Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved with one minor amendment – change HIR to HRI

Administrative Advisor comments:

Susan Duncan (Administrative Advisor) thanked the group for their efforts.

Moving forward the group’s multi-state number should remain the same. NIFA is changing its reporting system (i.e. REEport) and those impacted will need to go through the new process. There is a need to update the membership list, as we currently have 12 official members with some official members not participating and other active participants not being official members. Potential new members and members that are not officially on the list can sign up using the NIMSS website: nimss.org.  Membership approval has been moved to the regional level.  Charlie Hall is reaching out to members who have not attended meetings or have had minimal responses to encourage participation. Susan Duncan will follow up as needed. Meeting minutes need to be submitted and approved before the next meeting and meetings need to be approved through Susan. She can also help with our annual accomplishment award submission.

Award Application:

There is an interest in encouraging regional and national level project awards. Susan is happy to provide feedback as needed. The potential for applying for one of these awards was discussed.  Past-chair Ben Campbell was discussed as a possible organizer to put together the nomination packet since he is familiar with the system and has recently put together administrative submissions. 

Susan Duncan reiterated that as we write the impact statement and reports for the coming year that we find a way to emphasize our work in the national impact database.  Susan will send an illustration on how to write an impact statement for that database so we can try to escalate the value of the group’s effort. 

https://www.mrfimpacts.org/  Multistate Research Fund impact website. We can ask for a person to come to give a presentation on impact statement writing if we would find it helpful. 

Discussion of the 2019 National Survey Project / Dataset:

There is an Excel document available on Google Sheets with a summary of the manuscripts completed and in development from the 2019 data collection. There are currently 12 published or nearly finished refereed journal articles from this current data set, as well as several HRI infographics.

Discussion of New Projects / Ideas:

The group discussed ongoing and potential new projects.  Potential collaboration partnerships were also explored.   Each member is listed with the current projects in which they are involved.

Alicia Rihn –

• SCRI Flatheaded borer management
• Marketplace acceptance of microgreens
• Pick TN Program marketing campaign
• Automation in nursery production systems
• IHC in Angers France 2022

Julie Campbell –

• Boxwood Blight – consumer knowledge
• Floral products – what people buy, parings, marketing strategies
• Consumer behavior – how to keep people in the marketplace
• Engaging new COVID plant consumers
• Labeling for small farmers
• SCRI Ambrosia beetle management

Charlie Hall–

• SCRI Boxwood blight project
• EAGLE program in Atlanta
• Plant benefits study
• Idea – address labor issues in the green industry- Alejandro may be interested in doing this– Jennifer Gray agrees there is a large need for this as there are labor issues that need to be addressed amongst green industry (wages and compensation within the industry).

Robin Brumfield–

• Labor paper from the National Survey
• Annie’s Project
• Online teaching techniques

Cheryl Boyer –

• Courting the consumer – what engages consumers
• Learning Zoom Systems
• Online programming extension (KSU) and UF EDIS: “Don’t Fake It, Make It! […]” series of 4 publications

Don’t Fake It, Make It! Thriving in Virtual Conferences and Meetings https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC36500.pdf

Don’t Fake It, Make It! Best Practices for Attending Virtual Events https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC37300.pdf

Don’t Fake It, Make it! Technology and Tools for Virtual Hosts https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/wc391

Don’t Fake It, Make it! Am I Ready? Competencies and Skill Sets Needed for Virtual Conference Hosts https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/WC390

• USDA Corona Virus Rapid Response Programming – “Lessons from COVID”
• Online plant sales – changes during COVID – what worked well and what didn’t https://ruralengagement.org/touchlesstransactions/  https://ruralengagement.org/lessons-from-covid-19/

Melinda Knuth–

• Just started a new position at North Carolina State University
• Looking to get her research program up and running.

Bridget Behe –

• HRI funded studies
• Plant shoppers’ journey – ET in garden centers
• FISMIP Gaze sequencing of stair vs. horizontal display

Daniel  Tregagle –

• Working with Alejandro to work on NC factsheet and make it into 2-page infographics/factsheet as useful for industry and familiarize self with industry.

Alejandro Guterrez-Li –

• Labor: Willingness to stay in agriculture work, do workers value H-2A program components, and does that make ag jobs more attractive?
• Engineering project addressing mechanization in Florida (succession plans, investment in technology, expense, dexterity concerns, ripeness analysis)
• Ways to improve H-2A program (e.g., the dairy industry where employment is not seasonal)

Bryan Peterson –

• HRI Aeroponic propagation of slow to root taxa – economic component
• Native / non-native honeysuckles – berry fruit crop
• Regeneration of white cedar
• Sensor-based automated irrigation systems
• Peach breeding in Maine
• Serviceberries project

Information Repositories in the Future:

Charlie Hall put forth a motion to shut down the Green Industry website.  Jennifer Gray mentioned the possibility of moving all the existing content to the HRI website. Charlie Hall also mentioned that he has multiple boxes of old printed materials that will eventually need to be rehomed as he hopes to retire in the not-so-distant future. 

With no further business, Bridget moved to adjourn; Charlie seconded.

Julie Campbell – Secretary

There is an Excel document available on Google Sheets with a summary of the manuscripts completed and in development from the 2019 data collection. There are currently 12 published or nearly finished refereed journal articles from this current data set, as well as several HRI infographics. This list will be updated in the next meeting in March.