Progress 09/01/16 to 01/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:There were several target audiences for this project. They were guar growers and prospective growers, processors, end users (industrial, food, etc.), and university research/extension personnel. Changes/Problems:An industrial meeting with oil and gas producers in Houston was not held due to scheduling issues. However, letters of support were obtained. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. The series of listening meetings provided both attendees and organizers the opportunities to learn more about production practices, needs of guar growers, and needs of guar processors. 2. The Guar Research and Production Conference in Lubbock, TX August 2017 allowed guar producers, processors, research, and extension personnel the opportunity to meet each other, learn more about guar as a crop, crop management, needs of growers, processors, and end users. 3. The online guar webinar, hosted by the American Society of Agronomy, had the greatest attendance, with >700 registrants. It presented materials on guar as a crop, needs of growers, efforts at breeding, and analysis of guar quality. It is available for 3 years, so will provide a resource for the next few years. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?See Opportunities for Training and Professional Development, above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The goal of the Planning Proposal was to initiate the outreach process towards developing an industry-specific set of goals, with the objective of submitting a NIFA-SCRI preproposal and full proposal if invited. The outreach process was designed to involve 1) farmers in TX, OK, NM, and AZ who have already grown some guar or are considering future production, 2) seed processors and industrial users, and 3) food industry end users of guar gum or other refined guar products. Specific objectives of this proposal were to: 1. Create a multi-state project team. University and industry personnel will unite to guide the project in the four-state area. The planning proposal process will allow time to include new companies using guar and acquaint new scientists with guar research needs. 2. Conduct four sets of clientele-specific meetings involving all major guar industry constituencies: growers, processors, end users (industrial, food, etc.), and university research/extension personnel. 3. Develop objectives in partnership with stakeholders and prepare an SCRI pre-application 2017 and a full SCRI proposal by spring of 2018. Accomplishments were as follows: Objective 1. Create a multi-state project team. A project team was created for the planning process, with personnel representing four states: TX, OK, NM, and AZ. This team consisted of growers from TX and OK, industry representatives of the industry's major U. S. guar processor and users in TX, and university research and extension personnel from six universities (Texas A&M, Texas Tech, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, University of Arizona, and Arizona State). Objective 2. Conduct four sets of clientele-specific meetings, involving all major guar industry constituencies: growers, processors, end users (industrial, food, etc.), and university research/extension personnel. a) Five guar farmer listening sessions were held to discuss guar producers' historical guar production experience, limiting factors to their guar production, information they need for future guar farming, and relay recent guar production advice. Guar seed processors were invited to participate and explain their seed needs and contract opportunities. The following meetings were held: • Nov. 7, 2016, Maricopa, Arizona. This involved meeting the one grower in AZ that has been growing guar for several years and touring his farm and observing his crop. • March 8, 2017, Brownfield, TX. The meeting included Guar Resources staff and owners, and area guar growers for a listening meeting on their concerns. Eight farmers and six other attendees from TX and NM participated. • March 16, Haskell, TX. The listening session included four area growers and 4 others to hear growers' needs. • April 19, 2017, Vernon, TX. This meeting included 14 area growers plus 10 others attending. • April 19, 2017, Altus, OK. Three guar growers and 4 other people attended. Although the proposal specified three conferences, in fact, five were held, exceeding expectations. b) Guar research and production conference in Lubbock, TX August 14-16, 2017. Thirty-one people from four guar-producing states attended, including 19 university staff, three from Guar Resources, and 9 others affiliated with the guar industry. University researchers represented represented at least six disciplines. The meeting involved • presentations on the needs of the guar industry, processors, and growers • the current state of guar research and extension • a tour of the Guar Resources processing plant • a tour of a guar farm had to be canceled because of heavy rainfall. • plans for an SCRI preproposal. The outcome of the preproposal planning included a list of people responsible for writing the preproposal and a potential proposal, as well as a list of priority needs of producers and the guar industry, and an outline for developing a full SCRI SREP. These needs included: higher yielding varieties, more herbicide options for weed control, inoculants for enhancing nitrogen fixation, higher gum content and quality including reducing black seed development, economic analysis of productivity, yield and profitability data for petitioning for crop insurance, and markets. At least 24 additional phone contacts for input on the guar planning were received and more than 100 e-mails were received. c) An industrial meeting with oil and gas producers in Houston was not held due to scheduling issues. However, letters of support were obtained. d) Online seminar with selected food industry processors and agriculture research/extension staff working with guar (December 11, 2018). The objective was to foster an understanding of U.S. guar production and its potential for a domestic source to stabilize supply, learn about the food industry's guar gum quality needs, and explain efforts to improve U.S. guar quality gum to a level superior to imported guar gum. This was hosted by the American Society of Agronomy, and 761 people registered for the webinar. Materials will remain online for three years. Objective 3. Develop objectives in partnership with stakeholders and prepare an SCRI pre-application 2017 and a full SCRI proposal by spring of 2018. a) A SCRI Stakeholder Relevance Statement was submitted in December 2017. This resulted in a request for a full proposal. b) A full proposal was submitted in March 2018, with 7 PD and co-PDs. Four objectives were included: breeding, disease resistance, guar production efficiency and profitability and new technologies. The proposal was not funded. Panel review comments were various. Favorable comments included that the proposal had many disciplines represented. Contrary comments were that the proposal was too ambitious, with too many objectives, needed to include other markets other than for gum, and needed more stakeholders and interaction between stakeholders and researchers. c) A revised SRS was submitted in December, 2018, taking into consideration the reviews of the 2018 full proposal. We developed 19 distinct letters of stakeholder support through the planning process. The review did not request a full proposal to be submitted. Reviews gave scores from 90 to 100 out of 100. Reviews were favorable in that the SRS was well-written, addressed previous concerns, and had significant stakeholder involvement. The major concern was that a significant amount of guar is consumed for use by the oil and gas industry, and thus was not used primarily as a fruit or vegetable crop, and that the oil and gas industry should contribute some funding towards this effort.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Trostle, C., M. D. Burow, and N.Abidi. Guar Production for Industrial and Food Applications. American Society of Agronomy webinar. https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/education/classroom/classes/634
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