee) attends Southeastern organic conference as a complementary exchange.Spring 2015: Summarize survey results and circulate results and conference exchanges to working group,Summer 2015: Plan working group retreatFall 2015: Working group retreat held in NY at Virgil or other convenient central locationWinter/Spring 2016: Compile proceedings and share for review and edits with working group, Present finding at NOFA-NY conferenceSummer 2016: Disseminate report online and circulate on list serves and send directly to interested parties. Make available to other non-profits such as Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Organic Seed Alliance, Seed and Breeds, RAFI, Seed Matters, private industry and regional organic organizations

Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience included growers, seed professionals, and non-profit organizations. Growers should be the end beneficiaries of these efforts in that these efforts are designed to guide the development of new seeds and resources. Seed professionals should have a clearer knowledge of grower needs and their efforts should be informed by this information. Non-profit organizations should be able to be more effective advocates for growers by this detailed analysis of needs. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Rachel Hultengren is a MS student in the Mazourek program focusing on breeding for grower needs in organic systems as part of the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative. Rachel lead and organized the working group meeting to analyze survey responses which provided her with networking experience and professional development toward her career goal. Rachel co-authored a press release that was featured in Seed World and wrote an online article for Boomtown Table, both of which furthered her experience in her Communication minor. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated through a variety of means. The survey questions, raw responses and the working group report are available online through Cornell University's eCommons through the link provided in the "Products" section. This has been shared with an array of groups working with growers in the Northeast and beyond (RAFI-USA, Seed Matters, state chapters of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, the Organic Seed Alliance, growers and seed professionals that participated in the survey. The Organic Seed Alliance, a national organization based in the Pacific Northwest, sent a representative to our meeting in the Northeast and, in turn, Mazourek and Hultengren attended their meeting and presented a subset of findings at the Organic Seed Growers Conference. Results have also been shared with researchers at Cornell through a blog post, an article for Boomtown Table, and Seed World. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? While important national surveys have been conducted and much attention has been paid to the seed producing regions of the Northwestern US, the Northeast is a location with unique needs that serves several of our most substantial population centers with regionally produced food. To align investments in vegetable breeding, education and extension with grower priorities,a regionally appropriate set of grower priorities was collected and shared. A highly significant impact of this project has been its role in the inception of the first Northeast Organic Seed Conference that will be held in tandem with the NOFA-NY winter conference. This inagural event will strengthen the seed community in our region andfacilitate sharing and progress through enhanced communication within this network. In 2015, we conducted thissurvey using Cornell's in-house survey software (Qualtrics) thatasked respondents to identify crop varieties that they consider critical to their production, target traits in major vegetable crops that they think should be priorities for breeding and new cultivar introduction for the Northeast, and the major biotic constraints with which they contend. This was shared with over 1,000 growers that were identified as certified organic in the National Organic Program (NOP) database or identified by NOFA as using sustainable practices. We received information from 210 respondents. A working group was convenedin a meeting the spanned 2 days to discuss themes arising from survey results and to identify opportunities for the seed community.The meeting was attended by 26 participants, including organic vegetable growers, representatives of NOFA chapters, cooperative extension agents, public plant breeders, and seed company representatives. Grower engagement beyond the Northeast was accomplished by coordinating our efforts with those of a similar effort in the Northwest, an organic seed grower from the Southeast and a grower/seed professional that attended the SSAWG conference reporting at our working group meeting and presentation at conferences andmedia reports identified in the "products" section. Additionally the final report has been shared nationally. The report has been disseminated to interested parties as described below in that section.In short, the full report and data are available on Cornell University'seCommons and have been shared with the survey respondents, grower organizations and other interested parties.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hultengren, Rachel; Glos, Michael; Mazourek, Michael. (2016). Breeding Research and Education Needs Assessment for Organic Vegetable Growers in the Northeast. (Dataset). eCommons Digital Repository at Cornell University. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/1813/44636
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hultengren, Rachel. Were listening. BOOMTOWN TABLE, 2016. Web. http://www.boomtowntable.com/listening/
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Reports spotlight plant breeding needs for organic agriculture. Business. SeedWorld, 3 Oct. 2016. Web. http://seedworld.com/reports-spotlight-plant-breeding-needs-organic-agriculture/
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Mazourek M, Hultengren H, Brzozowski L. Creating Plant Breeding Populations for Organic Systems. Organic Seed Growers Conference. Corvallis, OR. February 5, 2016.

Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for this period focused on organic vegetable growers. To reach the appropriate growers, we created a database of contacts using the 2013 USDA-NOP database of certified-organic growers to find contact information for growers in CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT who produced vegetables. We then contacted NOP-standard certifying agencies to inquire whether they had more updated contact lists that they could share with us. Lastly, we contacted relevant grower-focused organizations (e.g. Northeast Organic Farming Association [NOFA] chapters, Cornell Small Farmers Program, etc.) to request they share the survey in any upcoming communication with their members, or through their social media sites. The PI presented at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group conference and was joined by an organic vegetable grower from NY. The PI jointly presented with the Organic Seed Alliance at the NOFA-NY winter conference and the Young Farmers Conference at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. A presentation was also given at PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) and the survey was advertised at the NOFA-VT winter conference. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A new graduate student, Rachel Hultengren, lead the survey distribution and is leading the survey analysis and is the new chair for organizing the working group meeting. This is excellent preparation for her career goals that will blend communication and organic seeds systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Preliminary information was shared through conference presentations listed in the publications section. Dissemination for results is planned for the next reporting period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have a working group meeting planned for December 7-8 in Saratoga Springs with over 30 representatives confirmed to attend. The schedule has been formed around a plan to analyze the results. We have partnered with the Organic Seed Alliance which is conducting a similar study for the Northwest and will participate in each other's meetings this winter. We will prepare a working group report that will be shared broadly with interested parties.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: We sent our needs assessment survey to 1,003 growers and received 210 responses. Of these, 123 (56%) respondents identified their operations as 'Certified Organic', with the remainder of respondents growing either according to NOP-standards (but not certified) or using a combination of conventional and NOP-compliant practices. For most of the survey questions, respondents were allowed to provide more than one response. Participants identified critical crop varieties, suggested improvements on existing crop varieties, and identified pests constraining vegetable production. Growers were asked to rate the importance of resistance of various crops to biotic stresses. Of the biotic stresses listed, resistance to downy mildew in cucumber and melons and striped cucumber beetles in cucurbits was rated as being of particularly high importance. Goal 2: We presented at two major conferences in the Southeast, and were joined by a NY organic grower at one of them.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Frost E, Glos M. "Variety Choice for Disease Resistance in Cucurbits." Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Conference. State College, PA. February 5-7, 2015.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Kemble J, Frost E, Mazourek M . Disease Management for Vegetables: Making Better Use of Sustainable Management Practices and Disease Resistant Varieties. Mini-Course. Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference. Mobile, AL. January 27-30, 2015.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Colley M, Mazourek M. "State of Organic Seed Listening Session." NOFA-NY Winter Conference. Saratoga Springs, NY January 23, 2015.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Moore G, Mazourek M. "State of Organic Seed Listening Session." Young Farmers Conference. Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Pocantico Hills, NY. Dec 3-5, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Mazourek M, Davis J, Zystro J, Frost E. "Breeding Cucurbits for Organics in the Southeast Region." Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Conference. Durham, NC. Nov 6-8, 2015