Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative
SAF POSITION:
The Society of American Florists (SAF) and the American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA), representing the U.S. floral and nursery industry, worked with USDA's Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) to develop a detailed $21 million proposal establishing the “Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative.” The Initiative was first funded in FY1999 and has increased over the past nine years to its current annual funding level of $6.25 million in the ARS base budget.
The Initiative’s priorities focus on research needs of national importance to the industry and are consistent with those in the Administration’s proposed FY 2009 ARS Budget:
· Improved product quality to enhance competitiveness
· Improved crop production tools
· Improved protection against pests and diseases
· Environmental stewardship
CURRENT STATUS:
Currently, $6.25 million dollars per year are included in the ARS base budget for Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative research projects specifically designed to support ARS research priorities and meet industry needs. Funds which are appropriated to the Initiative are divided among university and ARS researchers, often working in collaboration. A list of examples of Initiative successes can be found below.
Floriculture and nursery crops are the third largest value farm crop in the United States just behind corn and soybeans and ahead of wheat, cotton and tobacco – a $15 billion segment of the U.S. economy at wholesale and about 15 percent of total U.S. crop receipts. But a disproportionately small part of USDA’s research budget goes to floriculture and nursery crop research.
ARS and the industry are proud of our partnership, which has produced significant benefits in its nine years of existence.
It has changed the face of floriculture and nursery research in this country, upon which the industry and its economy depend. Continued support is essential so this crucial research will not be diminished nor on-going projects invalidated before results can be realized.
BACKGROUND:
The industry’s privately funded foundations spend over $1 to $3 million per year on research. However, the federal government has an appropriate role in partnering with industry to support research that addresses challenges to the floriculture and nursery industry.
The federal funding has added valuable new leverage. ARS researchers, working collaboratively with university horticultural researchers and with private industry-funded research projects, have leveraged research to achievements beyond what they could have accomplished individually. In tight fiscal times, the Initiative has a proven record of return on investment.
The Initiative will benefit both the industry and U.S. society by:
·
Improved product quality to enhance competitiveness of U.S. producers through improved nursery and floral products and production and through products mitigating environmental concerns.
·
Improved crop production tools, including mechanization, to reduce labor needs and increase productivity; development of “best management practices” to protect crops and the environment against pests and diseases and improve quality; and improved germplasm, leading to pest and disease-resistant varieties, higher consumer demand, and maintaining biodiversity.
·
Improved protection against pests and diseases, including those imported as a result of increased global trade:
P. ramorum ("Sudden Oak Death"),
Ralstonia, and others cause great economic and environmental damage.
·
Enhanced environmental stewardship, including research leading to reduced use of chemicals, increased biological pest controls, environmental remediation, reduced runoff, use of byproducts and more sustainability in use of materials and waste products, and research on invasives.
·
Strengthening U.S. rural and suburban economies by providing better technologies to growers across the U.S.
·
Enhancing Americans' quality of life. Plants and flowers benefit peoples’ lives in inner-city, suburban, and rural environments across America.
EXAMPLES OF FLORICULTURE & NURSERY INITIATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS
Improved product quality to enhance competitiveness of U.S. producers.
Genetic studies of petunias, at the University of Florida and The Ohio State University, and of gladiolus and roses, at the University of California-Davis and with ARS in California and Maryland, could lead to genetic improvements of qualities like scent, post-harvest life, and longevity, as well as pest and disease resistance.
Joint ARS-Mississippi State University projects are targeting research on crops which will survive and thrive in the “I-10” corridor – enabling Southern greenhouses and nurseries to provide consumers with plants and trees which are better-suited to local climatic conditions.
The Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center, at The Ohio State University, has been established to help preserve important plant germplasm for use by scientists and plant breeders.
ARS, The Ohio State University, and the University of Toledo are collaborating on efforts to better serve northern Ohio’s greenhouse industry, hard-hit by imports and energy costs over the past several years.
Improved crop production tools
Floriculture and nursery crop production with reduced cultural and pest management inputs is being studied intensively at the University of California-Davis. As chemical, energy, and fertilizer costs increase, U.S. growers must find ways to continue growing quality plants and flowers efficiently, while reducing those input costs. This area of research is benefiting U.S. grower, the environment, and our ability to compete in international markets.
ARS-University of Tennessee-Tennessee State University projects are developing improved crape myrtle, hydrangea, dogwood, and other species for improved value to the consumer.
In Ohio, a major project in cooperation with industry, ARS, and The Ohio State University is investigating new and more effective methods of spray application technology, to find better ways of watering and applying fertilizers and chemicals in nursery and greenhouse settings.
Research at Carnegie-Mellon University has helped nursery owners reduce labor costs by developing computer-assisted technologies for determining when, and how much, fertilizer, water, and chemical applications are required by specific plants in a nursery.
A new project this year will provide funding to researchers at Clemson University, Michigan State University, University of Florida, and University of Minnesota focusing on propagation, stock plant production, post-harvest handling and energy conservation, helping the industry to provide better cuttings and young plants to commercial growers and increasing our international competitiveness.
Improved protection against pests and diseases
Growers across the U.S. were devastated in 2003-2004 by the introduction of
Ralstonia solanacearum, requiring nurseries to destroy valuable geranium plants during a peak period. Establishment of the disease in the U.S. could severely damage the potato and vegetable industries. The Initiative is currently supporting valuable research efforts by internationally recognized experts at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Florida which focuses on this disease, to help prevent future losses.
Similarly, in 2005 growers across the U.S. suffered millions of dollars of quarantine losses due to the introduction of
P. ramorum ("sudden oak death"). The Initiative supports important research by ARS and Oregon State University scientists on causes and possible treatments for this dangerous and economically devastating disease.
A new biotype of silverleaf whitefly, imported into the U.S. from Europe, could severely damage the U.S. cotton, vegetable and ornamental industries. Researchers at the Universities of Florida, California (Riverside), Texas A&M and ARS are cooperating to find better ways of controlling the new pest and avoiding its spread. In addition, they are collaborating with international colleagues to try to find better approaches to solving this international problem.
Major projects at Cornell University are studying the use of beneficial and biological insects and organisms which will help growers to reduce chemical use. In addition, Cornell leads a collaborative research program on root diseases of plants, primarily
Pythium and
Phytophthora, with participation (also funded through the Initiative) by scientists at Pennsylvania State, Clemson, Michigan State, and North Carolina State Universities. Soil-borne root diseases are a continuing problem for growers everywhere in the U.S., and particularly as the availability of soil fumigants decreases, it is imperative that growers find ways to avoid or treat those diseases, to continue production of high-yielding, attractive, and healthy greenhouse and landscape plants.
Viruses, with their ability to quickly mutate, are a serious problem both in domestic production and in international trade. Two major projects are underway at North Carolina State University, on two of the major viruses affecting floral crops. A related project involving collaboration among scientists at ARS, the University of California-Riverside, and Oregon State University, is making strides to accelerate virus identification, for clean stock plant production and international trade.
A new project at Tennessee State University studying fire ant control will help nursery owners nationwide control and eradicate this dangerous and costly quarantine pest.
An important ongoing project at Michigan State University is studying novel strategies and technologies for management of water molds and foliar blights affecting floral crops.
Another new pest, Chilli Thrips, has been introduced, probably as a result of international trade and travel, into the southern U.S. New research by the University of Florida and ARS is helping to learn more about this pest, which could affect many crops as well as the environment, if it is not successfully controlled.
Enhanced environmental stewardship
A major project involving scientists at the University of Florida, Clemson University, North Carolina State University, and the ARS station at Ft. Pierce, Florida, is undertaking a detailed study of irrigation methods and substrate composition for nutrient and water use efficiency for containerized nursery crops. This study is already yielding important results that will help nursery growers maximize nutrient and chemical inputs and avoid runoff and other environmental problems, strengthening their ability to provide healthy and affordable plants to meet the nation’s landscape and interiorscape needs.
Another major project, involving collaboration by ARS scientists and researchers at North Carolina State University, and Oregon State University is studying development and evaluation of non-invasive nursery crops. Another ARS scientist is collaborating in an invasive predictive model project. The management and eradication of invasive plants like kudzu, English ivy, and Purple Loosestrife has cost our nation millions of dollars in eradication and control efforts – the study of genetic and other improvements could lessen the environmental and economic damage of invasives.
A project in collaboration with ARS and private funding is developing ways of recycling waste materials into biodegradable pots.
