Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

• 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.