Detailed Indicator Report (Year: 2007) (Generated: 05-Sep-10)
50% of participants will experiment by trying new practices, crops or crop varieties, or production techniques on their farms.
Locations:
Sullivan | Statewide | Northeast 13 states
Type: Learning
Evaluation plan: Oral interviews and direct observation techniques will be used by agricultural resources staff to assess new practices adopted as a direct result of UNHCE educational efforts.
Questionnaires will be used at grower meetings to get information directly from farmers regarding new practices evaluated or tried as a result of UNHCE educational efforts, be these farm visits, programs, newsletters, etc.
Plan:
Becky Grube - Sustainable Vegetable and Fruit Production
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2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
| # changed |
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53 |
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| # planned |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Outcomes:
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NH fruit and vegetable producers increase their skills in conducting on-farm research. (Learning)
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Producers and allied ag industry personnel will be educated about the vulnerability of our food supply and take action to protect from terrorism (Learning)
Related outputs (by Program):
NONE
Related outputs:
No related outputs.
Related narratives:
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Individual Impact Statements (every staff person should complete 2-3 annually)
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Becky Sideman
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Narrative:
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Tomato Grafting Workshop: Hosted expert tomato farmer and grafter to conduct hands-on demonstration of tomato grafting. Followed up with roundtable discussion of issues specific to greenhouse/tunnel tomato growers. 50 growers attended and received grafting supplies for 2007 growing season. During the growing season, visited four growers that had attended the Nov 06 grafting workshop that had either grafted their own plants or purchased grafted plants as a result of the workshop. All of them were happy with the results and planned to continue using grafted plants. Two growers in Cheshire county reported 40-50% yield increases using grafted tomatoes. This could give growers an additional $2500 per 14’x96’ tunnel, estimating an average yield with non-grafted tomatoes at 3,000 lbs, $2 per pound, with a cost of $2 per each of 250 plants.
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Entered:
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06-Nov-07
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Related indicators:
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50% of participants will experiment by trying new practices, crops or crop varieties, or production techniques on their farms.
AG7 - 50% of participants adopt recommended practices or technologies such as new crops or varieties, production systems, season extension techniques and/or greenhouse lighting.
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Related locale:
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Statewide
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Narrative:
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On-Farm research Tomato Nutrition: Collaborated with Geoffrey Njue and a grower in Strafford County to design a research project and helped prepare a SARE farmer/grower grant to study the effects of different potassium fertilization regimes on fruit yields and quality in a greenhouse tomato operation. 2007 was the first year of this project as well. The project objectives were discussed at a twilight meeting in June 2007.
Sweetpotato Research: Collaborated with Carl Majewski and a grower in Cheshire County to design a project and submit a SARE farmer/grower grant to study the effects of various types of organic fertilizers on sweetpotatoes. The project was funded, and 2007 was the first year of this project. Sweetpotatoes were harvested and the first data was taken in fall 2007.
Garlic Cover Cropping: Collaborated with Sadie Puglisi and a grower in Merrimack County to design a research project to study various cover crops for weed control in garlic plantings. This project was funded by the NH SARE PDP mini-grant program for farmer-driver research. 2007 was the first year of this study.
Oilseed Research: Served as advisor on a successful NE SARE farmer grant proposal to a farmer in Strafford County. The project title is Interseeding legume and grain crops with high oil content sunflower. The project was discussed at a twilight meeting in August 2007 (8 people).
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Entered:
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06-Nov-07
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Related indicators:
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50% of participants will experiment by trying new practices, crops or crop varieties, or production techniques on their farms.
AG3- # of growers who adopt practices that improve farm productivity, quality of life, environmental conditions, and/or profitability. (Relates to NRBI3)(Statewide target is 50 growers)
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Related locales:
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Cheshire
Merrimack
Strafford
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Narrative:
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On-farm experiments. Out of the many growers that tested new crops and/or varieties in 2006 and 2007, many gave favorable feedback in personal interviews, and said that they would grow some of the varieties in future years. Specific examples include:
o Sweetpotatoes: At least three farms grew sweetpotatoes on a trial basis for the first time in 2007, after learning about them from UNHCE trials. After discussions about growing practices with several other growers that had grown them in the past, many planned to try them again.
o Peppers: After trying bacterial leaf spot resistant varieties in 2006, several growers started incorporating BLS resistant varieties. For example, one grower switched to a resistant variety and reported excellent yields, compared with complete losses to BLS the previous year. One reported that they had switched to resistant varieties; in 2006 they experienced significant losses due to phytotoxicity of copper fungicides applied to control the BLS during the previous year.
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Entered:
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06-Nov-07
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Related indicator:
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50% of participants will experiment by trying new practices, crops or crop varieties, or production techniques on their farms.
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