Source: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA submitted to
EXPLORING GROWER INTEREST IN MICROBIAL PREDATION AND THE IMPACT ON NUTRIENT AND MICROBIAL TURNOVER IN ORGANIC PRODUCTION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1028985
Grant No.
2022-51300-37888
Cumulative Award Amt.
$46,664.00
Proposal No.
2022-04078
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2022
Project End Date
Feb 29, 2024
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[113.A]- Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
G022 MCCARTY HALL
GAINESVILLE,FL 32611
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Our research team composed of experts of different fields (plant and human bacteriology, bacteriophage, nematology, protists, microbial ecology) from six states and led by the southern region (Florida) is exploring the impact of soil microbial predation on a suite of soil, plant, and human health outcomes in agricultural production. We recently wrote a published review article describing the state of the art for applying high throughput and metagenomic sequencing and other tools to quantifying these impacts. As organic agriculturalists are among the most interested in soil microbial processes for soil health, we propose to provide educational resources about the potential roles of soil microbial predation on farms, while simultaneously hosting organic grower round tables to co-create hypotheses that will become the basis for future research. Webinars, presentations and focus groups at regional and national organic grower conferences, a webpage, and an extension article posted on eOrganic will help us to identify organic growers interested in the science of soil microbial processes so that we can use our training and expertise to serve their needs and answer their questions. Our planning proposal aligns with six of eight goals of OREI priorities legislatively-defined by the Farm Bill: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
100%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
71201101060100%
Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
0110 - Soil;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);
Goals / Objectives
To extend the insight and applied value of current advances in microbiome sciences and soil microbial predation to organic growers. We plan to leverage the planning grant funds to work with growers and co-develop hypotheses that will be a cornerstone of a fully integrated OREIproposal.
Project Methods
Provide educational resources about the potential roles of soil microbial predation on farmsHost organic grower round tables to co-create hypotheses that will become the basis for future researchCreate webinars, presentations and focus groups at regional and national organic grower conferencesDevelop a webpage and an extension article posted on eOrganic to help in identifying organic growers interested in the science of soil microbial processes

Progress 09/01/22 to 02/29/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Growers, grower organizations, the scientific community. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Some of the growers provided letters of collaborations for our full proposal and agreed to compose our advisory board. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?They were disseminated via presentations at EcoFarm in CA, Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Association, andNortheast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We presented at 3 conferences (EcoFarm in CA, Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Association, andNortheast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut) and hosted 3 organic grower round tables to co-create hypotheses that became the basis for future research in our full OREI proposal. Moreover, a webinar on "Microbial Predators in Soil: Hunting for Healthy Soil Ecosystems" was presented and is publically available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX701ePu2xo Additionally, we met once a month (virtually) to plan and discuss the results of the surveys we applied at the meetings. We met in Portland (in person) to write the hypothesis based on the feedback we received and attended the 2023 SACNAS meeting. This meeting was important for our team, as some of us were attending for the first time. Based on our conversation with growers we wrote our objectives around the impact of organic matter on the micropredator dynamic in the soil. The most used organic matter source that growers were interested in us doing research on were: compost, manure, feather meal, and others (bone, fish, etc). Moreover, some of the growers became members of our panel for the full proposal.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Growers, grower organizations, the scientific community Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Write the full proposal.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? We presented at 3 conferences (EcoFarm in CA, Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Association, and Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut) and hosted 3 organic grower round tables to co-create hypotheses for our full OREI proposal.

    Publications