Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Production, Product Development and Marketing Strategies for Socially and Historically Disadvantaged Farmers and Cooperatives (shdfc) in Alabama

<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: <br/>There has been a steady decline in the number of farms, acreage and overall production of fruits and vegetables in Alabama. With health issues such as obesity among adults and children there is room to expand the number and variety of fruits and vegetables for consumption. There is a need to address ways to increase production through the use of improved technologies, such as more suitable varieties, the use of high tunnels & value addition for multiple markets in order to increase profitability. There is also a need to reach out to K-12 institutions, beginning farmers, and returning veterans to enhance agricultural curricula and/or develop programs to increase interest towards production agriculture. <p>The goals of this integrated research project are 1) to increase and/or stabilize the number of farmers, acreage, and enhance their economic wellbeing through increasing productivity of selected fruits and vegetables including niche ethnic crops and 2.) to develop and introduce new products from field-to-market-table over the next five years. This project comprises cross cutting disciplines in research, extension/outreach and education. These goals will be achieved under five main objectives which are organized into clusters as follows: Cluster 1. Production of selected fruits and vegetable crops through improved production practices for diversified multiple markets; Cluster 2. Development of value-added products for multiple markets; Cluster 3. Assessment of conditions in current markets for selected crops/value-added products as well as development of alternative markets; Cluster 4. Development of and education on food safety and quality programs through good agricultural and post-harvest handling practices; Cluster 5. Development of agricultural curriculum and programs for secondary and post-secondary students, beginning farmers and returning veterans.
<p>APPROACH: <br/>Cluster/Objective 1. Production of selected fruits and vegetable crops through improved production practices for diversified multiple markets: We will evaluate various organic amendments and rates in combination with cover crops on yield, mineral and phytonutrient content of selected fruits and vegetables (tomato, peppers, water melons,peas including chick pea, sweetpotato, blueberries, muscadine). Selected traditional and non-traditional vegetables (amaranth, celsia, long bean, dwarf pak choi, hot peppers, okra, peas, chickpea, water melons sweetpotatoes) will be screened for growth under different fertilizer regimes and crop rotation schemes. We will evaluate effectiveness and economics of innovative solar irrigation systems for small farm crop production, the ability of coupled hoop houses and rainwater collection systems for increased production beyond their natural growing season; quantify the impacts of microirrigation/fertigation systems on yield, and soil ecology, monitor water quality of wells installed on station and on farmers fields, and water collected from tunnel houses. This will be done through on-farm participatory/observational research and on-station experimental plots. Biotechnological approaches will be used to develop disease resistance using sweetpotato as a model, including introducing existing constructs of the antimicrobial 4E1 peptide gene into sweeetpotato genotype PI 318846-3 through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation; testing the transgenic lines for resistance against several known sweetpotato foliar and root pathogens in the greenhouse; designing and testing 5 new peptides in vitro for enhanced activity over 4E1 peptide against the same pathogens. We will also integrate IPM strategies into conventional and organic vegetable and fruit production under field and high tunnel house systems. <p> Cluster/Objective 2. Development of value-added products for multiple markets: Fruits and vegetables from cluster 1 will be analyzed for nutritional and physicochemical status, including: proximate composition, carotene, sugar and starch profile, ascorbic acid content, antioxidants (total phenolics, polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase and free radical scavenging ability, titratable acidity) and dietary fiber. Carotene will be analyzed by HPLC methods sugar and starch profile will be measured using a modified method of Farhat et al and glucose, sucrose and fructose using assay kits (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) and HPLC methods. The 2, 6 dichloroindophenol method will be utilized to measure ascorbic acid content. Antioxidants and dietary fiber contents will be. We will assess sales, growth rate, proportion of market and attitudes and beliefs of consumers and socioeconomic and other factors on markets. Sales trends of the different crops will be assessed in the dollar terms and physical quantity terms. In addition, attitudes and beliefs of as well as other characteristics of consumers regarding the crops will be examined using primary and secondary data collection methods; the data will be analyzed by descriptive narrative and statistics and regression. <p>Cluster/Objective 4. Development and Education on Food safety and quality through good agricultural practice and good post-harvest handling practices. We will: conduct an assessment of the current knowledge and practices of our farmers on good food safety practices (situational analysis) and use this information to guide farmer training, organize food safety workshops for farmers covering: Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Handling Practices (GHPs), and the safe/proper use of pesticides, and repare and assist farmers to become GAP-certified by the USDA. This will comprise on-farm educational audits that will be conducted not only to assess the practices on a farm as they relate to food safety, but also to give guidance to the farmer on changes that would be necessary to minimize the risk of contamination of the produce. The on-farm educational audit will examine the following areas as specified in the USDA GAP standards: General Food Safety, including management responsibility, planning, documentation, worker education, etc.; Field Production, including worker health and hygiene, chemical use, water quality, etc.; harvesting, including water use, packaging, handling, storing, etc., and transportation. <p>Cluster/Objective 5. Development of agricultural curriculum and programs for secondary, and post secondary students, beginning farmers and returning veterans. We will develop mentoring programs in the secondary schools through our Extension Agents in collaboration with the Ag Teachers and encourage the students to participate in Ag Discovery, Ag Fair and Summer Internship programs. The target groups for the initial project will be students in Macon, Bullock, Perry, Lowndes, and Dallas counties. The first step is raising the awareness of the secondary student in the significance of agriscience-related careers. Initiative will be multi-disciplinary to attract and maintain the interests of secondary school students. Collaborating with public school agriculture teachers, and through classroom interaction, secondary school students will be introduced to the relevance of agriscience-related careers. A Kinder-Gardeners Program will be implemented at the three local kindergartens and two elementary school gardens in surrounding counties to promote an appreciation for and interest in growing sustainable fruits and vegetables among students at an early age. About 20 Beginning farmers in the Black belt counties who have fewer than 10 years of productionexperience will be assisted to develop business and marketing plans, and enterprise budgets. Training sessions will begin with proper business practices (record keeping, insurance, taxes, business structure), extending to soil management (soil tests, preparation, liming, fertilizing) and crop selection. Data will be collected and analyzed to ascertain the extent to which farmers use these plans. The budgets will be developed at the beginning of each season in order to give the farmer a rough idea about the outlook for profits for the coming season. Veterans in the homeless program at the local VA hospital will be recruited to participate in training classes covering soils, crop production, marketing entrepreneurship, and food preparation techniques ultimately to enable them to provide basic sustenance. These veterans will be provided a ? acre plot on the VA compound to grow seasonal vegetables for consumption and potentially dispose of excess production through a local farmers market. Veterans will also receive training in small fruit (blueberry, muscadine) production and maintenance such as pruning, trellising, mulching and fertilizing. Through the development of the College Students Farming program, students will be engaged in a sustainable farm program the uses minimal emissions farming to teach students through experience lessons in agribusiness, bioconversion, aquaculture, plant nutrition, and conservation. Students will be engaged through work study, internships, registered class, and volunteership to engage in the processes that sustain the farm such as: Composting/Waste Collection, Vermiculture, Farm Structure construction, Alternative Energy Use and generation, Rainwater Harvesting/Grey water utilization, High Value vegetable production, and Aquaponics.