Annual/Termination Reports:

[11/11/1111] [02/17/2016] [10/20/2016] [02/22/2017] [01/08/2018] [02/26/2018] [08/28/2018] [04/08/2019] [07/08/2019] [04/02/2020] [09/21/2020]

Report Information

Participants

Dwayne Ingram, Robin Brumfield, Sue Barton, Alicia Rihn, Ben Campbell, Alan Hodges, Hayk Khachatryan, Ben Posadas, and Bill Graves

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

<ul><br /> <li>Alan Hodges provided an update on the national nursery survey. A summary report was published in JEH with a follow-up on trade flows (also published in JEH).&nbsp; Alan has completed the data file for the past 4 survey cycles (~20 years) and has a standing open invitation for collaboration on projects. (Note: due to modifications in the questionnaire, several variables are not directly comparable across datasets.).&nbsp; The next survey will be in 2019 (2018 data) and it is time to start thinking about a funding source (previously HRI).&nbsp; At least $30,000 is needed to conduct the survey.&nbsp; A subcommittee needs to be developed in the next year or so to spearhead the proposal.&nbsp; Additionally, the group needs to develop a succession plan for the project (Marco and/or Hayk were mentioned as candidates).&nbsp;<br /> <ul><br /> <li>Florida, Kentucky, and Minnesota data have been used for publications.</li><br /> <li>Robin Brumfield is working on New Jersey data.</li><br /> <li>Ariana Bravo Torres expressed interest in collaborating on the Indiana data.</li><br /> <li>Cheryl Boyer expressed interest in working on the Kansas data.</li><br /> <li>Hayk Khachatryan suggested developing subgroups with similar interests to cut down on the number of authors. The group discussed that communicating with the group via email is the best method to gauge interest.&nbsp; Whoever is the lead on the idea/paper decides on whom to include.</li><br /> <li>Ben Campbell (and Hayk) volunteered to compare the data set and the 2014 data to adjust the survey for 2019.<br /> <ul><br /> <li>Sue Barton suggested including &lsquo;newspaper&rsquo; on the media usage list in future.</li><br /> <li>Alan Hodges suggested considering health insurance and coverage in the industry in the 2019 survey.</li><br /> </ul><br /> </li><br /> <li>Ben Campbell proposed working on labor and water use using the previous two data sets. Hayk Khachatryan and Robin Brumfield expressed interest in collaborating.</li><br /> <li>Hayk Khachatryan briefly discussed Marco Palma&rsquo;s paper on advertising.</li><br /> </ul><br /> </li><br /> </ul>

Publications

Impact Statements

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Participants

Marco Palma, Bridget Behe, Jeff Kuehny, Bill Graves, Charlie Hall, Sue Barton, Hayk Khachatryan, Robin Brumfield, Craig Nessler, Chengyan Yue.

Present via phone: Ben Posadas, Dewayne Ingram and Cheryl Boyer

Brief Summary of Minutes

• Meeting was called to order at 9:15 am.


• The meeting started with present members’ introductions (see details at the end of minutes).


• The agenda was approved and meeting minutes from the previous meeting were distributed to attendees. M. Palma suggested a minor modification.

 

Discussion of ongoing research projects

• Craig Nessler informed that it is expected that NIFA funding will be increased in the future. Water quality and quantity, food production and energy remain major issues in agricultural production. Also advised that agriculture probably will not be a priority during the next administration (e.g., eXtension has $0 funding in federal budget). Craig Nessler encouraged working closely with industry stakeholders, establish corporate sponsorship, and maintain it as a source of revenue. SCRI program is still going strong, and will probably increase the amount of funding in the future.


• Bridget Behe mentioned that the S1065 project was submitted award application this year.


• Marco Palma and others thanked Craig Nessler for support and help to get the new project approved.


• The group discussed strategies/mechanisms to recruit new members for the S1065 group. Awards for junior faculty could help T&P packets and encourage new members to join the consortium. 


• Charlie Hall updated on the national nursery survey work, e.g., article summarizing the findings of the national survey/trends in the green industry that was published in HortScience, and economic impact/contribution analysis report published in HortTechnology. Hayk Khachatryan took the lead on another paper investigating the trade flows in the industry (target journal - JEH).


• Chengyan Yue published 3 Extension articles using Minnesota subsample of the national survey data, focusing on marketing, IPM, and production methods (Alan Hodges assisted with this effort). Chengyan also investigated factors affecting consumer expenditures on fresh flowers and potted plants and factors affecting consumers’ use of residential landscaping services. Another project investigated consumer preferences for aquaponic vs. conventional production methods.


• Dewayne Ingram continues to investigate carbon footprint differences by different landscape designs (reduce, recycle, remediate water use; lifecycle assessment for nursery production).


• Sue Barton mentioned about meeting with Bridget and others later in the day to discuss a basic marketing publication (an overview) based on some of the new variables included in the survey. Target journal for this paper will probably be JEH. 


• Hayk Khachatryan reported the output based on Florida specialty crop block grant (2 papers published; 3 under review). The proposal (investigation of consumer preferences for pollinator insect related labels on ornamental plants) submitted to HRI was rejected early January. Florida DOT expressed interest in investigating public perceptions of the highway beautification program in Florida. Proposal for a 1-year funding is currently under review.

 

• Bridget Behe updated about the two papers that she worked with Charlie Hall and Marco Palma. The first paper investigated demographic characteristics of horticultural consumers, and the second focused on structural changes in green industry. A project funded through HRI will investigate the effects of branding on consumer preferences (data collection completed in Michigan, Connecticut, Texas and Florida)

 

Roundtable discussion of state activities

• Most of the faculty members included their state activities report as part of individual project updates. Some additions were as follows.


• Robin Brumfield works with the Agricultural University of Athens (Greece) focusing on youth employment in agriculture.


• Sue Barton works on assessing differences between online vs. in-person delivery of Extension education/information (e.g., classes for Master Gardener groups). The use of Innovative Learning Technologies in Extension education system is being evaluated.


• Charlie Hall updated about the third cohort of the Executive Academy for Growth & Leadership (EAGL) program, which is a 1-year business certificate program for managers in horticulture and is conducted in partnership with Texas A&M University. Charlie Hall and Marco Palma will work on paper investigating marketing practices in green industry. Hayk Khachatryan expressed interest to join this study.


• Dewayne Ingram updated about his work (in collaboration with Charlie Hall) on a project that investigates water use in greenhouse/nursery operations, including lifecycle assessment for nursery operations. Extension publications include an economic impact study in Kentucky (based on the national nursery survey) and ecosystem services related publication for commercial stakeholders.


• Chengyan plans to work with the AFE on a new project that will investigate consumer preferences for cut flowers. She submitted a workshop proposal to ASHS (2016 meeting) to discuss pollinator insects and pesticides labeling issues. Chengyan also submitted a proposal to start a specialty crops section with Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA).


• Marco Palma created the Latin American section with AAEA a year ago; research interests of this group include a variety of agricultural development topics in Latin American countries. Marco Palma’s projects focused on investigating the role of major international trade agreements in food production, dietary guidelines recommendations, the effects of asymmetric information on food choices, perceptions of quality differentiation, preferences for functional foods, the effects of intervention on school children’s food choices, placement of information and effects on preferences (using eye tracking) and role of smell in choices/preferences.


• Cheryl Boyer updated about FSMIP grant that ended in December 2015 focusing on social media use at garden centers. Cheryl worked with two graduate students on a national survey to assess the effects of social media (e.g., ROI/per hour of social marketing effort).

 

• Bill Graves is involved with a range of projects; his students work on a variety of individual species of woody ornamentals. (Collaborated with Brian Maynard on propagation project in Mexico.) Bill Graves also collaborates with Intermountain Native Plant Consortium, and is involved with a two-week study abroad program in South Africa.

 

• Bridget Behe is involved with a new SCRI research project investigating consumer preferences for water use. Another ongoing project is in collaboration with Masterpiece horticultural company in Michigan. Investigation of plant preferences by age groups will be used as a pilot data in a grant proposal.

 

• Hayk received internal funding from the UF Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology to investigate residential landscape preferences in Florida. Sue Barton, Bridget Behe, Charlie Hall and Jeff Kuehny expressed interest in collaborating on this project. A proposal submitted to USDA (SCRI program) to investigate economically feasible and pollinator-friendly production methods was rejected last year. The group plans to resubmit improved proposal this year. 


• Bridget Behe and others thanked Charlie Hall, Mengmeng Gu, and Marco Palma for organizing the meeting/tours.


• Selection of site for Summer/Fall 2016 meeting:
  
  
  
  • Dewayne Ingram proposed meeting in Lexington, KY. Possible dates were Oct 6-8, 13-15, and 20-21. Oct 13-15 appeared to be the most convenient time frame for the majority.
  
  
  • The group tentatively agreed to hold the Winter 2017 in Key West, FL.
  
  
  
  


• Meeting adjourned.

 

Attendee affiliations and research areas

 

• Bill Graves (new member), Department of Horticulture, Iowa State University, Professor and Associate Dean of the Graduate College. Main research interests are biopolymers & bio-composites in horticultural production, in addition to the ecology, physiology, propagation, and genetics of rare plants.


• Jeff Kuehny, Professor and Director of the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens. Main research areas – irrigation systems for nurseries, stormwater/stormshed/water quality monitoring through information exchange program.


• Bridget Behe, Professor, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University. Research interests – consumer behavior/marketing, eye tracking in consumer research


• Marco Palma, Associate Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University. Research interests – experimental/behavioral economics, neural economics, food production/marketing, health, nutrition.


• Chengyan Yue, Associate Professor, Dept. of Agric. Economics and Horticultural Sciences, University of Minnesota. Research interests – horticultural marketing


• Craig Nessler, Professor and Director of AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University. Research – Plant Pathology and Physiology, currently mostly administrative duties.


• Robin Brumfield, Professor, Dept. of Agricultural, Food & Resource Economics, Rutgers University. Research areas – Farm management, greenhouse cost accounting.


• Hayk Khachatryan, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Food and Resource Economics (Mid-FL REC). Research interests – behavioral/experimental economics, consumer marketing.


• Sue Barton, Associate Professor and Extension Scientist, Plant and Soil Sciences Dept., University of Delaware. Research areas – Sustainable landscapes, roadside vegetation management, water quality and ecosystem services, BMPs.


• Charlie Hall, Professor and Ellison Chair, Dept. of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University. Research areas – financial analysis/benchmarking, horticultural economics, strategic management and marketing.


• Dewayne Ingram, Professor, Department of Horticulture, University of Kentucky. Research interests – sustainable nursery production systems (carbon footprint lifecycle assessment in nursery crops).


• Cheryl Boyer, Associate Professor, Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources Department, Kansas State University. Research – nursery crop production, social media marketing – garden centers.


• Ben Posadas, Associate Professor, Coastal Research & Extension Center, University of Mississippi. Research – economics impact analysis, regional economics, greenhouse and nursery production mechanization and automation.

Accomplishments

Publications

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Participants

Dwayne Ingram, Robin Brumfield, Sue Barton, Alicia Rihn, Ben Campbell, Alan Hodges, Hayk Khachatryan, Ben Posadas, and Bill Graves

Present via phone: Cheryl Boyer, Ariana Torres Bravo

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Publications

<p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Impact Statements

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Participants

Ariana Torres, Bridget Behe, Charlie Hall, Hayk Khachatryan, Alan Hodges, Ben Campbell, Bill Graves, Tim Schauwecker, Dewayne Ingram, and Ben Posadas

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

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Ariana Torres, Bridget Behe, Hayk Khachatryan, Will Graves, Susan Barton, Jennifer Dennis, and Robin Brumfield.

Brief Summary of Minutes

The meeting was held jointly with the multistate NC1186 in Carmel, CA.

• Meeting was called to order at 9:01 am.


• Thank you members of NC1186 for arranging tours and planning the meeting.

Discussion of ongoing research projects:

Hayk Khachatryan discussed his USDA SCRI grant project, which focuses on three broad areas 1. An economic feasibility analysis (inputs / insecticides), 2. Growers’ adoption of alternative pest management/production methods / factors affecting production decisions, and 3. Consumer demand analysis for several annual and perennial ornamental crops. As part of the SCRI grant, Hayk’s group is studying the use of neonicotinoid labels and their impact on consumer preferences in an experimental laboratory.  The other project, National Horticulture Foundation (previously National Foliage Foundation) grant, is a 2-year project investigating shopper behavior at independent garden centers in Florida.  The grant included a pilot section for which data was collected at the TPIE tradeshow to understand tradeshow attendees’ visual attention to booth design elements. Hayk’s residential landscaping project (funded through UF’s Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology) investigates consumer preferences and WTP for different turfgrass/non-turfgrass landscape ratios, smart sensor-based irrigation systems, pollinator friendly attributes, etc. 

Robin Brumfield is wrapping up the second year of an EU grant where they are training women farmers. She has collaborators in Germany, Malta, Turkey and Spain. She is also working on taking Annie’s Project to urban agriculture in areas of production and economics. Annie’s project is empowering women farmers by the creation of business plans in Turkey, Greece, Guyana, and Nicaragua. Robin obtained a grant from NRCS for a water project, in which they are looking for growers to be their ‘test’ subjects that they can collect water use data from. The NRCS project aims to develop an economic model for smaller grower to recycle water. Robin received a Small Farms grant to analyze the potential of 10 ultra-niche products. This project is helping develop online enterprise budgets for these crops. Robin also received the 2^nd biggest gift given to Rutgers to decrease youth unemployment.

Ariana Torres is working on four main industry issues. First, value-added technologies that can help the economic sustainability of specialty crops. She has collaborated with Bridget Behe and Susan Barton on a paper that has been submitted to AgEcon journal that looks to the correlation between using social media (and other online marketing strategies) and the adoption of e-commerce in the green industry. She is collecting data on the use of value-added technologies for produce sold primarily at farmers markets. She got a USDA-NIFA grant to work with ag and biological engineers and food scientists to understand the drivers and barriers to add value to specialty crops sold in local markets. Another USAID-Hort Innovation lab grant is measuring the supply chain of dried apricots in Tajikistan, where she will also conduct entrepreneurship training to women groups. With funding from Specialty Crops Block Grant, she is collaborating with turfgrass scientists to work on the information asymmetries found in the turfgrass industry. She will hire a graduate student to understand the preferences of homeowners, HOA, and landscape contractors toward sustainable turfgrass for residential purposes. With funding from USDA-SARE, she (and a graduate student) is evaluating the purchase agreement and preferences of buyers of organic grains in the Midwest. Second, the lack of indicators that address the financial feasibility of new crops and technologies. She (and a visiting scholar) is developing an online financial calculator that uses enterprise budgets to understand breakeven prices/quantities, cost-benefit analysis, and ROI. This project is currently funded by 3 grants from USDA-SARE, 1 from SCBG, 1 grant submitted by a grad student grant for organic grains, and how marketing decisions influence farm diversification through the reduction of risk exposure. Third, the lack of pricing information for farmers selling in local markets. She has started the 2^nd year of collecting farmer’s market prices in 10 locations in Indiana and 1 produce auction. A graduate student and a visiting scholar are working on data analysis to understand how prices from farmers markets, produce auctions, and retailers correlate. She has obtained an internal grant to fund the 2018 phase and has trained farmers, market managers and extension educators on the use of pricing information to assist price determination. Fourth, she has started looking at consumers perceptions of new crops. With funding from USDA-SARE, she is collaborating with Bridget Behe to develop a survey that will evaluate consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for new varieties of melons (one of the main specialty crops in Indiana). She and a graduate student are modeling if millennials perceive organic and local foods as substitutes or complements.

Jennifer Brown (Jennifer Dennis) attended the meeting as a former member of the group. She gave us an update on her current position at Oregon State University. She also announced she will join UC Riverside this summer.

Bridget Behe is working on a SCRI water project with Melina Knuth. She has also finished a study built on Jennifer Dennis’ plant guarantee work and has assessed the structural break points. She has started working with Ph.D. communications students looking at hedonic versus utilitarian attributes of plants; preliminary analysis shows that the price point for plants is higher for hedonic v. utilitarian settings and that priming strongly influences price points. Bridget and Marco Palma submitted their SCRI proposal on the marketing and economics for biocontrols submitted by Ohio State. Bridget, Sue, and Ariana Torres published a paper looking at business practices of landscape businesses (HortTechnology). The SCRI Water 3 project, in collaboration with Charlie and Dewayne, had yielded 4 papers looking at perceptions on water source and water use by consumers. One paper is published, another one in press, and 2 in preparation. Their work gathered data on consumer perceptions on the word recycle vs reclaimed, and perceived risk of direct (personal and impersonal) and indirect use. The word “recycle” has a positive term with significant policy issues with perceptions of and willingness to work with recycled water. Findings from this project will be submitted for the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Bridget and Tom Fernandez got a grant to investigate the impact of RFID tags on consumer perceptions regarding perceived risk, intention to use, convenience to use – disconnect between using and not knowing and privacy. She is expecting to present her work in Italy. Her EyeTracking project got a FSMA grant looking at the display complexity between human coding and tobi filter. The software extracts patterns between eye movement and purchasing (or not) plants as part of their goal to understand decision-making search behavior of how humans pick a plant. This eye-tracking project is currently analyzing the gaze pattern (eye-tracking) in the lab, and will combine her FSMA grant that focuses on retail purchasing behavior. They have been able to find the eye pattern when looking at plants in retail setups. Lastly, Bridget has launched her new podcast series called Marketing Munchies, available in Connect-2-Consumer.com. Each podcast interviews a researcher to provide a preview of a project related to marketing in the green industry.

Susan Barton is working with a group of researchers on consumer perceptions towards native plants. They are looking at how testimonials affect consumers following through the planting of native plants in their yard. The team is also looking at homeowner’s fertilization practices on native plants. Susan has a long-standing project with the Delaware Department of Transportation, in which they are getting enhancement sites on Google Earth as an online resource to manage public sites properly.  Another of her project looks at different grasses and their effect on pollinators. The project has 4 treatments of herbaceous and 3 types of grasses to understand what will be the best pollinator meadow.

Bill Graves’ research appointment has decreased after taking an administrative appointment in Iowa. Will has 3 grad students. Doctoral student Zach Hudson is studying the anatomy and physical properties of bark of members of the Thymelaeaceae.  He’s also investigating potential uses of high-quality specialty paper he has made from the bark of Dirca spp., which are members of the Thymelaeaceae. Doctoral student Anna Talcott is resolving conflicting reports of human responses to floral fragrance of hoptrees (Ptelea trifoliata and Ptelea crenulata).   She also is studying cold hardiness of these species, as well as preferences of swallowtail butterflies for Ptelea vs. other members of the citrus family. Master student, Austin Gimondo, gave a presentation about his masters’ thesis on wastewater-grown algae fertilizer for horticulture production in turfgrass and container crops, using complexes of green algae as fertilizer at standard rates of nitrogen, incorporated into the media. He quantified plant growth and shoot nutrient concentrations and compared performance of extruded algae-based pellets to synthetic and controlled-released fertilizer. Pellets performed similarly or better than commercial fertilizer.

 

Future meetings

• Spring meeting 2019 (February): The group proposed to meet in Texas (Austin)


• Summer meeting 2019: Susan Barton is willing to host a summer meeting

The Multistate Research Project Grant Proposal

The duration of the multistate will end in 2020. The group will discuss the multistate objectives for the next period during the Spring 2019 meeting, when the entire group of researchers will be together. Ariana will send the previous project sent to NIMSS to the group, as well as a Qualtrics link to obtain nominations for the elections that will take place in Spring 2019. The Qualtrics will ask for S1065 members to vote on the objectives that we will keep for the next period, with the option to add a new objective. Potential dates for the Spring 2019 will include Thursday-Friday meeting after Valentine’s day. The group also discussed the need to recruit new members for the multistate. Some names were mentioned, such as Lloyd Nackley (Oregon State), professors in NC State, UC, Heidi Krastch (University of Nevada, Reno), Bryan Peterson (University of Maine), and Bryan Maynard (in Rhode Island).

Elections

• Will occur during the Spring 2019

National Green Industry Survey Proposal

The group discussed the future of the National Survey, which has been an ongoing effort for about 30 years. The group hopes to receive funding from the HRI, institution that has funded the data collection for the last 5 to 6 times. The proposal was submitted in May. We would expect to use the same company to administer mixed-mode survey (via phone calls and mail). We are expecting that the HRI will announce the awardees on January 2019, and the grant should be effective after May 2019.

The Survey Questionnaire

The most time-consuming tasks are soliciting and creating the lists of firms from 50 states. In the past, state lists have been obtained from the National Plant Board and we have experienced collaboration from most states. However, those who are not willing to collaborate send businesses’ information in pdf format, which later need to be converted to digital. The group typically contacts the state department of agriculture in each state to obtain those lists. We have experienced success by calling, email, and sending letters from funding agency.

Alan Hodges have obtained the list of businesses (also available from Dunn & Bradstreet), however there are no emails attached to the names and addresses. The list includes approximately 15,223 nursery and floriculture businesses, 159,000 landscape services businesses, and 26,000 suppliers. The group discussed briefly some suggestions to the next year’s survey:

• Survey administration:
  
  
  
  • Send a 1^st postcard as a survey invitation with the URL of the survey. This will create savings of printing and sending questionnaire
  
  
  • Collect most surveys online – a trend that we expect will increase for most surveys
  
  
  • Send a reminder to those who did not answer. The reminder can include the printed questionnaire.
  
  
  
  


• Survey list
  
  
  
  • Check for bouncing rate in the 2013 survey
  
  
  • Cross-reference the old list (2013) with the Dunn & Bradstreet list (2019) to identify emails of businesses that do not exist in the 2019 list but are in the 2013 list
  
  
  • Alan had previously suggested to extract the emails from the Dunn & Bradstreet. Hayk used Email Extractor but found inconsistent results.
  
  
  
  


• Questions
  
  
  
  • Reword Q24 to define 2 methods of advertising and follow up with more detailed methods
    
    
    
    • Internet based: email, texting, e-newsletter, business’ website, paid ads
    
    
    • Other: face-to-face, printing, mass media, newspaper, radio, tv (separate)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Q20: the group discussed that this question has not been very useful and had suggested either rewording it or delete it.
  
  
  
  

Accomplishments

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Participants

Brumfield, Robin (brumfield@njaes.rutgers.edu) – Rutgers; Khachatryan, Hayk (hayk@ufl.edu) – University of Florida; Campbell, Benjamin (bencamp@uga.edu) – University of Georgia; Hodges, Alan (awhodges@ufl.edu) – University of Florida; Barton, Susan (sbarton@udel.edu) – University of Delaware; Ingram, Dewayne (dingram@uky.edu) – University of Kentucky; Hall, Charlie (charliehall@tamu.edu) – Texas A&M University; Torres, Ariana (torres2@purdue.edu) – Purdue; Nessler, Craig () – Texas A&M University; Kuehney, Jeff () – Louisiana State University; Schauwecker, Tim () – Mississippi State University; Behe, Bridget () – Michigan State University; Boyer, Cheryl () – Kansas State University

Brief Summary of Minutes

Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:

Chair and secretary elections: Dr. Ben Campbell (chair), Dr. Ariana Torres (secretary)

2019 Green Industry Survey Discussion: Members discussed the possibility of adding questions on labor, technology adoption, pesticide use or reduction, how producers are getting information, changing regulations, and fertilizer use changes. The group decided to add ‘provide beneficial insect habitat’ to Q10. The group decided to change Q33 from “labor” to “labor costs”, and labor availability for both management and general labor. We decided to replace Q20 with the following: “From where do you get your information on technical, business, and marketing information?” (a) sales reps, other professionals, peer groups; (b) meetings, educational seminars, (c) print media (e.g. catalogs, newsletters), (d) online/electronic print (e.g. blogs, websites), (e) other online/electronic media (YouTube, podcasts, webinars, etc.), (f) other: please list. The group decided to add the following question in the Employment section: “What are you doing to address labor cost increases?” (a) adopting labor-saving technology, (b) nothing, (c) paying higher wages, (d) employee training, (e) adding benefits (f) other: please list. In Q27, change producer to grower. We added the definition of smart irrigation systems from an earlier version of the survey to include examples.

We discussed removing Q17 in the print survey and add wording in the online survey with “automated online/website only,” “e-mail only,” and “other.” We need to add “newspaper” back to Q24 and delete “yellow pages”. In Q24, we want to change the word “internet” to “website”. For the advertising media question (Q24), if a respondent checks website, follow up “How do you use websites?” Providing general information to customers, online sales, product availability, and other. “Who is the primary manager for your website?” Manager in company, employee in company, outsourced, and other. Q29 (in the retailer version of the survey): Use POS information? Delete the first part of the question (with Yes/No) and add “Which of the following methods do you use to create your POS items.” Add QR or other image recognition codes to the POS methods. Then follow up with the sources (internal v. external). Add a platform list to the types of social media used (Q30 in the retailer version): Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Yelp, LinkedIn, Reddit, Houzz, and text-based marketing.

Alan Hodges and the survey committee will make the adjustments and circulate revisions for approval and want revisions by 3/21/19.

New Project Committee: Ben Campbell will submit the new project. The project administrator can and should act as an advocate to help shepherd the proposal. The old proposal will expire 9/30/2020. Craig Nessler agreed to help Ben Campbell facilitate the new proposal. Add several paragraphs to the related and prior literature. There is now a database of impacts to be sure that multi-state and individual impacts are reported. Ariana Torres and Hayk Khachatryan circulated a Qualtrics survey link about old objectives and proposing two new objectives (influencing or shifting consumer preferences and effectiveness of new media technology).

Continuation of roundtable discussion, including comments about the Summer 2019 meeting (proposed location – Delaware). Susan Barton will circulate a poll to find a time for the meeting.

Selection of site for Winter 2020 meeting: San Diego was suggested last year but we were ousted by a medical convention. Tim and Charlie and will investigate a 2020 meeting.

New Sub Committees: A sub-committee will be formed to investigate the NALP survey gaps and see if the group could address those gaps in the 2024 survey (Landscape Services Subcommittee). The three publications NALP conducts is (Employment Compensation Report, Operating Cost Study, and Pricing for the Green Industry). Range in cost from $70 to $150 for non-members. We don’t have the survey built, but if it were, potentially HRI may fund it. A pilot survey would assess the method. We could do a convenience sample of several states. Some in the group are interested to understand trends in practices, particularly for sustainability. Tim will be the academic advisor to NALP and is soliciting potential collaborators and input. The comprehensive list we now use is anyone who grows or handles plants, but excludes strictly maintenance firms. Kueheny and Schauwecker are co-chairs, members are Barton, Hall, Boyer, Khachatryan are members.

We should also form a Labor Subcommittee (HRI would potentially be a funder of a proposal). Potential to add another sub-committee on technology adoption. Campbell (chair), Hall, Boyer, and Khachatryan. Technology adoption may be a topic for this committee.

Discussion of ongoing research projects:

We discussed submitting state reports prior to the meeting. We could go around the room and discuss the paragraph. Those not submitting a report would not have a place on the agenda but the group sees value in discussing the work orally.

Behe discussed the Marketing Munchies podcast and would invite anyone to be a guest on the show.

Hall discussed the Index of Prices Paid by Growers by Hall will be circulated and analogous to Index of Farm Prices Paid. He is updating the Plant Benefits publication with a four-part series in J. Environmental Horticulture.

Ingram discussed working with Josh Knight to do some Geographic Industry Locating accessible through the Center for Crop Diversification. They have plans to expand it to include production. Is interactive and a direct link is www.uky.edu/ccd/maps and they published ecosystems services benefits for consumers.

Brumfield discussed Annie’s Project and the expanding importance of urban ag. Food Security issues are increasing in importance.

Kuehney sent a link to a symposium they will hold next month to get public gardens and academic institutions to educate more about agriculture in general: https://www.publicgardens.org/professional-development/2019-symposia/celebrating-crop-diversity-program and he is working in the Consumer Horticulture Working (a federal multi-state working group) which is assembling information.

 

Accomplishments

<p>The committee finalized the green industry survey which is one of the major objectives of this committee.&nbsp; The survey of green industry firms is undertaken every 5 years and allows this multistate committee to collect primary data to help fulfill the objectives of the committee.&nbsp; Notably, responses will contribute to information on the industry&rsquo;s economic impact, use of sustainable production practices as well as use of labor.&nbsp; The survey will be sent to almost 44,000 industry firms.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>During the next year, we will finalize data collection and begin analysis of the data.&nbsp; The results are reported to industry stakeholders via a number of outlets, including peer-reviewed publications, extension publications, trade press, and presentations to producers, stakeholders, and policy makers.&nbsp; The material is used by industry associations at both the state and federal level.&nbsp;</p>

Publications

<p>Knuth, Melinda, Bridget K. Behe, Charles R. Hall, Patricia T. Huddleston, and R. Thomas Fernandez. 2018. Consumer perceptions of landscape plant water sources and uses in the landscape during real and perceived drought. HortTechnology 28(1):85-93.</p><br /> <p>Guo, Yanjun, Terri Starman, and Charles Hall. 2018. Reducing substrate moisture content (SMC) during greenhouse production and postproduction of Angelonia and Heliotrope improves crop quality and economic value. HortScience 53(1):49&ndash;54.</p><br /> <p>Khachatryan, H., A. Rihn, B. Behe, C. Hall, B. Campbell, J. Dennis, and C. Yue. 2018. Visual behavior, buying impulsiveness, and consumer behavior. Marketing Letters. February 2018. 29(1):23-35. &lt;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9446-9">https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9446-9</a>&gt;.</p><br /> <p>Knuth, Melinda, Bridget K. Behe, Charles R. Hall, Patricia T. Huddleston, and R. Thomas Fernandez. 2018. Consumer perceptions, attitudes, and purchase behavior with landscape plants during real and perceived drought periods. HortScience 53(1):49-54.</p><br /> <p>Palma, Marco, Michelle S. Segovia, Bachir Kassas, Luis A. Ribera, and Charles R. Hall. 2018. Self-Control: Knowledge, or perishable resource? Journal of Economic Behavior &amp; Organization. 145(1):80-94.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Khachatryan, H., A. Rihn, B. Campbell, B. Behe, and C. Hall. &ldquo;How do Consumer Perceptions of &ldquo;Local&rdquo; Production Benefits Influence Their Visual Attention to State Marketing Programs?&rdquo; <em>Agribusiness: An International Journal</em> 34(2):390-406.</p>

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Report Information

Participants

Brumfield, Robin (brumfield@njaes.rutgers.edu) – Rutgers; Khachatryan, Hayk (hayk@ufl.edu) – University of Florida; Campbell, Benjamin (bencamp@uga.edu) – University of Georgia; Hodges, Alan (awhodges@ufl.edu) – University of Florida; Barton, Susan (sbarton@udel.edu) – University of Delaware; Ingram, Dewayne (dingram@uky.edu) – University of Kentucky; Hall, Charlie (charliehall@tamu.edu) – Texas A&M University; Torres, Ariana (torres2@purdue.edu) – Purdue

Brief Summary of Minutes

Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:

Discussion of current members on listserv and recruiting of younger faculty to join project. Personal communication is best way to let new faculty know about opportunity to participate in research committee. Dewayne suggested having an informational session at ASHS conference associated with Marketing and Economics session in Orlando. Charlie is adding some people that are in the multi-state project but not on the listserv. PIC’s at ASHS might be a possibility for finding interested people.  Charlie will check periodically to find out who has joined the hatch project and add them to the listserv. NSCU bas a new horticulture economics person who will start August 1.  They should be recruited for this committee. Hayk will reach out to that person.

Ben will line up Susan Duncan to come to the next meeting to give comments.  Charlie will add Susan to the listserv. Ben is in process with Susan to get next multi-state proposal started. She sent both replacement process and proposal process.  Ben is checking with Susan to find out which process we should use.  This project expires August 2020.  We should have the new proposal submitted by the end of 2019.

2019 Green Industry Survey Updates:

Hayk – online survey – using skip logic so after 5^th question respondents are sent to appropriate section depending on type of business. Marketing practices section split into A (everyone), B (wholesale only), C (retail only) (no marketing questions for landscape). Could not use separate blocks in order to allow respondents to click back at the end of the survey. Hayk and Alan worked back and forth on this process.  Qualtrics has a quota for mass distribution (25,000 per week).  Hayk had to submit a request to increase this number to 35,000. Qualtrics recommends sending only 10,000 at a time, so Hayk split the list in thirds (this keeps it out of spam filters). Leave email survey open until September.

Sent a reminder to everyone.  Sending a final on June 20, 2019.

Total respondents -902

Agree to participate -824

Full responses –Hayk doesn’t have numbers yet

Complete list of all growers and dealers from state departments of agriculture (except Alaska and Idaho)-94,000. Got a list from Idaho Nursery and Landscape Association. Also harvested emails from Dun and Bradstreet (using email extractor from websites). For mail survey, filtered full list to just capture growers (30,000). Randomly sampled to get to 15,000 for mailing (at least 200 from each state). Online survey sent to everyone who had an email address (28,000).

Discussion of whether we should just send online survey to all state association lists.

Report for Craig Reggelbrugge – economic contribution and jobs information – one pager. Include highlights from survey. Charlie will lead Zoom meeting of subcommittee of Alan, Hayk, Marco and Charlie (in July) to help put this together for AmeriHort to bring to Hill..

Mail survey – Update from Alan.  Print version is very similar to internet version except a few questions about marketing questions to retailers deleted for space.  First mailing in early May, reminder postcard a week later.  Second mailing went out week of June 3, 2019.  A post card will follow.  Hired a firm to enter data.  780 respondents from first mailing (as of June 10).

Minor change to both survey – dropped azalea as a separate plant group, was absorbed into category of broadleaved shrubs.

Total survey combining email and mail = 43,800.

Trend of survey burnout.  A different strategy may need to be employed in next 5-year survey. One strategy would be to break survey into sections and send out one section per year (water, employment, marketing, etc.)

Discussion of ongoing research projects:

Landscape services subcommittee – Tim communicated with Charlie about getting the NALP survey information. Kueheny and Schauwecker are co-chairs, members are Barton, Hall, Boyer, Khachatryan are members.

Labor subcommittee – Plan to submit an HRI proposal next year. Campbell (chair), Hall, Boyer, and Khachatryan. Technology adoption may be a topic for this committee.

Selection of site for Winter 2020 meeting: San Diego was suggested last year but we were ousted by a medical convention. Tim and Charlie and will investigate a 2020 meeting.

Selection of site for Summer 2020 meeting:  Consider Oregon.

Accomplishments

<p>Green industry survey has been launched.&nbsp; The survey of green industry firms is undertaken every 5 years and allows this multistate committee to collect primary data to help fulfill the objectives of the committee.&nbsp; Notably, responses will contribute to information on the industry&rsquo;s economic impact, use of sustainable production practices as well as use of labor.&nbsp; The survey was sent to almost 44,000 industry firms.</p><br /> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p><br /> <p><strong>Impacts:</strong></p><br /> <p>During the next year, we will finalize data collection and begin analysis of the data.&nbsp; The results are reported to industry stakeholders via a number of outlets, including peer-reviewed publications, extension publications, trade press, and presentations to producers, stakeholders, and policy makers.&nbsp; The material is used by industry associations at both the state and federal level.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Publications

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Participants

Attending: Hayk Khachatryan (UF), Robin Brumfield (Rutgers), Melinda Knuth (Texas A&M), Dewayne Ingram (U. KY), William Graves (Iowa State), Bridget Behe (MSU), Susan Barton (U. Del.), and Charlie Hall (Texas A&M).

Attending remotely: Ariana Torres (Purdue), Ben Campbell (UGA), Dewayne Ingram (U. KY)

Brief Summary of Minutes

Approval of agenda and minutes of previous meeting: approved

Susan Duncan Admin Advisor Comments: USDA science blueprint to see their needs and values; National Academy of Science document looking at agriculture and advancements needed. Look for this. Process of proposal and approval. Charlie suggested the Southern Bulletin articles of collaborators. Answer these two questions “How is this different than previous project proposal?” and “What is the value of this proposal?”. How it has evolved to meet future needs. Suggestion: Create a “white paper” of the historical information the group has done to not take away from the page limit. Suggestion: What makes this project great and why should we be funded.

Developing cross-state data and illustration that we aren’t working in solos. Funding streams that are related to SCRI or other competitive funding that have multiple members of the group involved or community type clientele that should the value that the group or the project is provided.

 

New Objectives of the Multi-State Proposal:

Deadline: March 13th; get proposal in end of March

1. Susan and Bill doing


2. Charlie taking lead on survey and to develop the new questions. Taking out members who are in-active from NIFA list.


3. Bridget and Hayk taking lead on objective three.


4. Ben and Robin doing.

Continuing efforts to recruiting new members

 

2019 Green Industry Survey Updates:

Hayk – online survey – What are the new objectives? Continuation plus adjusting to consider changes within the industry.

Summary Report – ready in a few weeks

Total number of useful responses: 2,170

Google document of who is involved in the papers and who is doing which tasks

Analyses we should do- differences between email and mail responses and possibly avoid the mailing. Age, employee #, sales – cite “there wasn’t a difference with these key attributes” type of language.

Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast account for 60% of responses.

Economic Impact – under review with JEH

Descriptive Production Practices anything from IPM to irrigation

Marketing practice orientated study 1 – update the previous article with Bridget, Sue, and Ariana comparing with general marketing practices

            Ariana (Analysis?), Bridget (Literature review/results), Sue, Hayk (data generation)

Trade flows

            Hayk

 

Vote on the rules: Data cleaners and collectors must be on an author on the article

 

Chair and Secretary Elections: Ben and Ariana

Selection of site for Summer 2020 meeting: Philadelphia August 18-21

Selection of site for Winter 2021 meeting: Key Largo February 24-26

 

Bridget motioned adjourned meeting; Susan seconded motion. Meeting adjourned at 12:28 PM

Accomplishments

<p>In 2019 the green industry survey data collection was completed.&nbsp; The data is now being analyzed in a variety of ways with papers and extension articles being written around economic impact (nationally and by state), economics and marketing, labor and water usage, etc.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>

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Participants

Present: Ben Campbell, Julie Campbell, Ariana Torres, Marco Palma, Dewayne Ingram, Bridget Behe, Hayk Khachatryan, Will Graves, Charlie Hall, Bryan Peterson, Cheryl Boyer, Jeff Kuehny, and Robin Brumfield. The meeting was held online via Zoom.

Brief Summary of Minutes

 

Updates of individual members

Ben Campbell is working on a SRI project on LED lighting. He is looking at the economics and profitability doing LED lighting throughout the US, as well as consumer issues (externalities) associated with living around LED lighting facilities. Other projects are looking at different types of beetles. Other project is looking at people purchase of plants and landscape items during COVID-19. Results show a 4% increase in plant purchases.

Bryan Peterson is working on establishing protocols for propagation of native plants. Bryan has also been working on the invasiveness of certain plants that are not native to the US (honeysuckle). His main work is around the ecophysiology of native plants to gain insight on how to make them more adaptable to landscapes in their native habitat. He is also working on alternative propagation systems to save water. Other ideas he is developing are related to landscape horticulture and sustainability in the landscape (e.g. ground covers and the introduction of woody ground covers).

Jeff Kuehny is working on irrigation studies using tipping buckets to minimize water usage. He is also looking at phosphorus reduction in container production. He has done work with a sweet potato for ornamental and edible purposes. They have been looking at methods to prevent storage root formation in the early propagation time period.

Julie Campbell has been looking at floral marketing with references to social media. She is also working on a boxwood blight awareness grant to understand people’s knowledge and prevention on spreading.

Ariana Torres is working on the value-added technologies adopted by specialty crops farmer. She got a USDA-NIFA grant to work with ag and biological engineers and food scientists to understand the drivers and barriers to add value to specialty crops sold in local markets. She published a paper with Bridget Behe and Susan Barton looking at the adoption of online marketing and online sales in the green industry. With funding from Specialty Crops Block Grant, she is collaborating with turfgrass scientists to work on the information asymmetries found in the turfgrass industry. She hired a graduate student to understand the preferences of homeowners, HOA, and landscape contractors toward sustainable turfgrass for residential purposes. With funding from USDA-SARE, she published a paper looking at the purchase agreement and preferences of buyers of organic grains in the Midwest. She is releasing a calculator to understand the economic impact of using plant growth regulators (PGRs) for shrub maintenance. She is collecting farmer’s market prices for the 4^th consecutive year. With funding from USDA-SARE, she has published with Bridget Behe a paper characterizing melong consumers in the US. She published a paper looking at young consumers’ preferences for organic, local, sustainable and small-family farm attributes in foods.

Bridget Behe is working on eye sequencing research looking at displays panels and just got a paper accepted on the topic. She is finishing up work on stevia and another paper on water3, looking at consumer perceptions of reclaimed versus recycled water. They submitted an article to the journal of environmental psychology looking at the recycled versus reclaimed water and it seems that the poop factor is a big deal for consumers.

Bill Graves’ research appointment has decreased after taking an administrative appointment in Iowa. His research interests align with Bryan Peterson’s due to previous joint work. Bill has 2 doctoral students. One student is working on the genus Darko, looking at the reproductive biology and cold hardiness of different species and eco types of the genus that is called leather wood. The other student is working with members of the citrus family (Talia), looking at the reproductive biology and floral aromatic compounds that are emitted, as well as human interaction with them. His team is doing human subject trials to examine how people react to these odors.

Cheryl Boyer published a paper looking at how millennials perceived marketing and selling plants online. They used a 360-degree camera placed in garden centers to support the research. Cheryl is part of a transdisciplinary team called the Center for Rural Enterprise Engagements. Their team has many papers in progress on the use of social media for different horticultural products. Papers are looking at sociotechnographic and post engagement research. Another project looked at the use of angry emoji and the storytelling piece with a hypothetical CSA box. Another project is looking at content analysis of the Amazon plant store. Cheryl is heavily involved in Extension efforts.

Alicia Rihn started her faculty position in July in University of Tennessee. She has been finishing some projects that were going on with Hayk looking at sustainable landscapes and value attributes in ornamentals. They have a R&R for an article looking at communicating with the new generation of black plants, which was part of the ASHS workshop in 2019. They are also finishing a study looking at consumer and producer acceptance of alternative control measures. She has been invited in on a planning grant for the use of automation and nurseries to address labor shortages. Alicia has been looking at the paycheck protection program in the green industry and how the industry is using it.

Robin Brumfield is wrapping up the second year of an EU grant where they are training women farmers. She has collaborators in Germany, Malta, Turkey and Spain. She is also working on taking Annie’s Project to urban agriculture in areas of production and economics. Annie’s project is empowering women farmers by the creation of business plans in Turkey, Greece, Guyana, and Nicaragua. Robin obtained a grant from NRCS for a water project, in which they are looking for growers to be their ‘test’ subjects that they can collect water use data from. The NRCS project aims to develop an economic model for smaller grower to recycle water. Robin received a Small Farms grant to analyze the potential of 10 ultra-niche products. This project is helping develop online enterprise budgets for these crops. Robin also received the 2^nd biggest gift given to Rutgers to decrease youth unemployment. Robin is working on an online tool to help nurseries and producers about water recycling.

Dewayne Ingram had finished an extensive publication on water use and water footprint. This work is going through research and Extension journal outlets. Dewayne finished the whole counsel grant.

Hayk Khachatryan recently completed a project related to the economic impact of the Florida turfgrass industry, and looks forward to starting a new research project investigating economic contributions of the Florida pest management industry. He is currently preparing the Green Industry national dataset for regional and state-level analysis. 

Future meetings

Winter 2021 meeting in South Florida, potentially hosted by Hayk. Summer 2021 meeting will be held in New Jersey, hosted by Robin.

Accomplishments

<p><strong>Discussion of ongoing papers from the 5-year survey</strong></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Update to previous paper on the economic impact led by Charlie Hall</li><br /> <li>Update to previous paper on production practices led by Charlie Hall</li><br /> <li>Update to trade flow analysis paper led Hayk Khachatryan</li><br /> <li>Production practices regarding native plants led by Alicia Rihn</li><br /> <li>Update to marketing practices paper led by Alicia Rihn</li><br /> <li>Update to online marketing adoption led by Ariana Torres</li><br /> <li>Update to impact of advertising on sales led by Ariana Torres</li><br /> <li>Choice of market channel paper led by Hayk Khachatryan</li><br /> <li>Labor use by farms paper led by Ben Campbell</li><br /> <li>Water usage paper led by Ben Campbell</li><br /> <li>Update to previous paper on importance of factors determining prices of product led by Ben Campbell</li><br /> </ol>

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