Sustainable Organic Strawberry (SOS) Cropping Systems for the Southeast

Research Objectives

1. Assess the efficacy of off-season cover crops on soil health and in suppressing weeds, sting nematodes, arthropod pests, and pathogens
2. Evaluate the performance of strawberry cultivars in open field organic production systems
3. Monitor population of arthropod pests, including the spotted wing drosophila (swd) and twospotted spider mite (tssm), and beneficials
4. Integrate summer leguminous cover crop into nutrient management program for organic strawberry production systems
5. Develop pest management practices for spotted wing drosophila
6. Develop management alternatives for twospotted spider mite
7. Assess the season extension potential of low and high tunnels in organic strawberry production
8. Farmer assessment of response of cover crop and cultivars to on-farm bio-physical and management regimes.
9. Evaluate consumer preferences for traditional and recently released strawberry cultivars with regard to sensory attributes like flavor, color, and texture, including consumer willingness to pay.
10. Calculate production costs and potential returns of selected management alternatives based on data from the biological research.

Outreach Objectives

1. We will engage producer and county extension faculty members in research and outreach planning, implementation and outcomes.
2. Demonstrate the feasibility of organic strawberry production in low-cost crop tunnels.
3. We will provide extension faculty members, other local service providers, and growers with research results and recommendations, including representatives of and professionals who work with limited resource and minority farmers.

Project Details

This work is supported by Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative grant no. 2015-51300-24134 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. View the final progress report.

• Activities

  Advisory Panel

  A panel of stakeholders make recommendations for research design, data collection, project outreach, on-farm trials, mobilizing growers, and future experiments.

  We hosted five advisory panel meetings from 2017-2019.

  We are hosting the final advisory panel meeting in 2020.

  Research Assessments

  Farmers and agricultural service providers evaluate the research design, treatments, and data collection and identify benefits and limitations of our research.

  • the participants are told what treatments are being tested but they do not know which treatment is in each plot
  • participants observe the field research plots and record their observations about plant vigor, weed suppression, pest damage, disease damage, etc.
  • participants then engage in a facilitated discussion as a group and identify the most desirable and least desirable treatments observed
  • participants then make recommendations for future experiments after the plot/treatment key is revealed

  We hosted an on-station research assessment at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra, FL in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

  Farmer Interviews

  Interviews were completed from 2017-2019 with farmers participating in the on-farm trials to help understand a farmer’s decision making process.

  Interviews were completed in 2020 with 40 beginning farmers across the Southeast.

  Project Videos

  • View project videos

  Field Days

  We hosted a field day at one of the on-farm trials in 2019 and at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra, FL in 2019 and 2020.

  Presentations

  DeLong, A. N., Swisher, M. E., Chase, C. A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. E., Gao, Z., Bolques, A., and Gu, Sanjun. (2022) Stakeholder-Driven adaptive research (SDAR): Better research products. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 1-10. doi:10.1017/S1742170522000023

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Chase, C.A., Ruiz-Menjivar, J. & Irani, T. (2020) Emerging identities of a new generation of farmers: A systematic literature review. Oral Presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences. Orlando, FL. 2020 ASHS SOS DeLong Presentation

  Swisher, M.E., Delong, A., Sattanno, K., Chase, C.A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O., Gao, Z., Bolques, A. & Gu, S. (2020) Farmer-Driven Research Design: Developing More Adoptable Research Outcomes. Oral Presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences. Orlando, FL. 2020 ASHS SOS Swisher Presentation

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Chase, C.A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O.E. and Gao, Z. (2020) Training social science graduate students in agricultural fields. Paper Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. Las Cruces, NM. (Conference canceled)

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Chase, C.A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O.E. and Gao, Z. (2020) Shared decision-making in agricultural research: Farmers and scientists developing adoptable outcomes. Paper Presentation at the Joint Meeting of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society. Athens, GA. (Conference canceled)

  Torres-Quezada, E., Chase, C. A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. E., Gao, Z., and Swisher, M. E. (2020) Cover crops and strawberry cultivars for resilient organic strawberry production in Florida. Poster Presentation at the Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Gainesville, FL.

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Chase, C.A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. and Gao, Z. (2020) Farmer field trials: A pathway to enhances research efficacy. Poster Presentation at the Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Gainesville, FL.

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Sattanno, K., Chase, C.A., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. and Gao, Z. (2019) Co-creation of knowledge in agroecology: Collaborating to develop sustainable organic agricultural systems. Paper Presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences. Las Vegas, NV.

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Sattanno, K., Chase, C., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. and Gao, Z. (2019) Sustainable organic strawberry cropping systems for the Southeast. Workshop facilitated at the North American Strawberry Symposium. Orlando, FL.

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Sattanno, K., Chase, C., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. and Gao, Z. (2018) Enhancing biological research through farmer-driven methods. Poster Presentation at the Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference. Opelika, AL.

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Sattanno, K., Chase, C., Zhao, X., Liburd, O. and Gao, Z. (2018) Social science in service to biological research. Paper Presentation at the Annual Meeting of Florida State Horticultural Society. Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

  DeLong, A.N., Swisher, M.E., Chase, C.A., Zhao, X., Sattanno, K., Rosskopf, E., Di Goia, F. and Hong, J.C. (2017) Participatory methods in crop research: Giving more decision-making power to farmers. Paper Presentation at the Annual Tri-Societies Meeting of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America. Tampa, FL.

• Videos
  • View project videos
• Team Members

  University of Florida

  • Carlene A. Chase, Ph.D. (Lead Project Investigator)    
  • Emmanuel Torres, Ph.D.
  • Preeti Ahuja, Ph.D.    
  • Laila Khandaker, Ph.D.
  • Xin Zhao, Ph.D.    
  • Xuelian Zhang, Ph.D.
  • Jianyu Li    
  • Zachary Black
  • Oscar Liburd, Ph.D.    
  • Elena Rhodes, Ph.D.
  • Mickie Swisher, Ph.D.    
  • Alia DeLong
  • Zhifeng Gao, Ph.D.  
  • Lijia Shi, Ph.D.
  • James Rentz    
  • Luqing Yu

  North Carolina A&T University

  • Sanjun Gu, Ph.D.
  • John E. Kimes

  Florida A&M University

  • Alejandro Bolques, Ph.D.