Training for agricultural service providers in the diagnosis, visual assessment, and management of plant-parasitic nematodes

Training for agricultural service providers in the diagnosis, visual assessment, and management of plant-parasitic nematodes

Summary

An additional six of the ten to thirteen proposed hands-on training workshops were held in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Jersey during 2008. The day-long workshops were designed to educate and train participants in the diagnosis, assessment and management of plant-parasitic nematodes of vegetables and small fruit in the Northeast. These workshops were attended by a total of 88 county extension educators, crop consultants, IPM practitioners, university personnel, federal and state government employees, and growers. The workshops were advertised/promoted in state and regional newsletters, email listserves, grower meetings, web posting and through direct communications with potential participants by project leaders, county extension educators, and previous workshop participants. A poster titled “Train-the-Trainer Workshops as a Platform for Disseminating Applied Nematological Research to Vegetable and Small Fruit Stakeholders in the Northeast” was presented at the Annual Phytopathological Society Meeting in Minneapolis, MN in early August.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Through use of intensive discussions and hands-on trainings in NY, CT, and VT and the Northeast region, 300+ extension educators, NRCS, crop consultants, interested growers, and other agriculture service providers will be trained in diagnosing nematode damage, conducting the bioassays for visual nematode assessment and understanding the management options available for plant-parasitic nematodes. Of those, 125 will incorporate acquired skills and knowledge in their programming and communications with growers and 40 will conduct the soil bioassays with interested growers to assess nematode infestations and provide appropriate management recommendations on an as-needed-basis.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Progress is currently being made on all six milestones. Completion of the first three milestones will occur with the completion of the final two workshops being scheduled in early spring 2009. The later three milestones will be completed in the final stages of documenting the impact of this project.

Target beneficiaries attend and participate in one of ten to thirteen nematode management trainings that will be held in NY, VT, CT, ME, NH, PA, MA, VA, and NJ. Training sessions are designed to educate 25 people per session, with a new group of participants in each of the ten to thirteen locations over the course of 19 months.

• In 2008, six workshops were held (Hershey, PA on 28 January, Batavia, NY on 10 March, Fairlee, VT on 20 March, Newport, RI on 10 October, Westampton, NJ on 21 October and Allentown, PA on 18 November). A total of 88 participants attended the workshops. The workshop held in Newport, RI was in conjunction with the Northeast Division Meeting of the American Phytopathological Society. A slightly abbreviated workshop was held to align with the conference format and account for the increased familiarity of the subject matter by the participants.

  The breakdown of participants in these six workshops is as follows: extension educators (27), growers (21), university specialist (17), federal and state agencies (8), crop consultants (8), and private industry (7).

  The workshop announcements have been advertised via Cooperative Extension email list, the NE-IPM coordinator list-serves, state and regional newsletters, as well as posted on several websites. Participants were also recruited through personal communication with project leaders, county extension educators, and previous workshop participants. In the pre-workshop surveys, the majority of participants learned about the workshops from email listserves, regional and state newsletters, and from colleagues and/or project leaders.

  Based on the pre-workshop survey, the primary reason for attending was to learn about plant-parasitic nematodes and their management. Many participants had limited to no exposure to nematodes prior to participation in the workshop or it had been a number of years since the topic was covered in an educational institution.

  Planning is currently underway to hold the final two workshops in Maine and Central/Western New York in spring 2009. The workshop in Maine will target the potato industry while the Western New York/Northwestern Pennsylvania workshop will target vegetable and small fruit growers.

Evaluations of hands-on training and supplemental materials at end of training.

• Post-workshop surveys have been conducted following each workshop. With such a diverse audience and the many topics covered, it is not surprising that the rating of the usefulness of the information presented was highly variable.

  We have modified and made improvements to our presentations based on the participant feedback received through the post-workshop survey. The content of the nematode workshop held in Westampton, NJ was modified slightly to include Southern root-knot nematode, a nematode that does not overwinter in production regions further north. The suggested expansion or elimination of various topics is highly variable based on the specific backgrounds and interests of each participant. However, in the end all the participants rated the workshop as good (27.5%) or excellent (72.5%) overall and felt it was well worth their time to attend.

Incorporate acquired skills and information into outreach programs and communications with growers.

• On the post-workshop survey, 17% and 81% of participants who responded to the question, indicated that they had a moderate and strong intention to incorporate the knowledge and skills learned at the workshop in their programming and outreach activities, respectively. Participants indicated that they planned to use the information in a variety of ways ranging from one-on-one and group interactions with growers to educating Master Gardeners who field help hot-lines to using the bioassays on their own farms to conduct nematode assessments.

  One attendee of the workshop held in Hershey, PA on 28 January was so excited about the workshop that she offered to host a subsequent workshop that was held in Allentown, PA on 18 November 2008.

  Learning information about how the participants incorporated the acquired skills and information into outreach programs and grower communications will be one of the primary goals of the follow-up survey being administered in 2009.

Aid growers in sampling soil, conducting bioassays, and interpreting infestation levels to make nematode management decisions with our guidance initially, if needed.

• At each workshop, participants are highly encouraged to contact us if they have any questions as they work with growers and other stakeholders to conduct the bioassays. The project leaders have fielded several requests for additional information on the bioassays and plant-parasitic nematodes generally indicating that the information is being transferred into the field.

Participate in less formal regional group meetings/conference calls or more one-on-one follow-ups.

• Although no official meetings have been held, encouragement of the use of bioassays to assess plant-parasitic nematode infestations, increasing the general awareness about the potential damage nematodes cause and the importance of digging-up and observing crop roots has been mentioned at various grower twilight meetings and during individual conversations with growers during the past season.

  Project leaders have reviewed outreach materials prepared by workshop participants for their stakeholders.

Target beneficiaries complete a survey/evaluation to assess project impact among target beneficiaries and anticipated impact of outreach to small fruit and vegetable producers in NY, CT and VT and the Northeast region.

• Initial steps have been taken to develop the survey instrument that will be used to evaluate project impact among the workshop participants. Since over 90% of the workshop participants have access to email and the internet, the survey will be distributed via the on-line survey tool Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com). Reminder emails will then be sent to encourage completion of the survey. For those without email or internet access, a hardcopy survey will be administered and mailings will be followed-up with a phone call or reminder postcard to encourage completion of the survey. It is anticipated that this survey will we administered to those participating in the first workshops in early spring 2009.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Eighty-eight participants received hands-on training on the biology, assessment and management of plant-parasitic nematodes of vegetables and small-fruit in the Northeast during six day-long workshops held from Vermont to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The majority (81%) of participants indicated that they had a strong intention to use the knowledge gained during the workshop and resources they received in outreach programming and/or one-on-one activities with growers. Also, many participants indicated on their post-workshop survey that the attending the workshop was well worth their time. The enthusiasm of some of the participants has encouraged attendance by several of their colleagues at subsequent workshops and even led to the one workshop being held in Allentown, PA at the local Cooperative Extension office. One direct offshoot of this project was the presentation of a poster titled “Train-the-Trainer Workshops as a Platform for Disseminating Applied Nematological Research to Vegetable and Small Fruit Stakeholders in the Northeast” at the Annual Phytopathological Society Meeting in Minneapolis, MN in early August 2008.

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