Coordinated Teaching, Research and Outreach Programs at the University of Vermont Horticulture Research Center: A Proposal to Improve Student Experiential Learning in Applied Farm Management

As numbers of startup farms increase in Vermont and across the U.S., and established operations scale up or shift production and marketing efforts to support local demand for farm produce, challenges have been identified for small farm operators that potentially threaten their business viability. New farm operators that sell direct to consumer markets are more likely to be college educated than established, larger-scale farmers, so effective experiential farm training programs at colleges and universities pose opportunities to provide training that will improve their overall success. In this paper, characteristics of successful student farm programs are identified, and farmer training opportunities at the University of Vermont (UVM) examined to identify improvements that will enhance student satisfaction and increase graduates’ success with farm operations. In a survey of graduates from the UVM Plant and Soil Science (PSS) department and participants in the Common Ground Student run farm, several improvements in instructional programming and student farm operation were suggested. Respondents indicated a desire for increased on-farm experiential learning opportunities that relate classroom learning to real farm practices. Increased instruction in farm planning and business management was requested, and improved management of the Common Ground farm suggested through appointing a staff-level farm manager that would coordinate specialty crop production activities that would support formal teaching programs. The UVM Continuing Education Farmer Training Program (FTP), a non-credit certificate program that teaches skills for diversified farm management and has operated since 2011, is identified as a successful program whose concepts may be adopted by undergraduate programs to improve teaching of farm management skills. This plan proposes a reorganization of the UVM Horticulture Research Center (HRC) to develop an interdisciplinary, diversified teaching farm that will support instruction in farm management from Continuing Education and Plant and Soil Science while linking farm production into the greater UVM Food System by: · Hiring a Production Manager under the cooperative direction of the HRC and FTP and funded by HRC, FTP, and PSS, who will implement a comprehensive management plan for all specialty crop production plots used in teaching programs. · Developing an interdisciplinary farm brand under which all produce sales at the HRC will be coordinated to provide experiential opportunities in farm production, processing, and marketing; improve produce consistency and quality; and increase marketing of produce within the UVM community, while capturing produce revenue to support farm management. · Refining present PSS courses and increasing summer course opportunities and collaborations with other departments to increase experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students. · Coordinating production and teaching functions between CALS departments and the FTP to reduce duplication and increase collaboration between similar programs offered to undergraduate and noncredit students. · Marketing this comprehensive, interdisciplinary farm program in the early fall prior to the growing season to UVM undergraduates, students from other colleges and universities, non-credit farmer trainees, Vermont farmers and food system practitioners, and high school science teachers to increase student diversity and maintain robust enrollment

Strategic Planning for the Vermont Apple Industry: Planning for Success in the 21st Century

For over a century, large-scale agriculture in Vermont has been identified with three primary crops: milk, maple, and apples. Today, apples are grown on about 3200 acres in Vermont, and contribute $20 million annually to the state’s agricultural economy. Through the 1980s, Vermont apples were sold largely to wholesale, out-of-state markets, and were packed and shipped by in-state and out-of-state firms. By the 1990s, changes in world and national markets signaled a downturn in the Vermont apple industry, and by the end of the decade, many operations had closed or were facing significant difficulties. In 1998, the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association (VFTGA); Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAA); and University of Vermont (UVM) Extension held a summit to discuss problems facing the industry and seek solutions that could help it reposition itself for the new millennium. Several initiatives were implemented as a result of that meeting, and changes in local marketing opportunities and production systems in the 2000s helped to lift the state of the industry to its present state of success. However, Vermont’s apple growers face new difficulties with navigating changes in marketing and production systems, while a decline in traditional support from UVM Extension and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets has reduced research, marketing, and outreach programs at a time when new knowledge is critical for growers’ success. The intent of the 2013 Vermont Apple Industry Strategic Action Plan is to identify strategies and action items that community partners can implement to ensure to success of the industry and its place in the greater food system into the future. The plan was devised initially by the VTFGA, who are the primary beneficiaries of its success, and was redrafted based on solicited comments from community partners. It is not expected that the plan will remain a static document, but rather that relationships formed in the process will guide participants toward developing mutually acceptable goals and strategies that can be acted on. A core consideration in the plan is that the Vermont apple industry is a significant component of the state’s food system, whose economic impact is significantly greater than its relatively small number of producers might suggest. Apple orchards represent a unique niche in the food system in Vermont, in that they are included in multiple and diverse markets. Apples are identified in the Vermont Farm to Plate (F2P) Strategic Plan as one of only seven crops that are produced in sufficient capacity in the state to meet local consumption needs, and one of only three (with milk and maple) that generate substantial surplus from which major wholesale export to out-of state markets may be realized. This highlights the need to support and promote apple producers who sell out-of-state, and who generate significant clean, environmentally-sound economic activity. That apples lend themselves to storage, and good facilities exist that provide near year-round access to supplies of fruit, suggests that they will continue to be one of the main agricultural products consumers purchase on a regular basis that is grown in the state. The other side of the Vermont apple industry, which is not mutually exclusive with wholesale sales, is the retail, farmstand, direct store delivery (DSD), and pick your own (PYO) market for local fruit. This component of the industry directly serves the local foods focus that drives much of agriculture and food policy in the state. Retail orchards also hold a unique role in their promotion of Agritourism activities, especially since harvest and PYO activity coincides with the fall foliage season which is a primary component of Vermont’s tourism industry. Because apple production occurs in orchards that produce over decades, and whose initial return on investment typically occurs after over twelve years from establishment, the industry also inherently contains a level of permanence that ensures that it will continue to provide sustained activity within the agriculture and food economies. This plan was informed primarily by discussion at the 2013 Vermont Apple Industry Strategic Planning Summit and subsequent apple grower and supporting partner comments. Details from that meeting are outlined beginning on page 31. Action items are outlined below by participant group, but efforts may be completed by multiple parties in order to capitalize on relationships between parties within the overall system

Status of IPM Practice Adoption in Vermont Apple Orchards in 2017

Apples are among the most important agricultural crops produced in Vermont. Despite research on and advances in IPM implementation in northeastern U.S. apple systems, pesticide applications remain a primary practice. Adoption of IPM implementation by Vermont apple growers was evaluated in a 2017 survey. Questions covered topics including farm demographics, self-reporting of IPM knowledge and status, relative importance of arthropod posts and diseases, practices that impact pollinators and crop pollination, use of electronic IPM decision support systems, scouting practices used in orchards, and tolerance of pest damage on fruit sold to alternative markets. Respondents reported apple scab (Venturia inaequalis ((Cooke) Wint.) and fire blight (Erwinia amylovora (Burrill)) as their most important diseases and apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh)) and codling moth (Cydia pomonella (L.)) insect pests of concern. A mean 10.9 and 5.7 fungicide and insecticide applications were made to manage pests and diseases. Growers reported high adoption of pollinator protection practices, and over half of respondents reported reliance of wild pollinators. All respondents used the regional NEWA decision support system and rated its usefulness highly overall. However, on-farm pest monitoring programs showed lower levels of adoption, and respondents indicated a lack of comfort with protocols for monitoring certain key pests. Survey response information may be useful in tailoring educational and outreach materials to improve IPM practice adoption and reduce grower risk

Comprehensive Assessment of Organic Apple Production in Vermont: Experience from Two Orchard Systems, 2006-2013

Despite substantial consumer demand and willingness to pay premium prices for organically grown fruit, apple growers in Vermont and other New England states have been slow to adopt certified organic practices. Barriers cited in the past to increased adoption of organic apple production in the region include susceptibility of traditionally grown cultivars to apple scab, lack of effective insect pest management materials, and few available effective options for fruit thinning. Recent changes in apple cultivar plantings in the region, introduction of new insect pest management materials, and advances in crop thinning justified an evaluation of organic apple production systems containing cultivars identified as important to the future of the apple industry. In 2006, two apple orchards were established at the University of Vermont Horticulture Research and Education Center in South Burlington, VT to comprehensively evaluate the five commercially-important apple cultivars of `Ginger Gold\u27, `Honeycrisp\u27, `Liberty\u27, `Macoun\u27, and `Zestar!\u27 over eight growing seasons in two organically-managed orchard production systems, including a newly-planted high-density orchard (Orchard 1) and in an existing, medium-density orchard which was top-grafted to the new cultivars (Orchard 2). Parameters for tree growth and survival, crop yield, disease and arthropod pest incidence on foliage and fruit, and long-term economic return, including a twenty-year projection of net present value (NPV) of each cultivar in the two systems were evaluated in this study. `Ginger Gold\u27, despite high incidence of some diseases on foliage and fruit, performed the best in both orchard systems overall. The cultivar was among the cultivars with the highest measurements of tree growth. `Ginger Gold\u27, along with `Honeycrisp\u27, had the highest cumulative net crop yield per tree in Orchard 1 and the highest in Orchard 2. Notably, apple scab on `Honeycrisp\u27 foliage and fruit and `Zestar!\u27 fruit in both orchards was at a level that was not significantly different from `Liberty\u27, a scab-resistant cultivar on which no scab was observed. However, `Honeycrisp\u27 had the highest incidence of fruit rots in both orchards, but it was not significantly different than `Zestar!\u27 in Orchard 1. Management of lepidopteran pests of fruit was a major challenge on all cultivars over the years of the study. For most of the tree growth parameters and cumulative net crop yield, `Liberty\u27 was among the lowest group of cultivars in both orchards. Cumulative net crop yield of both `Macoun\u27 and `Zestar!\u27 were also among the lowest in both orchards with the top-grafted `Macoun\u27 and `Zestar!\u27 trees having significant tree death compared to the other cultivars in Orchard 2. Harvested fruit were graded to commercial standards and cumulative gross and net income calculated from grade distribution, crop yield, and fruit price data. In Orchard 1, `Ginger Gold\u27 and `Liberty\u27 had greater cumulative gross income per hectare from 2006-2013, in excess of US$40,000, compared to `Liberty\u27. However, after management costs were deducted, all cultivars in Orchard 1 had negative cumulative net income of$-77,892 or less. In Orchard 2, all cultivars had positive cumulative net income for 2006-2013, and `Ginger Gold\u27 had the highest at $109,717/ha. The twenty-year projected NPV was negative for all cultivars in Orchard 1, but in Orchard 2, all cultivars had positive NPV with `Ginger Gold\u27 having the highest among the cultivars

Are Algae Relevant to the Detritus-Based Food Web in Tank-Bromeliads?

We assessed the occurrence of algae in five species of tank-bromeliads found in contrasting environmental sites in a Neotropical, primary rainforest around the Nouragues Research Station, French Guiana. The distributions of both algal abundance and biomass were examined based on physical parameters, the morphological characteristics of bromeliad species and with regard to the structure of other aquatic microbial communities held in the tanks. Algae were retrieved in all of the bromeliad species with mean densities ranging from ∼102 to 104 cells/mL. Their biomass was positively correlated to light exposure and bacterial biomass. Algae represented a tiny component of the detrital food web in shaded bromeliads but accounted for up to 30 percent of the living microbial carbon in the tanks of Catopsis berteroniana, located in a highly exposed area. Thus, while nutrient supplies are believed to originate from wind-borne particles and trapped insects (i.e., allochtonous organic matter), our results indicate that primary producers (i.e., autochtonous organic matter) are present in this insectivorous bromeliad. Using a 24-h incubation of size-fractionated and manipulated samples from this plant, we evaluated the impact of mosquito foraging on algae, other microorganisms and rotifers. The prey assemblages were greatly altered by the predation of mosquito larvae. Grazing losses indicated that the dominant algal taxon, Bumilleriopsis sp., like protozoa and rotifers, is a significant part of the diet of mosquito larvae. We conclude that algae are a relevant functional community of the aquatic food web in C. berteroniana and might form the basis of a complementary non-detrital food web

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Wool Pellets Are a Viable Alternative to Commercial Fertilizer for Organic Vegetable Production

The maintenance of optimum mineral nutrient fertility is a limiting factor in organic vegetable systems, with many growers resorting to applications of off-farm commercial fertilizer inputs. In this study, pelleted sheep’s wool was compared against a standard commercial fertilizer product for effects on productivity and plant growth in spinach and tomato. Two rates of wool pellets were applied; one was standardized to the nitrogen inputs of the ‘grower standard’ commercial treatment, and a second higher rate which was suggested by the pellet manufacturer with about 2.5 times the nitrogen content. Overall, few differences were observed among the fertilized treatments. Crop yield for both tomato and spinach generally increased with increasing fertility application, with no differences between commercial and wool pellet fertilizers applied at the same rate of nitrogen. The uptake of mineral nutrients in spinach plant tissues differed for K, Mg, P, S, B, and Ca, but there was no general trend that could be attributed to a particular treatment. Tomato fruit quality was the same for all treatments, but non-fertilized fruit had lower total polyphenols than the highest-fertility treatment. Overall, wool pellets performed very similarly to commercial organic fertilizer for both crops and could be a promising alternative that may open up opportunities for greater integration of plant and animal systems on diversified farms

Wool Pellets Are a Viable Alternative to Commercial Fertilizer for Organic Vegetable Production

The maintenance of optimum mineral nutrient fertility is a limiting factor in organic vegetable systems, with many growers resorting to applications of off-farm commercial fertilizer inputs. In this study, pelleted sheep’s wool was compared against a standard commercial fertilizer product for effects on productivity and plant growth in spinach and tomato. Two rates of wool pellets were applied; one was standardized to the nitrogen inputs of the ‘grower standard’ commercial treatment, and a second higher rate which was suggested by the pellet manufacturer with about 2.5 times the nitrogen content. Overall, few differences were observed among the fertilized treatments. Crop yield for both tomato and spinach generally increased with increasing fertility application, with no differences between commercial and wool pellet fertilizers applied at the same rate of nitrogen. The uptake of mineral nutrients in spinach plant tissues differed for K, Mg, P, S, B, and Ca, but there was no general trend that could be attributed to a particular treatment. Tomato fruit quality was the same for all treatments, but non-fertilized fruit had lower total polyphenols than the highest-fertility treatment. Overall, wool pellets performed very similarly to commercial organic fertilizer for both crops and could be a promising alternative that may open up opportunities for greater integration of plant and animal systems on diversified farms