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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
Regional IPM Competitive Grants - Northeastern |
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Project Title:
Training the Trainers: Expanding the use of seed heat treatment for management of bacterial diseases of tomato and other vegetable crops in the Mid-Atlantic and surrounding region |
Project Directors (PDs):
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Lead State: NJ Lead Organization: Rutgers University |
| Extension Funding: $69,606 |
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Start Date: Aug-01-2011 End Date: Jul-31-2012 |
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Pests Involved: Bacterial diseases |
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Summary:
This is a multi-region, Extension project seeking total funds of $69,917. This project will help promote effective bacterial disease management strategies for tomato and other vegetable crops which will lead to better industry practices in the mid-Atlantic region. The goals of this project are to educate and train vegetable growers, extension personnel, and seedsmen about the procedures and benefits of using hot water seed treatment for managing bacterial diseases of tomato and other vegetables. The Priority Pests identified by the Northeast Vegetable IPM Working Group in 2007 included bacterial pathogens of tomato and pepper, which remained on the list when up-dated in 2009. This project includes the expanded adoption of IPM (Part 4A) by serving the needs of small or isolated farm operations and/or highly diversified farms where monitoring services are not available. With the goal of growers being able to accomplish IPM independently, by placing an emphasis on preventative practices and encouraging application of IPM methods enhancing the success of organic farming systems, this project will address priority needs for the region (Part 4C). Another priority set by the region is to support professional training and communication across the region for agricultural professionals in vegetable IPM (Part 8). Extension personnel will gain the knowledge needed to establish their own heat-seed treatment programs and to train vegetable growers on how to properly heat treat seeds and educate these growers about all IPM practices that can be used in their farms, reducing bacterial diseases of tomato and other important vegetable crops.
Objectives: Objectives and Anticipated Impacts: 1. Demonstrate and promote via "train-the-trainer" workshops the technique of seed heat treatment for managing important bacterial diseases of tomato and other vegetable crops to extension personnel, crop advisors, seedsmen and organic and conventional vegetable growers in the mid-Atlantic and surrounding region. 2. Promote IPM techniques for managing bacterial diseases in vegetable crops. Anticipated Impacts For extension personnel who have agreed to participate in this project, the following impacts are anticipated: 1. Extension personnel will be trained "hands-on" on how to heat treat seeds through day-long workshops at their own facilities. 2. Extension personnel will have the ability to set up their own heat-seed treatment facilities and train tomato growers on how properly to heat treat seeds and train growers on IPM practices that can be used in their own farm operations to help reduce bacterial diseases of tomato and other vegetable crops. 3. Extension personnel will hold future workshops to i) train tomato growers in their region on the importance of controlling bacterial diseases of tomato, ii) train growers on how to heat treat seed and iii) have facilities and times available where growers in their region can have the option to heat treat their own vegetable seeds. For growers who have agreed to participate in this project, the following impacts are anticipated: 1. Growers will gain increased knowledge and understanding of IPM techniques for managing seed-borne bacterial diseases of tomato and other vegetable crops; thus expanding their IPM toolbox. 2. Reduced occurrence and/or severity of symptoms will occur and translate into increased implementation of improved IPM practices by a wider group of vegetable growers in years following this extension project. Extension personnel (and vegetable growers) will gain the knowledge needed to set up their own heat treatment programs and will be able to train others in IPM tactics needed for reducing bacterial diseases in tomato and other vegetable crops. Upon completion of the project, the following impacts are anticipated: Extension personnel participating in this model project will be able to train other extension agents, seedsmen and vegetable growers in their state and region on how to use seed heat treatment to help control economically-important bacterial diseases in tomato and other vegetable crops. This will increase their ability to serve their grower constituency by demonstrating the practice growers to by providing facilities with which to continue heat treating seed. The participating extension personnel will help in the development and dissemination of IPM related information to the vegetable production community and other extension support personnel, resulting in the greater understanding and implementation of IPM tactics for management of bacterial diseases of tomato. Tomato growers participating in this project will be introduced to the valuable IPM practice of seed heat treatment, and will be able to use the techniques and knowledge acquired in this project to help reduce potential bacterial problems in their farm operations. Further, they will have access to seed heat treatment equipment after the end of the project. Continued grower use of these facilities, as well as the adoption of heat-treatment by commercial-scale transplant producers, as has happened in NJ, is anticipated as a result of this project. The overall reduction of bacterial pathogens both in incidence and severity is anticipated. Proposal |
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Final Report: |
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Impacts To date, 18 train-the-trainer workshops in NJ, 15 workshops in PA, 10 workshops in NY, 4 workshops in MD, and 2 workshops each in DE and VA have been held to demonstrate to cooperators and growers the hot water seed treatment process. Additionally, four workshops have been conducted in Massachusetts (22 trained) and two workshops (9 trained) have been done in conjunction with the University of Vermont. Over 50 Extension personnel from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions have been trained on the hot water seed treatment process (Table 1). Topics covered during these workshops included: seed heat treatment and its rationale; practices that limit development and spread of bacterial pathogens in transplant production; practices that limit spread of bacterial pathogens in the field; an overview of the epidemiology of bacterial pathogens of tomato. Current locations with equipment bought as a part of this grant are listed in Table 2. Because of the success of our workshops and the importance of hot water seed treatment individual growers and Extension offices have purchased their own sets of equipment. Three large growers in New Jersey: Donaldson Farms in Hackettstown, Race Farms in Blairstown, and Piazza Farms in Phillipsburg have purchased their own set of equipment. The Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association has purchased two additional sets of equipment which are shared between growers in Lehigh, Columbia, Cumberland, Lackawanna, and Lancaster, PA. Ann Hazelrigg at the University of Vermont Diagnostic Clinic purchased equipment after a project workshop was conducted there. Additionally, several growers in PA, NY (Pleasant valley Farm in Argyle) and MA (Four Town Farm in Seekonk and Langwater Farm, North Easton) have stated they will or have also bought their own set of equipment. As of 2015, a set of equipment was purchased by the UMass Extension Vegetable Team and the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory in Amherst has begun offering seed treatment services for a fee: http://ag.umass.edu/services/hot-water-seed-treatment |
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Outcomes Since 2011, 110 workshops and/or presentations have been given to nearly 5300 stakeholders by project collaborators and trainees on hot water seed treatment. Its use has been widely and successfully adopted in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast Regions for the reduction of bacterial pathogens in tomatoes and other important vegetable crops. In New Jersey, over 30 growers regularly use RCE facilities to treat tomato, pepper and brassica seeds on a yearly basis. These include organic as well as a large wholesale transplant producer. In New York, up to 14 growers have used CCE facilities in recent years to treat a number of seeds from crops like tomato, pepper, parsley, and brassicas. In PA, 70 growers have taken advantage of hot water seed treatment equipment at county Extension offices. Delaware has reported significant interest and use of hot water seed treatment equipment in 2015. Small farmer educators from Delaware State College also hold regular events for local growers. A grower in MD is currently using hot water seed treatment to eliminate bulb mites from garlic seed pieces. The University of West Virginia has adopted our program and will be holding its first hot water seed treatment workshop this month for 91 participants at their State Master Gardener Conference. Survey response rates were very low, despite the large number of workshop participants, and due to the degrees of interest among the participants and subject matter. Therefore, impacts were estimated based on information provided by individual state cooperators. Although it has been hard to determine (even with the use of surveys in this project), we estimate the total number of acreage planted in hot water treated seed to be in the 1000s and number of vegetable seeds treated in the millions in the region. Workshops have been so successful, large operators in the region who have the means to purchase their own equipment, have started to do so. Smaller growers continue to use the equipment at Extension offices throughout the region. In some instances, such as in NJ, growers are so adept at treating their own seed they simply schedule appointments with county extension offices to treat their seed on their own time. A few smaller growers, recognizing the value of hot water seed treatment and convenience of having their own, are purchasing equipment. State organizations, such as the PVGA have bought additional equipment for grower use and/or offer hot water seed treatment as a service to growers. The financial benefits of hot water seed treatment is the reduction in losses to bacterial diseases and the potential reduction in the use of copper applications during transplant and field production. The use of hot water seed treatment is an additional tool in an IPM program that growers in the region can now use reliably with precision equipment to help reduce their risks to bacterial pathogens. Appendix A includes written testimonials from growers and Extension personnel who have benefited directly from this project. |
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