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 two hands-on training workshops were held in Monmouth, ME and Portland, NY during 2009. 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 two workshops were attended by a total of 29 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.

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 was made on all six milestones and now the first five are nearly complete. The sixth milestone will be implemented and the subsequent data analyzed in March/April 2010.

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 2009, the final two workshops were held (Monmouth, ME on 6 May and Portland, NY on 19 November). A total of 29 participants attended the workshops thus making a grand total of 143 participants from twelve states and Canada who have attended the ten workshops offered during the course of the project.

  The breakdown of participants in the two workshops offered in 2009 was as follows: extension educators (7), growers (3), university personnel (9), federal and state agencies (2), crop consultants (5), and private industry (3).

  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, again 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. Participants were hoping to gain knowledge and skills that they could bring back to their clientele.

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. Despite the variability, participants found the general topics of nematode diagnostics (signs and symptoms) and assessment to be the most useful overall.

  We have modified and made improvements to our presentations based on the participant feedback received through the post-workshop survey. The suggested expansion or elimination of various topics was highly variable based on the specific backgrounds and interests of each participant. However, in the end all the participants rated the workshop as excellent (100%) 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 of the 26 participants who responded, 42% and 53% 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 incorporating the information practically into their consulting business to using the bioassays on their own farms to conduct nematode assessments. In addition, one participant from NCRS indicated that they were planning to edit NRCS cover crop and rotation information to include information on breaking nematode cycles.

  One participant in the workshop held in Portland, NY in November 2009 has already incorporated information from the workshop into a three part mini-series of newsletter articles for the December and upcoming January issues of the New York Berry News.

  Learning additional 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 2010.

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.

• Additional 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 be administered in March/April 2009.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Twenty-nine participants received hands-on training on the biology, assessment and management of plant-parasitic nematodes of vegetables and small-fruit in the Northeast during two day-long workshops held in Maine and New York. The majority (53%) 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 and some have already done so in the form of grower newsletter articles. Also, many participants indicated on their post-workshop survey that 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. Additional information documenting higher level impacts (i.e. behavioral changes) and outcomes of this project will be obtained through analysis of the final evaluation survey data.

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