Source: AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS submitted to NRP
RESEARCH AND EXTENSION PRIORITIES FOR TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL CROPS IN THE U.S. INSULAR AREAS: BUILDING NEW PARTNERSHIPS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1007705
Grant No.
2015-51181-24314
Cumulative Award Amt.
$46,257.00
Proposal No.
2015-09323
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2015
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2018
Grant Year
2015
Program Code
[SCRI]- Specialty Crop Research Initiative
Recipient Organization
AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
10430 NEW ASCOT DRIVE
GREAT FALLS,VA 22066
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The U.S. "Insular Areas" are the essentially the territories of the United States. They include Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,Guam, the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, and the Freely Associate States (Republic of Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia). Out on the farthermost edges of the United States, the Land Grant colleges and universities in the U.S. Insular Areas face unique and daunting challenges - resources are far more limited than on the US Mainland. Each of the U.S. Insular Areas Land Grant Institutions (IALGI) are minority serving institutions: one is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and others are historically black colleges and universities. They each qualify as EpSCOR colleges.Despite their small sizes and very remote locations, the insular area islands are very strategically important to the United States and are important to U.S. specialty crop production. The islands can serve as "first detectors" of disease and pest problems that may impact U.S. crop production. The islands can serve as either gateways or as barrier to the introduction of these new specialty crop challenges. Lessons learned in the insular islands can be very important to Hawaii and Florida, as well as California and other major mainland specialty crop producers.There are a broad range of problems facing specialty crop producers and businesses in tropical and subtropical environments of the U.S. Insular Areas. There is a unique mix of diseases and pests, often a shortage of useable freshwater, high energy costs, and very high transportation costs. The long-term goals for this project are: to work with stakeholders to identify and prioritize their research and extension needs to help address their unique challenges in producing specialty crops; develop a strategic plan for research and extension to help meet these needs; increase the economic viability and environmental sustainability of tropical and subtropical specialty crop production; and, to increase rural income and food security in the U.S. Pacific and Caribbean Insular Areas.The proposed project is a Research and Extension Planning project to address tropical and subtropical specialty crop needs in the U.S. Insular Areas. The proposed project includes a survey of stakeholders, island-specific workshops, an online regional conference and a strategic planning workshop. As a result of feedback from stakeholders in the U.S. Insular Areas, the mix of priority topics may vary from one island to the next, but each of the legislative mandated focus areas will be addressed in each proposed activity, including the Survey, Island Workshops, Online Conference, and Strategic Planning Workshop.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
40%
Developmental
40%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
20510991060100%
Knowledge Area
205 - Plant Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1099 - Tropical/subtropical fruit, general/other;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);
Goals / Objectives
There are a broad range of problems facing specialty crop producers and businesses in the tropical and subtropical island environments of the U.S. Insular Areas. There are unique mixes of diseases and pests, often a shortage of useable freshwater, high energy costs, and very high transportation costs. There is a mix of a relatively small number of large producers and processers and a larger number of very small scale producers, each with a different set of challenges and needs. New fresh foods, like new varieties of fruit trees and root crops, are needed to fit into typical production practices. Because of limited resources and the island cultures, agricultural production and business objectives often need to be addressed in the context of an integrated "community-based" approach.The long-term goals for this project are: to work with stakeholders to identify and prioritize their research and extension needs to help address their unique challenges in producing specialty crops; develop a strategic plan for research and extension to help meet these needs; increase the economic viability and environmental sustainability of tropical and subtropical specialty crop production; and, to increase rural income and food security in the U.S. Pacific and Caribbean Insular Areas.A Stakeholder Survey regarding tropical and subtropical specialty crop production will be developed, tested, and implemented in the U.S. Pacific and Caribbean Insular Areas. Building on feedback from the surveys, Island Workshops with stakeholders will be hosted by the Land Grant Institutions in the Insular Areas, which includes Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,Guam, the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, and the Freely Associate States (Republic of Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia).These Island Workshops will be connected through Online Regional Conferencing. The findings from these efforts will be developed into a Strategic Plan, which will be shared and tested with stakeholders including grower groups, island small business associations, island agencies, and university and scientific associations.Building on the results of the Stakeholder Survey, the Island Workshops, the Online Conference, and the Strategic Planning Workshop, the insular area land grant institutions (IALGIs) will foster the development of multidisciplinary and multi-intuitional teams to collaborate to develop proposals for future Specialty Crop Research Initiative RFAs.. In addition, as part of the Strategic Planning Workshop, the Administrators (Deans/Directors) of the IALGI's will consider how the new research authorization provided in the 2014 Farm Bill to support research in the Insular Areas might best be shaped to complement the Specialty Crop Research Initiative.
Project Methods
PreparationThe PD willwork with the Co-PD for the Caribbean (University of Puerto Rico) and the the Co-PD for the Pacific (University of Guam) to refine a timeline for developing and implementing the project. The PD and Co-PDs will serve as an Executive Committee for the project.The Executive Committee and the Administrators for each Insular Area Land Grant Intuition will make up the Organizing Committee for the project. The Organizing Committee will discuss the goals and objectives for the project, including the need to maintain at each step a "systems-based, trans-disciplinary approach...with the potential for the project to contribute to long-term profitability and sustainability of specialty crop production efficiency, handling and processing or marketing systems." Each Administrator will identify one or more project leaders within their college to serve as the lead for their institution. Together they will pull together a mix of specialists that include biological and social scientists. As the institutional teams begin to form, they will identify a mix of potential stakeholders to participate in the development and implementation of the Stakeholder Survey and the Island Workshops. The stakeholders will also be asked to help in the development of the list of participants and collaborators.Stakeholder SurveyBased on ongoing discussions with stakeholders, we will develop a draft survey instrument to identify stakeholder needs and interests. The draft survey will be beta-tested with stakeholders and then refined. The purpose of the survey will be to obtain preliminary information about issues and challenges facing specialty crop farmers and researchers, as well as to identity specialty crops of local and regional interest. The Stakeholder Survey will be implemented and the results evaluated for the development of Island Workshops and an online conference.Island Workshops and a Regional Online ConferenceSmall workshops and meetings will be developed on one island for each of the U.S. Insular Areas. The workshops will include a mix of stakeholders and research and extension specialists. Based on the earlier survey and discussions, a common "minimum" format for each of the workshops will be agreed upon. The island workshops will be linked via online video-teleconferencing for regional discussions, as possible. There will a shared online "plenary session" to discuss the purpose and process for the workshops and to provide an opportunity for presentations by agency program managers and subject mater experts from Hawaii, Florida and mainland institutions. Each workshop will continue discussions based on the specific needs and issues for their respective islands. Approaches for building teams to develop future SCRI proposals will be explored. The workshops will be linked together again to talk about common challenges and to share their recommendations for future collaborative efforts. A primary goal of the meeting will be to develop a list of the technical objectives that must be met in order to successfully commercialize the production of the preferred specialty crops; this list will be addressed by the organizers and incorporated into a forthcoming proposal to the SCRI. As well, the participants will be tasked to facilitate the beginning formation of multi-disciplinary teams to work together on future proposal submissions to the SPCRI.Strategic PlanningThe IALGI Administrators will have an "in-person" meeting to develop the findings from the workshops and conference into a strategic research and extension plan for U.S. Pacific and Caribbean Insular Areas and to outline a process for supporting the development of future SCRI proposals. The strategic plan and plan for developing research proposals will be shared with USDA and other appropriate federal agencies, the Western and Southern Land Grant Research and Extension Directors, and local and regional stakeholders.

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached during this period include: farmers and growers, local small businesses, community leaders, land grant faculty and students, and administrators of Insular Area Land Grant Administrators. Changes/Problems:The significant difference in "time" between the Pacific and the Caribbean made it difficult to plan for synchronous "real time" online activities. In addition, extreme severe weather events severely limited the opportunity to move the project forward at different times during the project. Through this project, we found that it was difficult to identify specific specialty crops that would be of comparable interests across the islands, the relative economic priority of the crops varied and the production/distribution challenges were different from one island to another. Apart from Puerto Rico, the insular areas are often limited in their opportunities for developing agricultural products for significant export and among some stakeholders there appeared to be more interest in increasing production to meet local consumption and enhance local nutrition. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We reviewed the findings of the stakeholder surveys and the workshops. Perhaps not too surprisingly, we saw that while there were some specialty crops of common interest across the islands, the relative economic priority of the crops varied quite a bit and the production/distribution challenges were different from one island to another. The major difference was between Puerto Rico and the other islands. Puerto Rico has a much more developed process for production and marketing agricultural products. The other islands remain very limited in their opportunities for developing agricultural products for export and were much more interested in increasing their abilities to increase production to meet local consumption and enhance local nutrition. We shared these results and the island specific findings with local grower groups, faculty, and insular land grant administrators. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?After looking at a number of crops, the group decided to explore possible research collaborations regarding the development of blue sweet potato. Guam and the Virgin Islands have developed some collaboration with this crop and are looking to expand on these efforts. The crop can provide relatively high yields on low acreage, requires relatively low inputs and is well suited to small scale production. In addition to providing a source of calories, the blue sweet potatoes hold promise of helping provide a valuable source of nutrients, particularly bioflavonoids. Some work is underway to improve production practices and breeding efforts to improve visible appearances for consumer acceptance. It appears that the next major need is to develop a capacity for a breeding program based on improved nutritional content. The islands do not have the expertise or the tools necessary to assess the quality and quantity of bioflavonoid and other nutrients, which could then be incorporated into a breeding program specific to the islands. Groups have been identified that do have these abilities, such as the NCSU Plants for Human Health Institute and others, and the possibilities for future collaborations will be explored.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? An organizing committee of senior administrators from the Insular Area land grant institutions (IALGI) met several times in conjunction with the annual meetings of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. The institutions represented were the University of Guam, the University of Puerto Rico, Palau Community College, the College of the Marshall Islands, the College of Micronesia - FSM, and Northern Marianas College. The Deputy Director of NIFA's Institute of Bioenergy, Climate and Environment joined the group for part of the discussions. The University of Guam developed a pilot stakeholder survey to assess stakeholder needs and priorities. The survey was tested it in Guam. The survey was then shared with the other institutions collaborating in the project. It was agreed that a base set of questions would be kept constant in all of the surveys but that each institution might add additional questions as appropriate to their circumstances. The survey was implemented by the University of Guam, the University of Puerto Rico, and the University of the Virgin Islands and shared with the other IALGI. Building from the findings of the survey, the project leadership and the IALGI explored the possibilities for holding a regional online video-conference with industry and interest group stakeholder participants together with college faculty and administrators. The workshop would explore specialty crop research and education needs and priorities in the Pacific and the Caribbean. The idea was to have a workshop/discussion group convened in Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the additional insular areas as possible. The groups would meet independently locally but join together online for a collaborative regional discussion. The online conference would be scheduled for early evening in the Caribbean, which would correspond with morning of the next day in the Pacific. The intent of the regional online conference would be to discuss shared challenges and also to explore how the islands could work best together. We pilot tested online video conferencing but we found that the technology and the logistics were unworkable at the time. Instead, we developed island specific workshops. The University of Guam held the first island specific stakeholder workshop and shared their findings with the IALGI Directors. Subsequently, the University of Puerto and the University of the Virgin Islands each engaged in workshops with stakeholders. The results of all of the workshops were shared with the IALGI. The IALGI directors discussed the workshops and their findings and explored how they would impact their future directions and activities. The group also explored possible collaborations and pathways to work together on specialty crop projects.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audiences reached during this period include: farmers and growers, local small businesses, community leaders, land grant faculty and students, administrators of Insular Area Land Grant Administrators. Changes/Problems:The continuing challenge in planning "real time" online collaborations in the insular areas is the dramatic differences in the time zones. In addition, extreme severe weather events severely limited our ability to carry our efforts forward at different times during the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We reviewed the findings of the stakeholder surveys and the workshops. Perhaps not too surprisingly, we saw that there while there were some specialty crops of common interest across the islands, the relative economic priority of the crops varied quite a bit and the production/distribution challenges were different from one island to another. The major difference was between Puerto Rico and the other islands. Puerto Rico has a much more developed process for production and marketing agricultural products. The other islands remain very limited in their opportunities for developing agricultural products for export and were much more interested in increasing their abilities to increase production to meet local consumption and enhance local nutrition. We shared these results and the island specific findings with local grower groups, faculty, and insular land grant administrators. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?After looking at a number of crops, we have decided to focus on blue sweet potato. Guam and the Virgin Islands have already had some collaboration on this crop and we are looking to expand on these efforts. The crop can provide relatively high yields on low acreage, requires relatively low inputs and is well suited to small scale production. In addition to providing a source of calories, the blue sweet potatoes hold promise of helping provide a valuable source of nutrients, particularly bioflavonoids. Some work is underway to improve production practices and breeding efforts to improve visible appearances for consumer acceptance. It appears that the next major need is to develop a capacity for a breeding program based on improved nutritional content. The islands do not have the expertise or the tools necessary to assess the quality and quantity of bioflavonoid and other nutrients, which could then be incorporated into a breeding program specific to the islands. We have identified groups that do have these abilities, such as the NCSU Plants for Human Health Institute and others, and we will be reaching out to them to explore the possibilities for future collaborations.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? An organizing committee of senior administrators from the land grant institutions in the U.S. insular areas met in the fall of 2015 in conjunction with the annual meetings of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and again in early Winter of 2016. The institutions represented were the University of Guam, the University of Puerto Rico, Palau Community College, the College of the Marshall Islands, the College of Micronesia - FSM, and Northern Marianas College. The Deputy Director of NIFA's Institute of Bioenergy, Climate and Environment joined the group for part of the discussions. The organizing committee reviewed the project's tasks and activities and worked through a timetable and agreed upon tasks and next steps. The University of Guam developed a pilot stakeholder survey and tested it in Guam. The survey was then shared with the other institutions collaborating in the project. It was agreed that a base set of questions would be kept constant in all of the surveys but that each institution might add additional questions as appropriate to their circumstances. The survey has been implemented by the University of Guam, the University of Puerto Rico, and the University of the Virgin Islands. We considered the possibility of holding the island-specific workshops concurrently, but it turned out not to be feasible. The University of Guam held a stakeholder workshop in the fall of 2015. The University of Puerto and the University of the Virgin Islands each engaged in workshops with stakeholders in the Winter of 2016. The original plan was to have a regional online video-conference, with industry and interest group stakeholder participants together with college faculty and administrators. The idea was to have a workshop/discussion group convened in Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the additional insular areas as possible. The groups would meet independently locally but join together online for a collaborative regional discussion. The online conference would be scheduled for early evening in the Caribbean, which would correspond with morning of the next day in the Pacific. The intent of the regional online conference would be to discuss shared challenges and also to explore how the islands could work best together. We pilot tested online video conferencing but we've found that the logistics have been impractical for scheduling more than a small group of people at the same time.

    Publications


      Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

      Outputs
      Target Audience:The target audience reached during this period include: farmers and growers, local small businesses, community leaders, land grant faculty and students. Changes/Problems:The large time difference between the collaborators in the Caribbean and the Pacific is making it difficult to schedule times for a larger online group. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Survey and workshop results have been shared with participating stakeholders, land grant administrators, and faculty. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A regional online conference among the collaborating U.S. Insular Area Institutions and stakeholders is planned for the next period. Alternatives to a large online conference may need to be explored.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? The Stakeholder Survey was developed and implemented on three of the U.S. Insular Areas: Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The land grant institutions at these three locations hosted or participated in Island Workshops with stakeholders. Administrators from the land grant institutions in these islands have reviewed the survey and workshop results and have discussed how they their institutions might collaborate to address common specialty crop challenges and needs.

      Publications