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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
IPM Partnership Grants |
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Project Title:
Enhancing Delivery of IPM Education to Fruit Growers |
Project Director (PD):
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Lead State: NY Lead Organization: Cornell University |
| Undesignated Funding: $7,942 |
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Start Date: May-01-2010 End Date: Mar-31-2012 |
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No-Cost Extension Date: Mar-31-2012 |
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Site/Commodity: tree fruit |
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Area of Emphasis: education |
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Summary:
Retention of information presented at IPM extension meetings is difficult due to the ephemeral nature of speaker presentations. Information retention is limited by growers' ability to scribe notes during presentations, because handouts are not always available from speakers, and especially because speakers' oral explanations are not available to growers when they review their notes or handouts months or years after the presentations. Handouts provide even less value for growers who did not attend the actual meetings. We propose to create multi-media educational packets relating to specific fruit IPM topics using the PowerPoint presentations and oral recordings of speakers from the Hudson Valley Regional Fruit Grower School. A collection of these packets will be made available to all NE fruit growers through the world-wide web. In addition, key segments of IPM presentations will be edited into limited PowerPoint slides plus brief audio vignettes that will be advertised directly to growers at time-sensitive periods in the growing season. Grower use of these new IPM educational materials will be evaluated to determine their effectiveness at enhancing IPM education and altering grower IPM practices.
Objectives: 1. Audio recordings of 5-10 speaker presentations will be captured at the February 23-24 2010 Fruit Growers School. We currently have the necessary system components (MAC laptop and software, Evolution G2 wireless mic and receiver, interface and connectors) and have successfully tested this procedure at the 2009 Fruit Growers' School. 2. "IPM packets" (5-10) and "IPM vignettes" (10-20) will be constructed using PowerPoint and audio-editing software. There are multiple options for outputting these materials. Efforts will include investigating the best output format(s) to allow access to these resources through the World Wide Web. 3. "IPM packets" and "IPM vignettes" will be made available to growers. The Regional Fruit Program web site will be updated and modified to incorporate "IPM packets" and "IPM vignettes" will then be uploaded to the web site. 4. Availability of the new web resources will be advertised to growers in newsletters and at field meetings. "Just-in-time" advertising of "IPM vignettes" will occur during critical pest management periods by embedding URL links in grower alert emails sent to commercial fruit growers, crop consultants and extension staff in 4 NE states. 5. Grower use of the new web resources will be evaluated during the growing season by monitoring user data from the Cornell server web logs. User comments on the new web resources and their impacts on IPM practices will be obtained throughout the growing season using an on-line volunteer survey instrument (Checkbox Survey Software) that each web user will be automatically requested to complete. Grower attitudes regarding the total new IPM resources will be evaluated using Turning Point clicker technology at the February 2011 HVRFP Fruit Growers' School. Turning Point technology allows attendees to respond anonymously to audience-based surveys. Proposal |
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Interim Report: Jun-15-2011 |
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Impacts It is too early in the project to determine what impacts these resources have had on the target audience. Efforts to determine these impacts are planned for the coming months. |
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Outcomes An extension of the project timeline (with no changes in project deliverables) was requested and received because of unforeseen delays in the start of the project. Optimal techniques for compiling audio recordings with PowerPoint slides and output formats for presentation on the World Wide Web were determined. The Hudson Valley Regional website http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/index.html was revised and enhanced to provide the structure needed to house these new audio-enhanced PowerPoint resources. The following audio-enhanced web resources were made available to end users: * Commercial Orchard Study Comparing Organic to Conventional Tools for Pear Psylla Management; P. Jentsch, December, 2010, 22 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/resources/Tree%20Fruit/video/2010/PearVideo/index.html * 2011 Pest Management Update; Peter Jentsch; 2011 HV Commercial Fruit Growers' School; 2/15/2011; 41 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/resources/Tree%20Fruit/fruit%20school%202011/HVFSJentschInsectRoundup2152011/index.html * The Emerging Threat Posed by the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug to Tree Fruit; Dr. Tracey Leskey, USDA, February 15, 2011, 47 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/resources/Tree%20Fruit/fruit%20school%202011/leskey%20bmstinkbug%202-15-2011/leskey%20bmstinkbug%202-15-2011.html * Threat of Brown Marmorated Stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys) to NY and New England on Tree Fruit, Small Fruit, Vegetable and Sweet Corn. Peter Jentsch, 28 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/scouting%20reports/BMSB%20Project/BMSB%20Impact%20On%20Fruit%20-%20Jentsch%201-21-2011/BMSB%20Impact%20On%20Fruit%20-%20Jentsch%201-21-2011.html * Tree Fruit Disease Roundup Part I: Product Updates (Dr. Dave Rosenberger Cornell, February 15, 2011; 13 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/resources/Tree%20Fruit/fruit%20school%202011/Rosenberger%20Disease%20Part%201%202-15-2011/Rosenberger%20Disease%20Part%201%202-15-2011.html * Tree Fruit Disease Roundup Part II: Apple Scab Control Strategies for 2011; Dr. Dave Rosenberger Cornell, February 15, 2011; 9 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/resources/Tree%20Fruit/fruit%20school%202011/Rosenberger%20Disease%20Part%202%202-15-2011/Rosenberger%20Disease%20Part%202%202-15-2011.html * Tree Fruit Disease Roundup Part III: Sooty Blotch, Leaf Spot and Copper Fungicides; Dr. Dave Rosenberger Cornell, February 15, 2011; 10 minutes; http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/resources/Tree%20Fruit/fruit%20school%202011/ Rosenberger%20Disease%20Part%203%202-15-2011/Rosenberger%20Disease%20Part%203%202-15-2011.html These resources were advertised to 264+ commercial fruit growers, crop consultants and extension staff in 4+ Northeast states during critical pest management periods of the 2011growing season. |
Report Appendices
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Final Report: |
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Outcomes Effective audio recording guidelines and equipment for capturing high-quality audio of speaker presentations were identified and described during this project (see Progress section above, also Appendix A). A simple technique for combining audio with PowerPoint slides and outputting them in a user-friendly, cross platform format for World Wide Web delivery was determined, and was used in the production of 22 new IPM FlashTM videos (Appendix B). These new IPM video resources were made available to end users on a revised web infrastructure developed for Hudson Valley Regional Fruit Program website: (http://hudsonvf.cce.cornell.edu/; see Resources page and sub-level pages). These Resource website pages also provided access to other written materials, photographs and updates on production, pest management, and invasive pests of agricultural crops. These pages received 6,362 visits from 11/1/11 10/31/12. Growers, consultants and extension staff in the Northeast were exposed to this new IPM information delivery system advertised within growing-season grower alert email messages (message examples are presented in Appendix C) and at grower meetings. This system provided them access to on-demand, cutting edge IPM management information when needed. Actual use of the new video resources was not quantifiable because of the unexpected loss of reporting capability from the Cornell web logs during this study. Upon discovering this, efforts were made to obtain web usage data by installing Google Analytics (I subsequently learned this service does not record in-page object hits ) and Google Webmaster Tools (I later learned this service only records usage of in-page objects like videos for objects that receive > 10 hits per month). Efforts to obtain usage data from videos with attached Google Doc surveys (Appendix D1 and D2) were also unsuccessful. Growers reported they viewed videos but failed to submit data via these voluntary surveys attached to the videos. The only usage data collected was from attendees at the February 2012 Hudson Valley Fruit Growers School (Appendices E and F). The audiences at this 2-day event represented some of the growers who received information on the videos through grower alert emails during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons, plus others who did not receive these messages. Thus the survey results reflect comments from both growers who were and who were never exposed to the new video resources. About 17% of Fruit School survey respondents indicated they had watched any of the videos (from combined surveys Appendices E and F, n=110). Respondents who had watched any of the videos expressed favorable opinions about the materials developed during this project, rating them as either very useful (63%) or somewhat useful (32%) (Combined surveys Appendices E and F, n=19 respondents). The majority of respondents who watched a video (90%, n=20) felt viewing them improved their understanding of IPM and/or horticultural practices. A majority of respondent viewers (59%, n=17) indicated that watching the videos would help them avoid making unnecessary or ineffective sprays. Most 2012 Fruit Grower School respondents (83%) indicated they had not viewed any of the videos as of the beginning of February 2012 (based on combined data from all respondents, surveys Appendices E and F, n=110 respondents). Most respondents who did not watch any videos (n=86) indicated they had not watched them because they did not know they existed (58%), and a number of these indicated they would watch them now that they were aware of their existence. Others (15%) indicated they had trouble accessing them or felt they were not sufficiently computer savvy to view them. Twenty-six percent of respondents who did not watch the videos indicted they were too busy or not interested in this technology or had other unspecified reasons for not watching. |
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Impacts Twenty-two videos were prepared and were directly advertised to over 300 commercial growers, crop consultants, extension and research staff in 4 NE states. These materials, covering apple, pear and stone fruit insect, disease, plant growth regulator and other production issues, were further extended to commercial growers through the multiplication impact when my messages were copied/forwarded in other fruit workers messages, and when individuals found the videos during web searches. No direct estimate of video use is available from this project. However, 17% of attendees at a recent grower school indicated they watched at least one video. This would suggest more than 50 growers viewed at least one video if the same proportion of viewers existed among growers reached by grower alert messages. The project made possible revisions to the Hudson Valley Regional Fruit program web site structure which subsequently housed these videos and other fruit IPM resources. These revised Resource sections received 6,362 page visits from 11/1/11 10/31/12. Most viewers who watched the videos found them (either very or somewhat) useful. They also rated them as helpful at obtaining a better understanding of IPM practices, and more than half of viewers felt they would help them to avoid unnecessary or ineffective sprays. Thus growers who watched these videos may have had a greater likelihood of producing higher-value fruit, of adopting lower-risk IPM practices, and of reducing the risk of ineffective or unnecessary sprays. The technique outlined in this project can assist educators in delivering new IPM practices to farmers over a widespread area in an era of shrinking financial support for outreach efforts. However, this study suggests that a grower adoption period for new computer-based technology exists and additional advertisement and training would be beneficial to increase grower use of these new technologies. |
| Report Appendices |
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