Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

• General Comments and Overview
  • Vance Baird provided some general background on NCCC-212, how it started, the purpose and the value it can bring
    • North Central Collaborative Committee (NCCC 212)
    • There are generally funds available from the experiment stations to support the state representative to attend the meeting
    • Vance thanked Driscoll’s for not charging a registration fee and absorbing most of the meeting costs other than travel, lodging and some meals. This approach is not the norm and is not expected for future meetings. 
    • There is a renewal that occurs every 5 years
    • The group has been meeting since the 1970s
  • Administrative Advisor related comments:
    • The mid-term Evaluation Report is due after the meeting, and the Administrative Advisor will submit this information (online) in early December;
    • The NCCC-212 committee members should nominate a new Administrative Advisor to replace Vance Baird within the next 18 mo.  Members of the committee could suggest recommendations for Vance to contact.
  • Format for the reports
    • Vance Baird provided some brief comments about the report format and emphasized that these reports are not intended to be a justification for the experiment stations so there is quite a bit of flexibility in the structure.
    • Vance Baird said direction from NIFA also emphasized concise reports are their preference
  • Germplasm Meeting
    • Although this “sub committee” meeting is typically held concerent with the NCCC-212 annual meeting, it did not occur this year.
    • It was not clear when that meeting would happen. Scheduling this meeting should be a part of future orgainizing processes.
  • Future Hosts
    • Marvin Pritts confirmed the intention that Cornell University will host in 2024. The tentative for the meeting is 14 October 2024 and the program will likely include both Ithaca and Geneva.  More details to come from Marvin.
    • There was discussion about a cranberry location hosting the 2025 annual meeting. Amaya Atucha (University of Wisconsin) and Gina Sideli (Rutgers University) both expressed interest.  Follow up is necessary to confirm the 2025, the host of which will also be the secretary for the 2024 meeting.

• No Other business

Accomplishments:

Short-term Outcomes:

Twenty-four participants from 12 US state universities, the USDA-ARS, and four private companies participated in the NCCC-212 meeting this year.  Most participants have extension appointments and/or regularly communicate with growers and other members of the small fruit industry. Regular communication provided by NCCC-212 annual meetings allows for everyone to share information, increase knowledge, and extend that knowledge to regional industries. This extension of information occurs through publications of extension articles and/or newsletters, presentations at workshops and local and regional meetings (e.g. Great Lakes Expo, Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention, Washington Small Fruit Conference, South East Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Lower Mainland Horticulture Improvement Association Grower Short Course), webinars, web sites, and one-on-one communications.   

Outputs:

This project has resulted in the release of numerous new cultivars and the development of germplasm and selections with specific traits needed for adaptation to regional industries. Breeding programs at USDA-Corvallis, Washington State University, British Columbia, University of Arkansas, Rutgers, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Florida, University of California, Davis and North Carolina State University have produced cultivars that meet the needs of strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, grape, muscadine and other small fruit growers across North America. Many of these breeding and genetics programs have also developed new genomic resources (for strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, billberry, etc…) and markers for traits of economic interest to accelerate cultivar development efforts.  NCCC-212 collaborators have conducted research on pruning, training, and thinning techniques, propagation methods, protected culture, integrated pest and disease management, and other topics to improve the productivity, sustainability, and profitability of production systems. Other research has focused on organic methods, pollination, variety testing, and modeling for cold hardiness and disease risk. Research has also been conducted on the effects of cultivar, environment, and cultural management factors on fruit flavor, texture, shelf life, and nutritional quality. The results of these projects have been disseminated to stakeholders via publications, field days, grower visits, conferences, and production guides. Many of these extension efforts have been regional or national collaborations. Overall, the NCCC-212 participants coauthored at least 81 peer reviewed publications in the past year (see also “Publications”) Most of these publications resulted from multi-state collaborations.

Activities:

A comprehensive list of activities are described in individual state reports.  NCCC-212 provides opportunities for researchers across the US and Canada to formulate, plan, and advance competitive project proposals that benefit the small fruit industry. Specific examples of large multi-state (and multi-country in the case of Canada) collaborations are listed below.  The objectives of the NCCC-212 project are:

1. Develop small fruit germplasm through cooperative breeding and evaluation programs.
2. Develop practices for small fruit production tailored for climatic and market needs of growers.
3. Evaluate pre- and postharvest fruit quality components, including enhanced flavor, texture/firmness, shelf life, and phytonutrients.
4. Identify opportunities and collaborate on the development of extension resources for multistate, regional, national, and/or international audiences.

Many of these large collaborative projects address multiple objectives.  The NCCC-212 objectives addressed are listed below each project. 

• ‘VacciniumCAP: Leveraging genetic and genomic resources to enable development of blueberry and cranberry cultivars with improved fruit quality attributes’ was funded by NIFA-SCRI from 2019-2024. The project involves multiple NCCC-212 committee members from North Carolina, Oregon, Florida, Michigan, Washington and other states
• Objectives 1, 2, 3, 4
• Transitioning to organic day-neutral strawberry proection in the Upper Midwest – A systems approach.  USDA NIFA ORG program 2021-2024.  Collaborators include Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
• Objective 2
• Systems Approach to Managing the Expression of Cranberry Fruit Rot.  USDA NIFA SCRI Grant 2022-2026.  Collaborators include Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Oregon. 
• Objective 2
• ColdSnap:  A grapevine bud cold hardiness predictin tool for site selectin and management decisions.  USDA- AFRI-CARE.  2023-2026.  Collaborators include Wisconsin and New York State
• Objective 2
• Development of Next-Generation Propagation Strategies to Increase the Resilience of the US Strawberry Production Chain is a NIFA-SCRI funded project with collaborators from North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, and others
• Objectives 2, 4
• Strawberry SCRI PIP-CAP – Strawberry Production Guide for the Southeast assembled, edited revised and submitted to North Carolina State University for publication.  A collaborative effort of 20 authors from 10 institutions.
• Objective 4
• High-Resolution Vineyard Nutrient Management.  USDA NIFRA-SCRI project investigating vineyard nutrient management with a primary goal to develop new tools for growers to rapidly monitor grapeviee nutrient status.  Collaborators include Washington State University, Cornell University, High-Resolution Vineyard Nutrient Management.  USDA NIFRA-SCRI project investigating vineyard nutrient management with a primary goal to develop new tools for growers to rapidly monitor grapeviee nutrient status.  Collaborators include Washington State University, Cornell University, USDA, University of California, Davis, and Virgina Tech,
• Objective 2

Additional collaborative projects mentioned during the meeting or within the reports are listed below by member group.  Again, the objectives are listed below each listing.

University of Wisconsin

• Trap cropping to improve tarnish plan bug management in north central strawberry.USDA NC SARE 2020-2023. Results share at state and regional grower events
  • Objective 2
• Multistate webinar program to provide small fruit producer and cold climate grape growers with latest production information and guidelines.Collaborators include Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
  • Objective 4

University of Florida

• Breeding and genetics of strawberries in Florida with broad adaptability.  Specific collaborative projects include flavor, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides resistance, mid-Atlantic adaptation, and Neopestalotiopsis resistance.   Collaborators include USDA-ARS, N. Carolina State Univ., and Univ. of California, Davis.
• Objectives 1, 2, 3, 4
• DNA Test Development – development of a strawberry DNA testing handbook updated continuously as tests are improved and made available. 
• Objective 1

North Carolina State University

• Develop small fruit germplasm through cooperative breeding and evaluation programs:  strawberry, blueberry, muscadine grapes.  Trialing material available.  Collaborators include University of Maryland, Auburn, University of Arkansas, Univeristy of Georgia, and the National Clean Plant Network.
• Objective 1
• Develop practices for small fruit production tailored for climatic and market needs of growers:  strawberry and bunch grapes.  Collaborators include CalPoly San Luis Obispo, Cornell University, University of Carlifornia, University of Arkansas and USDA-ARS
• Objective 2
• Evaluate pre- and postharvest fruit quality components, including enhanced flavor, testure/firmness, shelf life and phytonutrients: strawberry and blueberry. Collaborators include Rutgers, Oregon State University, and University of Florida
• Objeuctive 3
• Bunch Grapes - Multi state pruning workshops in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.  Researchers from Italy and California.
• Objective 4

Cornell University

• Strawberry Production Guide for Northeast, Midwest and Canada (2^nd Edition)  https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2654&context=extension&preview_mode=1&z=1693599516
• Objective 4
• Strawberry, blackberry and raspberry trials of germplasm and advanced selections in collaboration with NY, MA, IN, NC, AR and USDA
• Objective 1

University of Minnesota

• Six advanced red wine grape selections and thee table grape selections distributed for multi-state testing and evaluation.  Collaboration with University of Wisconsin. 
• Objective 1
• Pre-breeding effort to quantity diversity of native Rubus species across Minnesota and Wisconsin. 
• Objective 1

University of California, Davis

• Five new strawberry varieties released and available for trialing.  Germplasm provided for collaborative disease experiments with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Peter Henry (USDA) on emerging pathogens. 
• Objective 1
• Extensive collaboration with University of Florida, Cal Poly SLO, UC ANR, USDA on the extension of new genetics.  As well as work in Alabama and Georgia to screen new germplasm in these locations through previous participation in NCCC212. 
• Objective 4

University of Arkansas

• Arkansas Clean Plant Center is available to all researchers for virus clean-up of germplasm and cultivars on a first come first serve basis.  Materials should arrive in April for testing and therapy. Approximately 24 months from start to finish.
• Objective 1

USDA-ARS NCGR, Corvallis, Oregon

• Various genotyping platforms developed for red raspberry, blueberry and cranberry in collaboration with British Columbia, Florida and North Carolina breeding programs.
• Objective 1
• Blueberry loci identification for texture and organic acids enables targeted breeding for these traits.  A multi-state project in collaboration with Oregon, Florida, and North Carolina. 
• Objective 3

Oregon State University

• Numerous collaborative projects underway to support Objective 2.  Collaborators include USDA, Washington, and Georgia. Objectives 2, 3, 4
• Blueberry – nutrition, pruning, fruit quality, food safety
• Rubus – production optimization
• Strawberry – novel production systems,
• Grapes – optimized management for quality, irrigation, tillage, rootstocks, spray management, spray management, Gene Editing (GRBV resistance, Mildew resistance)
• Spotted Wing Drosophila

See the attached "Publications.docx"