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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
Enhancement Grants - State Contacts/IPM Documents |
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Project Title:
Enhancing Nursery Crop Research and Extension with a Multi-State Working Group |
Project Directors (PDs):
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Lead State: TN Lead Organization: University of Tennessee |
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Cooperating State(s):
Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina |
| Undesignated Funding: $24,232 |
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Start Date: May-01-2011 End Date: Apr-30-2012 |
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Pests Involved: numerous |
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Site/Commodity: woody ornamental plants (nursery crops) |
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Area of Emphasis: research and Extension working group |
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Summary:
Complete list of co-PD's: Fulcher, A., J.-H. Chong, S. White, A. LeBude, W. Klingeman, M. Chappell, C. Adkins, K. Ivors, J. Neal, S. Frank, F. Hale, A. Windham, J. Williams-Woodward, K. Braman, and W. Dunwell.
National sales figures for nursery production exceeds $6.6B (USDA 2009). The nursery industry employs tens of thousands of workers and utilizes hundreds of thousands of acres annually (USDA 2009). Characteristics largely unique to nursery production that obstruct optimal production efficiencies and pest management include: managing numerous host plants (as many as 2000 taxa per nursery) and host plant-pest complexes, high capital nature of production, high manual labor requirements complicated by pesticide re-entry restrictions, fastidious consumer attitudes regarding product quality and purchasing behavior, and lack of secondary markets. Recorded economic losses due to insect and disease pests range in the millions annually (Martinez 2008, NCSDA 2005) underscoring the high dollar nature of the industry and the difficulty managing complex production systems. Nursery crops are a particularly important source of agriculture income in this five state region (GA, KY, NC, SC, and TN). A group of Extension professionals and research scientists, informally recognized as the Southern Nursery Integrated Pest Management (SNIPM) Working Group, is interested in forming an official IPM working group through the Southern Region IPM Center. This team represents five states in the upper-south . The formal development of this group would provide an opportunity to enhance regional Extension programmatic efforts and facilitate development and submission of a regional grant proposal. Previous accomplishments of this team include working together to successfully compete for funding and subsequently holding a focus group/needs identification meeting with growers, developing and publishing a multi-state Pest Management Strategic Plan (PMSP), and developing and publishing a multi-state Crop Profile for nursery crops (Adkins et al. 2010). This team also successfully conducted a survey of over two hundred nursery producers on pest management practices and attitudes affecting adoption of IPM. Formally developing a network of Extension and research professionals and industry leaders into a working group would promote greater collaboration and expand the capacity to address complex, systems-based problems through research. A more formalized network would also allow the Extension professionals to use their collective areas of expertise to address common issues and concerns more efficiently, and effectively develop and deliver educational materials to nurseries in the upper-south. Currently, there is no official multi-state nursery crop IPM working group in the eastern half of the US. Our proposed working group's immediate objectives are to: 1) Establish an official working group and develop a mission statement, conduct long-range planning, and develop a strategic plan to maximize our regional presence, collaboration, and impact, 2) Develop and submit a multi-state grant proposal that strategically addresses high-priority nursery crops issues previously identified by growers and documented in the PMSP, and 3) Develop Volume I of a two volume nursery crops integrated pest management manual series, focusing on the top ten selling tree genera (with tentative long term plans to develop a second volume on shrub IPM). Objective 1 will be accomplished through formalizing the nascent Planning Committee, conducting a series of Planning Committee conference calls, and one face-to face meeting with the entire SNIPM Working Group. Objective 2 will be accomplished by the existing Grant Committee conducting conference calls and one face-to-face meeting with the entire SNIPM Working Group concomitant with a face-to-face proposal development work session. Objective 3 will be accomplished by first formalizing the manual committee. The Manual Committee will assess growers for preferred format of manual and the most relevant tree genera (efforts to support this are underway). Manual committee members will develop a chapter template and coordinate SNIPM member contributions to each chapter. A final review and discussion of the draft chapters will be conducted by the entire SNIPM Working Group prior to printing. We believe that obtaining this grant and the ensuing formalization of the SNIPM working group are essential capacity-building steps that will help us maintain momentum while our group is in a nascent stage and achieve our stated objectives. This grant is critical to developing a Nursery Crops IPM manual in that it will afford us time together and vital resources to develop, upload, and print the manual. This grant will allow us to conduct an assessment of "priority projects", namely to collectively assess and evaluate the opportunities and challenges of each potential research project, to strategically align the strengths and capacity of the working group with the previously identified needs of the region, and build and submit a competitive proposal. Objectives: 1) Establish an official working group and develop a mission statement, conduct long-range planning, and develop a strategic plan to maximize our regional presence, collaboration, and impact, 2) Develop and submit a multi-state grant proposal that strategically addresses high-priority nursery crops issues previously identified by growers and documented in the PMSP, and 3) Develop Volume I of a two volume nursery crops integrated pest management manual series, focusing on the top ten selling tree genera (with tentative long term plans to develop a second volume on shrub IPM). |
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Final Report: |
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Results As a result of our SRIPM Center working group grant the Southern Nursery IPM Working Group (SNIPM) developed a Grant Committee, a Planning Committee, and developed a mission statement. Committees met in person and by conference call as did the entire working group. SNIPM also prepared a 13 chapter book. The book was published electronically as a multimedia book via iBooks and downloadable pdf files from the SNIPM website http://wiki.bugwood.org/SNIPM and in hard copy. Over 350 e-books have been downloaded and over 150 print copies were distributed to Extension agents and nursery crops producers. Additionally, we published two review articles in refereed journals that stemmed from book chapters and a third review article is in press. We also prepared and submitted a 24-page, $9.2 million USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative Coordinated Agriculture Project (SCRI CAP) grant proposal. |
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Outcomes Our face-to-face meeting time led to enhanced collaboration among the co-PIs. We also gained three collaborators, Nicole Ward, UK, and Gary Knox and Mathews Paret, both of UF. Additionally, many of the CO-PIs have begun collaborating in small groups on various grant proposals including the Southern Risk Management Education Center and the Center for Applied Nursery Research. SNIPM working group is currently preparing to apply for another grant to fill other voids in IPM resources for nursery production. This book fills one void in nursery crops information and increased the total resources that are available to nursery crop growers. There have been 350+ downloads of the book in 21 countries since it was published last year. Nursery growers and Extension personnel experienced increased savings or earnings, averaging $3,313 from information gleaned from the resource. A final outcome of the grant proposal is very constructive feedback on our SCRI CAP proposal (Rated High Priority . We plan to refine and resubmit when the RFP comes out. |
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Outputs MISSION STATEMENT The Southern Nursery IPM (SNIPM) Working Group is a collaboration among research and Extension professionals to provide timely integrated pest management (IPM) information to commercial horticulture growers, green industry professionals and extension educators; to identify and solve nursery-based IPM problems; develop technology to encourage use of and improve the efficacy of IPM practices and advocate the adoption and retention of IPM principles and practices to commercial growers and policy makers. GRANT PROPOSALS Fulcher, A.- PD, M. Chappell, A. Apon, K. Braman, J.-H. Chong, J. Cothren, B. Dean, J. Derr, W. Dunwell, S. Frank, F. Hale, W. Klingeman III, G. Knox, A. LeBude, J. Neal, M. Palma, M. Paret, R. Pargas, N. Ward, S. White, J. Williams-Woodward, and D. Woodard. Mobile Technology, Sensor Networks, and Improved Predictive Models to Increase Sustainability in Nursery Crop Systems Specialty Crops Research Initiative Coordinated Agriculture Project. Requested $9,212,797. Not awarded, rated High Priority. BOOKS Print: Adkins, C.R., S.K. Braman, M.R. Chappell, J.-H. Chong, J.F. Derr, W.C. Dunwell, S.D. Frank, A.F. Fulcher, F.A. Hale, W.E. Klingeman, G.W. Knox, A.V. LeBude, M.L. Paret, J.C. Neal, J.R. Sidebottom, N.A. Ward, S.A. White, J. L. Williams-Woodward, and A.S. Windham. 2012. IPM for Select Deciduous Trees in Southeastern US Nursery Production. Fulcher, AF, SA White, Eds. Knoxville, TN: Southern Nursery IPM Working Group. Print ISBN: 978-0-9854998-1-5 Electronic: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ipm-for-select-deciduous-trees/id541182125?mt=11 and http://wiki.bugwood.org/IPM_book REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES Knox, G., W. Klingeman, M. Paret, and A. Fulcher. 2012. Management of pests, plant diseases and abiotic disorders of Magnolia species in the Southeastern U.S.: A review. Journal of Environmental Horticulture. 30(4):223234. Chappell, M.R., S.K. Braman, J. Williams-Woodward, and G.W. Knox. 2012. Optimizing Plant Health and Pest Management of Lagerstroemia spp. in Commercial Production and Landscape Situations in the Southeastern U.S.: A Review. Journal of Environmental Horticulture. 30(3):161-172. Frank, S.D., W.E. Klingeman, S.A. White, and A. Fulcher. 2013. Biology, injury, and management of maple tree pests in nurseries and urban landscapes. In press. Journal of Integrated Pest Management. VIDEOS (embedded in the multimedia iBooks edition): Grafting Nursery Stock Hand Digging Nursery Stock Machine Digging Nursery Stock |
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Impacts Our book was centered on disseminating information on integrated pest management practices. Based on surveys, recipients increased savings or earnings by an average of $3,313 per book. The estimated total economic impact attributed to using information in the book was $1,683,004 [$3,313*(150 print +358 e-books)]. This savings is due to reduced pesticide use and more refined pesticide scheduling and, thus, more effective pesticide applications. The more precise use of pesticides also increases environmental quality and creates a safer work place for nursery employees. Another impact of this project was to solidify the working groups collaborative efforts. We were able to apply for a $9.2 million dollar grant, something we couldnt have done without the ability to fund travel for a face-to-face planning meeting. There was an overall ROI of $69 for every grant dollar awarded. |
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