Final report for SFL20-001
Project Information
Florida activities for 2020-2021 will build upon the basic framework for the model state program. Planned activities include integrating results of SARE funded research and Extension activities, and other relevant research, and using this information as resources for educational programs. We also plan to continue to strengthen our focus on targeted training for state and county Extension faculty, representatives of non-profit organizations, representatives of state and federal government agencies, and farmer representatives. To fulfill the priorities and objectives of our program, our training funds will be used to address programs in three subject matter areas:
(1) new and emerging solutions for Florida agricultural production,
(2) advancing Extension capacity in sustainable agriculture, and
(3) entrepreneurial innovation in sustainable agriculture.
- Maintain existing and establish new collaborative Extension trainings and programs with faculty members and county agents at University of Florida and Florida A&M University whose work addresses sustainability in production agriculture.
- Extend collaboration with organizations that are active in the post-production components of food systems, particularly non-profit, state, and governmental organizations whose work fosters development of food and agriculture businesses.
- Support the development of Extension programs in food systems, including Regional Specialized Agents whose work includes both on-farm production and post-farm gate aspects of food system development.
- Expand participation of minority, women, and limited resource farmers and professionals in SARE activities and programs, ensuring that these groups are well represented in the full range of SARE-funded professional development opportunities.
Our expected outcomes are:
- Extension faculty will participate in SARE in-service training programs and use this information in their own programming,
- Extension faculty will participate in regional and national training programs in sustainable agriculture and apply the lessons learned in their own programming,
- at least two of the statewide Extension priority teams will include information and resources about sustainable agriculture and SARE in their professional development training programs and Extension programming,
- through SARE, Extension agents and farmers will identify opportunities for the development, outreach, and research of alternative crops and enterprises,
- regional and local county agents will develop new collaborations with organizations, agencies, and groups working in sustainable agriculture, and
- Extension faculty and agents will make increased use of resources to support programming in sustainable agriculture.
The 2020-21 Florida SARE programming built upon our previous years’ work in two ways.
(1) We continued to focus on outreach and training that enhances the environmental and economic benefits of production agriculture.
(2) We continued to develop trainings that emphasize local and regional food systems to address issues and policies that impact our food system.
The new cycle differed in several ways. Due to our extensive outreach work over the years to increase consciousness of sustainable agriculture programming and resources, sustainable agriculture is now prominent in many Florida Extension programs. The training needs of state and county faculty have changed and they are making additional demands on our SARE program:
(1) The need for SARE to provide training to county faculty in IRB requirements for human subjects research has declined somewhat because the IFAS Extension training staff has initiated a training program. We do anticipate some continued needs to train county agents and state extension specialists in the requirements when they will be working on integrated research and extension grants, particularly biological scientists who do not normally need to include IRB in their work. Overall, however, our effort will decrease in this area.
(2) County, regional and state Extension personnel continue to press for more training in how to develop research and outreach proposals and how to assemble and train teams to implement their projects. We will continue to expand this training to include identification of potential funding sources (public and private).
(3) County faculty want more access to cutting edge research in sustainable ag to reduce the time between research and adoption. We are accommodating this need by involving county faculty in field assessments of various research projects. Through this venue, county faculty have a voice in the development of research projects and in the data generation process.
(4) We will expand our training program that integrates grower and technical advisor input into ecological and biological research to enhance research outcomes.
(5) One of the most useful roles we play for IFAS faculty members is to gather preliminary data regarding grower needs, barriers and priorities. We will develop protocols for this kind of data collection and continue to work with faculty members to facilitate the data collection. These data are often critical to the development of good grant proposals.
(6) We will continue to develop trainings about how to strengthen the outreach and evaluation components of extension projects and incorporate more on-farm trials into their work.
(7) Due to COVID-19, many training activities are being held virtually or on hold due to low registration for in-person events. Attendance at in-person events is beginning to increase on-campus and across the state. We are developing new trainings, revising existing trainings, and preparing to host virtual and in-person trainings in 2023-24.
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Education
Our educational approach for our “sustainable solutions for Florida agricultural production” initiative has two components:
- To provide an in-service training where the target audience consists of Extension agents, producers’ associations, non-profit, state, and local organizations, and private sector technical advisers.
- To facilitate participation by Extension agents, growers and industry representatives, and representatives of non-profit, state, and local organizations in on-farm and on-station research, grower assessments of demonstration and research trials including annual events at any of Florida Research & Extension Centers, field days on-farm and on-station, and workshops.
Our educational approach for our “advancing Extension capacity in sustainable agriculture” initiative has three components:
- To conduct professional development trainings focusing on the needs of Extension professionals in the state.
- To allow county and state faculty to develop their own training objectives and propose venues that will provide the training they need.
- To advertise training opportunities available within the Southern SARE region and nationally that may be of interest to Florida faculty.
Our educational approach for our “entrepreneurial innovation in sustainable agriculture” initiative has one component:
- To offer an in-service training about successful grant writing to enhance Extension programming.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Agronomic and horticultural production systems increasingly face emerging pest threats, competition with other uses for scarce resources, and increasing international competition in traditionally high-value crops. The rapidity with which new challenges emerge requires that service providers be knowledgeable not only of technologies and strategies that are fully tested and “ready for use,” but also of the most promising solutions under development. Equally important, we need to shorten the distance between research and application, an imperative long recognized by SARE.
Future of Sustainable Agriculture in Florida Webinar Series
The target audience for this webinar series consists of county Extension faculty, mentor farmers, and other local service providers. The purpose is to expose participants to research conducted in Florida focusing on new projects and technologies supporting sustainable agriculture. By exploring emerging research from a wide variety of disciplines related to sustainable agriculture, participants may collaborate and provide relevant and timely sustainable agricultural programming to their clients. This training is offered as a webinar series.
Improving Research Outcomes through Stakeholder Feedback
The target audience for this training consists of state and county faculty with Extension and research appointments and staff working with these faculty members. The pace of change in food and agriculture has increased greatly due to increased international trade, expanding regulatory requirements, and a diverse consumer population with distinctive and in many cases non-traditional preferences with regard to food products and tangible and non-tangible attributes. These changes make it more important than ever to ensure that agricultural research can respond quickly to producer needs. We have developed a technique for incorporating grower and technical advisor (especially Extension) input into the design and implementation of agricultural research. The approach improves the quality of research because the key concerns of end-users of the research are involved in directing the research away from solutions that will not be acceptable to farmers, will direct research toward the most critical constraints and needs of producers, and will fully incorporate the expertise and experience of growers and their advisors to develop treatments and identify the kind of data needed by growers for their decision-making purposes. We have now conducted repeated assessments on three research projects at the University of Florida with outstanding results that have contributed some of the most innovative treatments in research and helped us avoid commitment of time and effort to approaches that will ultimately fail the test of adoption. The objective of this IST is to provide participants with a systematic, tested approach to incorporating grower input into the earliest stages of the research process, including how to conduct field research assessments (blind evaluation of treatments, for example), and how to analyze the results that are obtained. Training objectives:
- Develop a protocol for a research assessment.
- Complete the IRB protocol that will ensure that the assessment meets federal requirements for informed consent, including a template that covers the key universally required components in the protocol.
- Develop the appropriate data collection instruments and procedures for the assessment.
- Conduct the procedures involved which include an individual assessment by each participant and a facilitated group discussion.
- Analyze the results of the assessment.
Southern Region Cover Crops Council
We are a member of Strategy Team 4. The objective of Strategy Team 4 is to foster basic, applied and participatory cover crop research in the Southern Region, and establish a multi-state research project.
Sustainable Organic Strawberry (SOS) Cropping Systems For The Southeast
This OREI-NIFA funded project seeks to promote the expansion of organic strawberry production in the Southeast by working to develop organic strawberry cropping systems that are more environmentally and economically sustainable and resilient to weed, pest, and disease pressure. The project is a collaborative effort of the University and Florida, North Carolina A&T State University, Florida A&M University and Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. (FOG). The project has three major components: biological research, consumer and economic research, and evaluation and outreach. The main experiment examines the effects of three cover crop treatments and a weedy control on soil health, nematode suppression, arthropod pests, beneficials, and the performance of four strawberry cultivars in open-field production. Four supporting or satellite experiments examine specific aspects of nutrient management incorporating nitrogen contribution from cover crops and supplemental fertilization, efficacy of OMRI-approved materials for management of spotted wing drosophila (SWD) and twospotted spider mite (TSSM), and spot treatment with predatory mites for TSSM, and performance of cultivars in high and low tunnels for cold protection outside sub-tropical Florida. The evaluation and extension components are integrated. We use an Industrial Liaison Panel and research assessments with service providers and growers to evaluate the potential usefulness of our research and possible barriers to adoption. Extension activities include field days, trainings, workshops, and conference presentations.
Adapting and Expanding High Tunnel Organic Vegetable Production for the Southeast
The long-term goal of this OREI-NIFA funded project is to develop sustainable high tunnel systems to promote the growth and expansion of organic vegetable production in the Southeast. The project is a collaborative effort of the University and Florida, Florida A&M University, USDA-ARS, University of Georgia, Georgia Organics, and Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. (FOG). This integrated project will systematically address the major challenges and key issues with organic high tunnel production and management identified through an initial planning project. By building a strong partnership with organic producers and other stakeholders, this project will target long-term environmental and economic sustainability. The outreach component is focused on the following objectives: (1) An expanded network of farmers, farmer organizations and stakeholders that can share and access information about high tunnel organic vegetable production; (2) continuing farmer and stakeholder participation in research and extension about high tunnel organic vegetable production; (3) increased understanding of farmer and stakeholder decision making; and (4) adoption of the management options generated by this research. Our role on the project includes coordinating field research assessments with service providers and growers to evaluate the potential usefulness of our research and possible barriers to adoption. We are also responsible for coordinating the advisory council activities, hosting field days, conducting interviews with the farmers engaging in our on-farm research, presenting at conferences, and developing a virtual research assessment.
Graduate Student Grant Writing Workshops
2021GradStudentGrantWritingWorkshopFlyer
This two part hands-on workshop was open to any graduate student in the Southern region interested in improving their grant proposal writing skills. Dr. Mickie Swisher discussed the keys to writing a successful grant proposal. Students had the opportunity to work on their own proposals at the workshop, as well. Each session of the workshop covered different aspects of proposal writing – from literature reviews to budgeting, so students needed to attend both sessions, if possible. Students from any department were encouraged to attend. At the end of the training, the participants were able to: (1) Explain why proposals are rejected; (2) Identify the key elements of a call for proposal; (3) Craft their own proposal.
Enhancing the Sustainability of US Cropping Systems through Cover Crops and an Innovative Information and Technology Network
Transformative changes are needed to address agriculture's grand challenge of increasing food
production while maintaining environmental integrity. Changes must mitigate: agricultures high energy demand; impending water scarcity and herbicide-resistant weeds; consequences of climate change (more frequent flooding, droughts, and extreme heat); and decline in soil health, critical for improving soil and water quality. This proposal will address these unprecedented threats by providing the infrastructure necessary to support and accelerate cover crop (CC) use nationwide, thereby meeting NIFA program goals of 1) increasing total factor productivity, 2) improving water and nitrogen use efficiency, and 3) reducing losses due to biotic and abiotic stresses. An integrated transdisciplinary approach of research (54%), extension (30%), and education (16%) components will address our objectives. A nationwide team of dedicated research, extension and NGO personnel from 28 institutions will establish on-station and on-farm research networks, novel teaching curriculum, and extensive social-science based outreach. Our overall goal is to increase crop productivity, conserve natural resources, and reduce our agro-ecological footprint through increased and improved use of CCs. Our role on the project includes coordinating field research assessments with service providers and growers to evaluate the potential usefulness of the research and possible barriers to adoption. We are also responsible for coordinating the Farmer Think Tank Panel activities and presenting at conferences.
Future of Sustainable Agriculture in Florida Webinar Series
We began developing the series in 2022. Topics will include: cover crops, high tunnels, low tunnels, soil health, plant breeding/seed saving/regional seed production, pests and diseases, alternative crops. We will assess the participants’ change of knowledge with pre and post test evaluations.
Improving Research Outcomes through Stakeholder Feedback
We presented our first virtual research assessment training at the 2021 Northeast Cover Crops Council Conference. This served as a pilot virtual training for our upcoming Florida SARE trainings scheduled for 2023-24.
Southern Region Cover Crops Council
In collaboration with Strategy Team 4 we secured a SAS CAP grant that supports cover crops research in Florida. See “Enhancing the Sustainability of US Cropping Systems through Cover Crops and an Innovative Information and Technology Network.”
Sustainable Organic Strawberry (SOS) Cropping Systems For The Southeast
In 2020, we held one advisory council meeting, presented four papers at three conferences, conducted 40 interviews with new and beginning organic farmers on decision-making, and piloted two virtual research assessments. In 2022, Dr. Alia DeLong, et al, published Stakeholder-Driven adaptive research (SDAR): Better research products in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. doi:10.1017/S1742170522000023
Adapting and Expanding High Tunnel Organic Vegetable Production for the Southeast
In 2020, we hosted our second advisory board meeting. Due to COVID-19 limitations, we cancelled our two on-station field research assessments. In 2021, we hosted our third advisory panel meeting, one on-station field research assessment on tomatoes grown in Citra, FL, and a virtual research assessment on tomatoes grown in Athens, GA. In 2022, we produced 5 short videos highlighting the project. Four additional videos and virtual field days highlighting some of the treatments grown at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra, FL are currently in production.
Graduate Student Grant Writing Workshops
Pre and post-tests were completed in 2021 by graduate students taking our grant writing workshops. Students were asked to respond to 10 true/false items on both the pre and post-test. Thirty-four graduate students responded to the pre-test and the average pre-test score was 67%. Eleven graduate students responded to the post-test. The average post-test score was 82%.
Enhancing the Sustainability of US Cropping Systems through Cover Crops and an Innovative Information and Technology Network
In January and August 2021 , we hosted our first two Farmer Think Tank meetings with five farmers representing five states. We hosted our third, fourth, and fifth Think Tank meetings with eight farmers representing eight states in 2022-23. We will host our final Think Tank meeting with the eight farmers in 2023. In March 2021, we presented our first research assessment training at the Northeast Cover Crops Council Conference and hosted our first research assessment at WFREC on the cover crops grown in common experiment 1. In May 2022, we hosted our final research assessment at the PSREU on the corn crop grown in common experiment 2. In November 2022, we presented findings from our first four Farmer Think Tank meetings at the 2022 Tri-Societies Conference in Baltimore, MD.
This initiative provides individualized training in specialized topics in sustainable agriculture. County and state faculty can participate in training relevant to their state and county programs that may not be a focus or an emphasis in the other Florida SARE initiatives. We allow county and state faculty to develop their own training objectives and propose venues that will provide the training they need. We also advertise training opportunities that may be of interest to Florida faculty.
Advanced Individualized Training
The target audience consists of county Extension faculty who are members of a Florida Extension Professional Association. Scholarships are available to support travel to a professional development program in which the faculty person will receive training in topics relevant to sustainable agriculture. Program objectives:
- Increase participation in trainings related to sustainable agriculture that are associated with the SSARE Program.
- Increase participation in relevant national and regional trainings offered by other programs and organizations.
- Enhance the ability of the participant to develop and deliver local extension programming relevant to the goals of the Florida SARE program.
- Expand the current Extension responsibilities of the participant to include programming related to sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Grant Proposal Mentoring
We reach out to faculty members in the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, especially those with significant Extension responsibilities, to offer assistance in pre-proposal research and proposal development on topics related to sustainable agriculture. These are one-on-one or small group mentoring sessions.
Advanced Individualized Training
We sponsored five training scholarships for Extension professionals and/or mentor farmers to participate in the 2021 NCAT Virtual Soil Health Innovations Conference. We sponsored three training scholarships for Extension professionals and/or mentor farmers to participate in the 2021 Organic Growers School Virtual Spring Conference. We sponsored three training scholarships for Extension professionals and/or mentor farmers to participate in the 2021 Organic Growers School Virtual Holistic Crop Management Workshop Series. We sponsored three training scholarships for Extension professionals and/or mentor farmers to participate in the 2022 Pasa Sustainable Agriculture Virtual Conference. We sponsored two training scholarships for mentor farmers to participate in a Local Food Systems Online Training Series. We sponsored 6 travel scholarships for Extension professionals and/or mentor farmers to attend the 2023 Southern Cover Crops Conference in Baton Rouge, LA. Upon completion of the training, scholarship recipients were required to send a report to us about the conference, what they learned, and how they are currently using or plan to use what they learned in their work.
Grant Proposal Mentoring
We mentored and/or submitted eight SSARE grant proposals. We are working with several farmers and non-profits in Florida to provide feedback before they submit grant proposals to the Beginning, Farmer, and Rancher Program, the Value-Added Producer Grant Program, and the SSARE Program.
This initiative focuses on advancing Extension that provides support for nontraditional agricultural businesses and promotes sustainable food systems to address social and economic community issues. Healthy growing agricultural and natural resource based businesses can contribute to local development and economic vitality if barriers to the establishment and growth of businesses are addressed. We will facilitate workshops, strategic planning, and joint programmatic development for Extension and community partners.
Successful Grant Writing for Extension Programming
The target audience for this training consists of county Extension faculty, service providers, community-based organizations, and producer organizations. The funding opportunities for community-based and producer organizations provide important resources to foster community and farm development. Successful proposal development is a learned skill. While the specific requirements for each proposal will vary depending on the goals of the donor, objectives, and proposal requirements, there are commonalities to most proposals. The objective of this program is to provide participants with an understanding of key factors that donors commonly use to evaluate proposals and how to respond to these factors. Training objectives:
- Write a problem statement that is responsive to the priorities of the donor.
- Develop goals, objectives, and outcomes to address the problem statement.
- Develop and describe objective-based activities.
- Construct an appropriate evaluation strategy.
- Develop an objective-based budget.
SEEDIT: Specialty Pumpkins: Needs Assessment, Production Systems, and Processing for Emerging Products and Markets
Tropical pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) is popular in Florida, especially within Latino and West Indian communities. The total value of tropical pumpkin consumed in the U.S exceeds $30 million annually, however, >80% of the produce is imported from Central America (USDA-ERS, 2011). In the U.S. mainland, production is currently limited to subtropical Florida where a few hundred hectares are grown. Demand for tropical pumpkin is rapidly increasing due to growing population of ethnic communities in Florida and across the U.S. (Flores et al., 2019; U.S. Census Bureau, 2019). Furthermore, new and emerging markets include use in brewing, processing (e.g. seed butter and canning), snack food, community-supported agriculture (CSA), restaurant and vegetable oil industries. Between 2014 and 2018, breweries in Florida skyrocketed from 104 to 348 (Brewer and Long, 2018), creating high demand for seasonal pumpkin ale. In addition, the number of CSA enterprises has increased exponentially in Florida fueled by an increasing demand for local food (FDACS, 2020). Florida growers are positioned to benefit from existing and expanding specialty markets due to distinctive subtropical climate that allows year-round production, proximity to consumer markets, and a robust UF/ IFAS extension network. In this project, we will assess potential risks/ benefits of specialty pumpkin production and barriers to acceptance. Hypothesis: Adding an enterprise to a commercial farming operation generates unanticipated changes in farm management that create risks, and potential acceptance of new products depends greatly on distributor and consumer perceived benefits.
SEEDIT: Future of Urban Agriculture in Florida
According to USDA Census of Agriculture data, there has been an increase in commercial urban agriculture (CUA) activities in Florida. For example, between 2009 and 2014 there was an increase in both the number of operations growing food under protection—from 26 to 41—and total area under protection from 2.0 to 3.3 million square feet (USDA, 2007; USDA, 2012). The 2018 farm bill included a provision supporting urban, indoor, and emerging production systems, which specified the necessity of an urban agriculture census. However, congress did not appropriate funds for the urban agriculture census to be conducted. In addition, the Federal government has stated “Given the diversity in the types of urban farming operations, existing data limitations, and lack of consensus about what constitutes an urban or peri-urban farm, USDA does not report data and statistics on the number of urban farming operations in the United States” (Congressional Research Service, 2019). In addition, USDA acknowledges that their methodology fails to count farms in under-served areas and operated by minority populations (USDA, 2017). This fact is particularly important because research has shown that the demographics of urban farmers differ from their rural counterparts, with a larger proportion of young, female, and minority farmers in urban and peri-urban areas as compared with rural farmers (Inwood & Clark, 2013). Research has shown that CUA has promise for economic development (Sharp, et al., 2011), but faces different barriers (Castillo et al., 2013) and is hindered by research gaps (Weidner et al., 2019). The objectives of this project are (1) identify key hubs of commercial urban agriculture (CUA) in Florida, (2) evaluate current economic and regulatory barriers and potential market and business opportunities for CUA operations in Florida, (3) conduct a pilot survey of urban agriculture producers in key CUA hub areas, and (4) develop the future research path for CUA enterprise development in Florida.
Successful Grant Writing for Extension Programming
We developed and are launching a virtual training series focused on SSARE and other USDA-NIFA grant funding in 2023. We will assess the participants’ change of knowledge with pre and post test evaluations.
SEEDIT: Specialty Pumpkins: Needs Assessment, Production Systems, and Processing for Emerging Products and Markets
We conducted the following activities. Activity 1: Grower assessment. Growers who are innovators may be willing to take on such risks while others may not, depending on perceived risks and benefits. Results of interviews with selected innovators and farmers with less experience with new enterprise innovation will identify key barriers to and opportunities for adoption of proposed innovations among both groups farmers and research priorities for both. We will identify an initial set of innovators and non-innovators through Extension and non-profit organizations that support farmers and expand the sample if needed through references from farmers we interview. Activity 2: Distribution system. Interviews, with sales points ranging from farmers’ markets to traditional commercial outlets, will identify key bottlenecks and opportunities to market in a variety of venues. Activity 3: Consumer survey. A survey will assess consumer acceptance of proposed specialty pumpkin products. We submitted two proposals in 2020 to SARE for grant funds to build on this project. One of these proposals was funded and began in 2021.
SEEDIT: Future of Urban Agriculture in Florida
In 2020, we completed semi-structured interviews of 25 farmers identified via a referral (snowball) sample. Interview transcripts were analyzed via thematic analysis. In 2021, using a referral sample, an online survey will be conducted via Qualtrics to collect data on CUA including: types of production systems being utilized, size of CUA business (sales and production data); types of crops being produced and market channels being utilized and their greatest limitations to success and sustainability in terms of technology, financing, pest management, irrigation, fumigation alternatives, climate, plant nutrition and fertilization, product food safety. Two key stakeholder strategic planning meetings will be convened—one with CUA operators and one with IFAS project collaborators and researchers—to share the findings of activities 1-3. CUA operators will be asked to share their input on future needs and business opportunities. With that information, IFAS faculty will (i) identify and prioritize key research needs and associated Extension programming opportunities to support CUA, and (ii) target extramural funding opportunities for that research. Delphi Method, a group communication process which aims to achieve convergence of opinion on a specific question will be used during these stakeholder meetings. We will submit additional grant proposals in 2021 for additional funds to build upon this project.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
We held our 2020 Florida SARE Advisory Council meeting on 1/29/2020 and our 2021 meeting on 5/17/2021. Training activities have been limited due to COVID-19 restrictions and low participation at in-person events. Virtual trainings were developed where possible and in-person events will resume in 2023/24.
Face of SARE
We distribute SARE educational materials at all of our SARE trainings and other relevant programs in Florida. SARE materials are distributed to the public by state and county faculty that participate in our programs. We also distribute SARE books and educational materials to our advisory council and scholarship recipients.