Promoting a Less Expensive but Effective Source of Organic Material for ASD to Specialty Crop Growers for Improving Soil Health

Commodities

• Vegetables: tomatoes

Practices

• Pest Management: integrated pest management
• Soil Management: soil microbiology

Soil-borne fungal, bacterial, and nematode pathogens cause significant losses to high-value Northeast U.S. crops. Traditional management relies on crop rotation or synthetic fumigants; however, many growers face land scarcity, while organic and small-scale conventional producers are restricted by regulations or a lack of specialized equipment. Consequently, there is a critical need for accessible, sustainable strategies. Our previous research identified a highly effective combination treatment: seedling production in probiotic-treated media followed by planting in Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) to minimize the impact of soil-borne pathogens on tomatoes and strawberries. While this method yields the highest net economic benefit, adoption has been hindered by the high cost and poor availability of organic materials required for ASD. While mustard meal is an option, high delivery costs and inconsistent results driven by varying soil biological profiles have made it less feasible for many local growers.

To address these barriers, a 2023-2025 study identified locally available, low-cost sources of organic material that perform as well as, or better than, expensive alternatives like mustard meal or wheat bran. This project focuses on the large-scale promotion and on-farm demonstration of these affordable sources of organic materials needed to encourage widespread adoption. We plan to work with farmer partners who have experienced wilt diseases. These growers have shown a very high level of interest in cooperating with this project to find an economically feasible, sustainable option for managing the problems. We will provide the necessary organic material and technical instructions to implement ASD. Project staff will support participants in monitoring disease incidence and severity, and let field day participants know the results from the grower cooperators. Our primary goal is to provide the "result demonstrations" necessary to build grower confidence in the technology's consistency and help adoption by other growers. Through field days and outreach, we will measure success using key indicators, such as: a) Knowledge Gain: Number of stakeholders educated on science-based tools for soil-borne disease; b) Adoption: Number of stakeholders implementing new best practices or innovations; c) Acreage Impact: Total additional acres managed using IPM; d) Diagnostics: Number of stakeholders using new systems to analyze specialty crop diseases. This project should be particularly impactful for West Virginia growers, who often lack the flat land required for traditional crop rotation. By providing a cost-effective, validated alternative to synthetic fumigants, this initiative ensures the long-term productivity and sustainability of high-value specialty crops in the state and the region.

Our ongoing research on soilborne disease management with ASD on specialty crops revealed that the technology can significantly reduce wilt disease and improve yield. However, economic benefit from such treatment is dependent on the cost involved with procuring effective organic materials, including shipment cost, as a high rate/acre is generally required. For example, mustard meal products are not very costly, but the delivery cost is prohibitively higher for our area, making these options a little expensive for growers, as local suppliers do not carry these products. Our most recent study with variably priced sources indicated that locally available low-cost sources can produce results comparable to high-cost ones. These results created much interest from growers and should promote adoption if further result demonstrations are carried out together with outreach activities directed to specialty crop growers. We have a committed group of farmer partners who experienced wilt diseases on various specialty crops and wrote support letters to host demonstrations on their farms. They have also made commitments to share the results with the field day attendees and other growers who may be interested in adopting the technology. Our project team members are willing to work with farmer partners not only to set the demonstrations but also to keep track of the yield to determine the economic benefit that can be brought to the farmers. Thus, the major objectives of this partnership grant are to promote the adoption of sustainable technology to manage soilborne diseases on farmers' fields with the following specific objectives:

1. Demonstrate the efficacy of low-cost organic material needed for ASD to specialty crop producers in reducing wilt disease severity by setting a demonstration in grower cooperators' fields
2. Determine the economic advantage obtained from ASD compared with nontreated vegetables
3. Conduct outreach activities to promote this economically feasible technology to potential beneficiaries