SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: SERA45 : Crop diversification opportunities to enhance the viability of small farms
- Period Covered: 10/01/2022 to 09/30/2023
- Date of Report: 11/17/2023
- Annual Meeting Dates: 09/22/2023 to 09/22/2023
Participants
In-person: Lesley Oliver (AA-University of Kentucky), J. Mike Phillips (AA-Auburn University), Wenjing Guan (Vice-Chair, Purdue University), Christy Cassady (University of Kentucky), Ajay Nair (Iowa State University), Mary Rogers (University of Minnesota), Emily Spencer (University of Kentucky), Melanie Stock (Utah State University), Brett Wolff (University of Kentucky), Tim Woods (University of Kentucky), Shawn Wright (University of Kentucky); Virtual: Lewis Jett (Chair, West Virginia University), Matt Kleinhenz (The Ohio State University), Petrus Langenhoven (Purdue University), Rachel Painter (Center for Profitable Agriculture, Tennessee), Rachel Rudolph (University of Kentucky), Margarita Velandia (University of Tennessee), Annette Wszelaki (University of Tennessee).
Minutes and individual state reports are attached and available online at https://www.uky.edu/ccd/sites/www.uky.edu.ccd/files/2023_SERA45_Minutes.pdf
Accomplishments
Objective 1: Develop research-based production information about crops, systems, and production practices that have the potential to be profitable for small farms
Accomplishments:
Multiple participants have been collaborating on a squash hunger trials project. The goal of the project is to evaluate crops that offer a long storage life, and which could supply people without access to fresh fruits and vegetables during the fall and winter more access to nutrient dense foods for a longer time throughout the year. Annette Wszelaki (Tennessee) proposed this project at the 2019 SERA 45 annual meeting, and work began in 2020, with participants from SERA 45 and the Southeastern Vegetable Extension Workers Group (SEVEW). In 2023, the group conducted research on spaghetti squash. The spaghetti squash crop was lost after a month in storage. Wszelaki has a new assistant who is going through a backlog of data on the project.
Ajay Nair (Iowa) has been working on an Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) mesotunnel project using Protek netting conducted by Iowa State, the University of Kentucky, and Cornell University. Research has shown Protek netting to be a viable option for season extension and protection from pests, although the economics need to be worked out. Growers are finding multiple uses for Protek netting, including using it on high tunnels rather than poly covers.
Objective 2: Coordinate research and extension activities among participants
Accomplishments:
Melanie Stock (Utah) and Tim Woods (Kentucky) have collaborated on a Kentucky Specialty Crop Block Grant (Woods, PI) “Integrating Post-Covid Cut Flower Demand into Market Education.” A cut flower short course was held at the Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Bowling Green, KY in January 2023, featuring speakers from the University of Kentucky, Stock, and farmers. The short course included nine presentations, which were recorded and made available on the UK Center for Crop Diversification’s (CCD’s) YouTube channel; links to the recordings are available on the CCD website’s Cut Flowers resources page (https://www.uky.edu/ccd/production/crop-resources/nursery-ornamental/cut-flowers).
Wenjing Guan (Indiana) and Rachel Rudolph (Kentucky) are among the collaborators on an SCRI planning grant looking at root-knot nematode in melon production. Guan and Rudolph are building a team and writing a proposal.
Christy Cassady (Kentucky), Rachel Painter (Tennessee), and Lewis Jett (West Virginia) developed a regional Commercial Production of Elderberry (CCD-CPA-CP-6, CCD-WVU-CP-1, ANR-Hort-23-001) crop profile in the spring of 2023. The Ohio State University and the University of Missouri contributed photos for the publication. A co-branded publication developed by the CCD’s Brett Wolff (Kentucky) and Matt Ernst (CCD contractor) for the Center for Profitable Agriculture (CPA) in Tennessee, Growing and Marketing Mushrooms in Tennessee: Basic Considerations (CCD-CPA-CP-5) was published in December 2022.
SERA 45 participants have given presentations at conferences in other participating states in 2023, including Rudolph (Kentucky) at the Indiana Hort Congress (three presentations) and the PickTN Conference (one presentation). Jett (West Virginia) gave a presentation at the 2023 Mid-Ohio Growers Meeting.
Rudolph (PI, Kentucky), Wszelaki (Co-PI, Tennessee), and Margarita Velandia (Co-PI, Tennessee) are among a group collaborating on a Southern SARE project “Evaluation of Soil Solarization as a Sustainable Management Method for Pests, Pathogens, and Weeds in Southeastern High Tunnels.” The group received $383,000 in funding for the project, which will run from 04/2023-03/2026.
The CCD has promoted activities in the participating states through its monthly newsletter, website, and Facebook page, including research projects, webinars, conferences, field days, and workshops.
Objective 3: Develop farm market, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), on-farm retailing, and other direct market information and decision aids that can be shared regionally
Accomplishments: The CCD continued coordinating price reporting from farmers markets and produce auctions around Kentucky. Margarita Velandia (Tennessee) continued the Tennessee Farmers Market Price Report in 2023. The CCD website links to the Indiana Farmers Market Price Report at https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/hortbusiness/price-reports/. Price reports from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois, as well as the link to the Indiana price report, and a link to an Ohio produce auction price report, are available on the CCD website at http://www.uky.edu/ccd/pricereports. Wolff and Woods recently had an article published in Southern Ag Today, Farmers Markets and the South.
Objective 4: Continue market research in the participating states on consumer preferences and marketing channels that are most effective and profitable for small farms
Accomplishments: Woods and Wolff (Kentucky) were involved in 2021 through 2023 in an Agricultural Marketing Service Local and Regional Food Systems Response to Covid project. Part of that project was a consumer food survey that offers interesting insights. Information is available at https://lfscovid.localfoodeconomics.com/consumer-food-insights/. Woods conducted a 2023 Kentucky Local Food Consumer Survey, with results still to be published.
Plans for the coming year: Participants are considering onions, potatoes, and carrots for future multistate research trials. Next steps in the collaboration on cut flowers include creating a survey for cut flower workshop participants to identify consumer behaviors such as willingness to recommend, cross purchasing, etc., to help growers identify the impact a workshop could have on their business model. The cut flower grant will also involve working with a stem-pricing tool and looking for ways to integrate a pricing tool like this in the grower education series. Those at UK involved in the grant might visit Utah in 2024. Participants from Kentucky and Tennessee will partner with extension personnel in North Carolina and Delaware to develop a regional, co-branded fact sheet on garlic, to be published through the CCD. Participants from Kentucky and Tennessee will continue work on the Southern SARE soil solarization project, to determine the effectiveness of solarization against pathogens, pests, and weed seeds, if solarization is sustainable, and if it is economically feasible. Extension materials including publications and videos will be developed, and results will be presented by researchers and grower cooperators at conferences in the participating states, including the Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference and the PickTN Conference.
Impacts
- Obj. 1- The SERA 45 project will lead to the development of recommendations for management practices that lead to profitable production of high-quality produce in an environmentally sound manner. This project is expected to result in increasing incomes among small farmers in the participating states, as well as enabling consumers seeking to increase their purchases of local foods to do so. A longer-term result would be an increase in the participating states’ capacity for growing and marketing produce, thereby reducing reliance on a few areas of concentrated production. Once data have been compiled on the squash project, the group will be able to recommend varieties that will be best suited for production in the participating states, and which varieties store well. The squash hunger trials project is expected to enable consumers in food deserts to have access to high-quality produce during the fall and winter. The mesotunnel project has shown that Protek nets are three to four times more expensive than typical row covers but have extended shelf life and reduced temperature stress under low tunnels. Results show Protek net systems are performing well providing insect protection and microclimate modification for enhanced growth, yield, and quality in winter squash and muskmelon production systems. Results of the project are available at https://www.cucurbit.plantpath.iastate.edu and https://www.cucurbit.plantpath.iastate.edu/files/inline-files/Fiske_fruit_veg_presentation.pdf.
- Obj. 2- This activity has allowed for exchange of ideas and information among researchers and extension personnel in the participating states and has resulted in workshops for growers and publication of multistate fact sheets based on production and marketing research. It has also resulted in grant funding of research and extension activities that will benefit growers. The cut flower short course in Kentucky drew approximately 90 attendees. Feedback from attendees indicated a 30 percent increase in understanding of the subject matter after attending the programming, and the overall presentation was rated very good to excellent. In addition, a majority of attendees indicated they were likely or definitely planning to use the information in their operations within the next three to six months. Recorded conference sessions, which were posted to the CCD YouTube channel, had received 1,436 views across nine presentations by September 30, 2023. A recording of the Art & Science of Pricing webinar from April 2022, also part of the collaboration between Woods and Stock, was viewed 1,990 times on the CCD’s YouTube channel between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023. Multistate fact sheets developed as part of this project have been widely utilized. Commercial Production of Elderberry, which was published in May 2023, received 296 unique pageviews (the number of times the page was viewed at least once) and the PDF was downloaded 78 times by September 30. It was mailed to Agriculture and Natural Resources extension agents in Tennessee’s 95 counties, promoted through the Center for Crop Diversification newsletter (1,700 subscribers) and its Facebook page, and through the CPA’s Facebook page. The Cut Flower Production in Tennessee (CCD-CPA-CP-3) publication developed by the CCD for the CPA in 2021 was utilized in four workshops attended by 317 people in Tennessee in 2023. The CPA’s specialty crops web page received 333 pageviews between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023. A co-branded publication, Growing, Harvesting, Preserving Appalachian Heirloom Beans (CCD-WVU-FS-2, ANR-HORT-21-001), written by Jett (West Virginia) and published by the CCD in February 2021, was downloaded 421 times between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023. The crop profiles from the Tennessee-Kentucky-West Virginia collaborations will provide a strong learning foundation for specialty crop growers who are considering the production of alternative crops and alternative production systems, and expand opportunities for marketing success of specialty crops in the region.
- Obj. 3.-Price information gathered from farmers markets and produce auctions will help farmers in the region determine how to price their products. From May 10, 2023, when the first 2023 Tennessee price report was posted through September 30, 2023, the Tennessee Farmers Market Price Report page received 1,683 unique pageviews, and individual reports were downloaded as many as 381 times. The 2023 Arthur Produce Auction Price Report (Illinois) page received 458 unique pageviews between May 2 (when the first 2023 report was posted) and September 30, with individual reports being downloaded as many as 75 times. Reporting resulting from this project will help fulfill the need for direct market prices for the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). Publications developed by SERA 45 participants will help growers make decisions about marketing channels. A publication developed by Savannah Columbia of the CCD and Stock in 2021, Cut Flowers for Community Supported Agriculture Production (CCD-MR-2), was downloaded 178 times between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023.
- Obj. 4-Research on consumer preferences and marketing channels will help farmers in the states involved in this project determine the most appropriate channels for selling their products.
Publications
Denton, R., M. Velandia, J. N. Yenerall, K. L. DeLong, C. Trejo-Pech, X. Chen, K. Tanaka, K. Rignall, and S. M. Schexnayder. 2023. Evaluating Factors Influencing Tennessee and Kentucky Farmers’ Willingness to Sell Produce Through Fresh Stop Markets. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. (accepted).
Extension Publications:
2023 Midwest Vegetable Production Guide
Midwest Vegetable Trial Report
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/mwvtr/
2023 Southeastern U.S. Vegetable Crop Handbook
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/southeastern-us-vegetable-crop-handbook
Ernst, M., and R. Painter (2023). Commercial Production of Elderberry (CCD-CPA-CP-6, CCD-WVU-CP-1, ANR-Hort-23-001). Lexington, KY: Center for Crop Diversification, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. https://www.uky.edu/ccd/sites/www.uky.edu.ccd/files/elderberry.pdf
Wolff, B., and M. Ernst (2022). Growing and Marketing Mushrooms in Tennessee: Basic Considerations (CCD-CPA-CP-5). Lexington, KY: Center for Crop Diversification, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
https://cpa.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2022/12/CCD_CPA_Mushrooms.pdf
Woods, T., and B. Wolff. “Farmers Markets and the South.” Southern Ag Today, August 25th, 2023, https://southernagtoday.org/2023/08/25/farmers-markets-and-the-south/.