Wisconsin's Eco-apple Sustainable Apple Production, Education - Outreach: Bridging the Gap

Wisconsin's Eco-apple Sustainable Apple Production, Education - Outreach: Bridging the Gap

Summary

We conducted four workshops in July –August 2006 targeted to NRCS field staff in counties with considerable apple acreage. Staff from 18 counties participated. We will know this spring if these workshops made a difference in grower participation in EQIP. UWEX county educators are partners with CIAS in a three-year project to increase grower participation in the eco-apple project. This enabled us to request grant money to provide counties with money for summer help with growers during the busy season. A private consultant who participated in the training is also working more closely with us and formed a new grower network. We intend to offer additional workshops on the orchard IPM and EQIP for county Land Conservation employees at their annual professional development conference March 2007.

Objectives/Performance Targets

As the eco-apple project has evolved, so has the complexity of our professional development efforts. Staff member Regina Hirsch organized a classroom & field training program for NRCS district conservationists and soil conservationists to teach them about the intensity of orchard management and the benefits of the EQIP Pest Management Standard for orchardists in Wisconsin.

The first day of the training program was held July 2006 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin at the Best Western Hotel. Trainers were UW-Extension orchard specialists Dan Mahr, Patty McManus and Teryl Roper; the project’s IPM consultant John Aue; Barbara VanTil from EPA; Pat Murphy from NRCS’ Resource Conservationists; and Michelle Miller from CIAS. The training covered basic orchard insect, disease, and weed management, introduction to orchard IPM; current and future orchard pesticide regulations; the positive results of the Wisconsin Eco-apple Project using IPM and coaches; and how to write conservation and IPM plans for growers with an EQIP contract. We had NRCS personnel representing 18 counties attend this meeting from counties that contain the highest concentration of orchards in Wisconsin. The total number of trainers and trainees for this meeting was 28.

The participant evaluation results indicated that the information presented was very well received. With five as a high score, participants indicated an average of 4.4 for the course overall, and for furthering their understanding of orchard management and orchard IPM. All respondents intended to participate in the field training and planned to recommend the training to other NRCS personnel. They indicated a need for more information on how to write an orchard IPM plan, however.

We also conducted three in-orchard training course this summer (July and August 2006) to bring together orchard growers and their representative NRCS district conservationists. The three field days were held in Trempealeau County (NW), Door County (NE), and Racine County (SE) Wisconsin. The objectives of these field days were to give NRCS in-field experience in insect, disease, and weed management techniques; exposure to orchard IPM practices; how to conduct a conservation planning and resource assessment for orchards; and to teach growers about the EQIP program benefits and application process. Each training day was a mixture of NRCS personnel and local orchard growers. Growers were invited to participate in the field days to give them an opportunity to interact with local NRCS employees and learn more about EQIP signup. The total number of participants for each training day was 26 (Trempealeau), 20 (Door), and 15 (Racine).

Based on these training days it is apparent that continuous training for growers on how to apply for EQIP funding and the benefit of EQIP funds in helping them jump-start an IPM program in their orchard is essential. In addition, yearly updated training on the changes in the EQIP Pest Management standard with regards to the new practices available for orchardists is essential so that NRCS district conservationists and county conservationist can fully articulate these changes and benefits to growers who are applying for EQIP.

Accomplishments/Milestones

No new data to report.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Outcomes from our summer 2006 training sessions are too early to report. Growers applied for contracts with their county offices up until 12/31/2006 so it will be a few months before we will see county level impact. We do know that the NRCS staff from two counties intended to set aside money to fund orchard IPM for growers so we expect to see contracts from that office for the first time.

Chippewa County Extension educator Jerry Clark volunteered to work with growers in his area starting in 2006. UWEX-Bayfield County hired Jason Fischbach to fill their educator position this fall. Jason hit the ground running and was able to pick up our work without missing a beat. Both these county Extension offices were able to join with our Center on a shared grant to allow them to hire extra help for the eco-apple project during the growing season through 2009. We lost UWEX Kristin Kleeberger as a network organizer for the SE growers when she was promoted to a shared county position. Bob Barthel has joined the SE network and has taken on some of the organizer role. Bob is Wisconsin’s most advanced apple grower and is sure to serve as a role model for growers and act as an informal coach. (He has indicated he is not interested in a formal coaching role.)

Tom Green, IPM Institute of North America, had participated in various training workshops and brought a number of growers from Dane County to the table at our November growers meeting. Tom also coordinates an eco-apple project with growers in New England who work with non-profit broker Red Tomato. We are thrilled to have Tom working alongside us and look forward to learning more about his work in New England.

Pat Murphy from the state NRCS office went through the initial training sessions and made possible training for his staff this summer 2006. He was our primary contact within NRCS to write the 595 standard for orchards that for 2007 has a progressive planning approach and it provides an incentive payment of $120/acre to orchardists implementing IPM. The Wisconsin program was featured at a NCR-IPM meeting convened to ascertain how IPM could be better integrated into EQIP.

We requested a no-cost extension for this project to allow us to provide training on orchards and EQIP to county Land Conservation staff, as recommended by our state NRCS office. The Wisconsin Association of Land Conservation Employees will meet March 2007 and we are planning a training session at their annual conference to get more agricultural professionals up-to-speed on IPM in orchards.

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