ENSURING THE FUTURE SUCCESS OF NORTH AMERICAN SPECIALTY CROPS THROUGH SOILLESS SUBSTRATE SCIENCE

The overall goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive needs assessment for specialty crop producers and allied suppliers in regards to substrate development, management, and efficiency for the next decade. To accomplish this goal, theplanning project has three objectives: 1) identify specialty crop grower needs, 2) identify substrate company needs, and 3) develop an industry needs-driven full SCRI proposal.1. Identify specialty crop grower needs. The proposed team will identify the barriers and enablers to growers' adoption of sustainable and efficient substrate systems. The team will elicit broad, generalizable quantitative data through the use of an online survey and thick, rich, descriptive qualitative data through a listening session with targeted growers; bringing growers together to discuss the adoption of substrates (see letters of support for a sample of those willing to participate). A trained social scientists will moderate the session as well as assist the team in developing research and outreach activities that directly address growers' concerns. During the listening session, we expect to clarify expertise, identify needs by the industry, and define research priorities and responsibilities in production, engineering, socioeconomic, and outreach disciplines.2. Identify substrate company needs. The team will identify substrate industry needs using key informant interviews with representatives from substrate companies. Identifying substrate industry needs will ensure future research and outreach efforts are conducted in a manner that properly ensure the industry is prepared to supply the large quantities of substrate that will be needed on demand at growers' request. The data collected during the interviews with representatives from the substrate companies will assist the project team in further defining research priorities and responsibilities as needed by the growers and the companies to gain a holistic industry-wide view of needs. The substrate industry will be presented with findings from grower listening sessions so they can incorporate those concerns into their future planning.3. Develop a needs-driven full SCRI proposal. The overarching objective of this planning proposal is to develop research and outreach activities that arise from the trans-industry needs assessments. The information compiled in the interviews and surveys will be used to identify stakeholders' unfulfilled needs and gaps in knowledge required to fill those needs. We plan to develop a roadmap leading to increased productivity of specialty crops through targeted needs based national research collaborations. Methods to develop the information needed for the SCRI proposal will be suggested. This process may continue outside of the time limits of this planning grant in the developmental stages of the SCRI proposal.