Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium combines strengths
Extension agents attend a blueberry training session hosted by the consortium.
Photo Courtesy Tom Monaco
A nine-year-old partnership is bearing fruit for Southern region farmers. The Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium — a group of six universities, including N.C. State University — is designed to better serve the small fruit industry. The universities pool resources and expertise across state lines.
Dr. Tom Monaco, former head of the Horticultural Science Department in N.C. State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, coordinates the consortium. He said that in 1999, administrators with four southern universities came together on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus and proposed a regional center to help lessen the impact of budget reductions that each faced in their states.
The administrators predicted that a regional approach would also be more effective than having full-fledged staffs in every state, Monaco said.
Each state contributes $35,000 annually to be a member while at the same time contributing different strengths to meet the needs of small but knowledge-intensive enterprises.
In addition to N.C. State, Clemson University, Virginia Tech and the universities of Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee are consortium members.
The consortium makes it possible for each institution to contribute in its area of expertise. Experts from the various institutions support a Web site (www.smallfruits.org) and host grower meetings.
The Web site serves as a way for Extension specialists, agents and growers to get up-to-date information quickly. Production guides and integrated pest management guides are posted to the site and updated at least annually. The site, said Dr. David Lockwood, an extension fruit and nut crops specialist at the University of Tennessee, “is extremely valuable to all of our small fruit growers. Not only is the cultural information useful, but the site is a good way to keep growers up to speed on events happening in small fruit crops throughout the Southeast. Our growers and extension agents utilize this site heavily.”
The consortium also awards annual research and extension grants and produces a quarterly newsletter featuring topics such as frost and freeze protection, irrigation, insect and weed control, disease problems and new cultivars.
Dr. Gina Fernandez, CALS associate professor and small fruit specialist, has used grant funds from the consortium to breed new varieties of raspberries and blackberries. She and Dr. Jim Ballington, CALS professor of horticultural science, recently released a new raspberry cultivar, and they have several others in the pipeline.
“The funds from the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium, is not just seed money for me,” Fernandez said. “It has been the backbone for the project.”
Agent training programs have also yielded success. The consortium holds two agent training sessions a year on topics such as irrigation; strawberry, blueberry, bramble and organic production; and food safety.
Those workshops “are the best part of the consortium,” said Dr. Allen Straw, a faculty member at Virginia Tech. “Agents from all over the southeastern United States have the opportunity to learn, see for themselves and experience real-world small fruit production and techniques.”
Dr. Doug Bailey, head of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, agreed.
“Our agents who have participated in the multi-state trainings have commented on the high quality of the educational opportunities and also on the benefits of meeting and conversing with their counterparts from other states,” he said. “Without a multi-state program, this would not have been possible.”
Dr. John Clark of the University of Arkansas summed up the sentiment of those involved in the project when he said, “The bottom line is the consortium is a great thing, serving grower and technology disseminating needs. I can’t say anything but good about it.”
— Dee Shore
Dr. Tom Monaco, former head of the Horticultural Science Department in N.C. State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, coordinates the consortium. He said that in 1999, administrators with four southern universities came together on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus and proposed a regional center to help lessen the impact of budget reductions that each faced in their states.
The administrators predicted that a regional approach would also be more effective than having full-fledged staffs in every state, Monaco said.
Each state contributes $35,000 annually to be a member while at the same time contributing different strengths to meet the needs of small but knowledge-intensive enterprises.
In addition to N.C. State, Clemson University, Virginia Tech and the universities of Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee are consortium members.
The consortium makes it possible for each institution to contribute in its area of expertise. Experts from the various institutions support a Web site (www.smallfruits.org) and host grower meetings.
The Web site serves as a way for Extension specialists, agents and growers to get up-to-date information quickly. Production guides and integrated pest management guides are posted to the site and updated at least annually. The site, said Dr. David Lockwood, an extension fruit and nut crops specialist at the University of Tennessee, “is extremely valuable to all of our small fruit growers. Not only is the cultural information useful, but the site is a good way to keep growers up to speed on events happening in small fruit crops throughout the Southeast. Our growers and extension agents utilize this site heavily.”
The consortium also awards annual research and extension grants and produces a quarterly newsletter featuring topics such as frost and freeze protection, irrigation, insect and weed control, disease problems and new cultivars.
Dr. Gina Fernandez, CALS associate professor and small fruit specialist, has used grant funds from the consortium to breed new varieties of raspberries and blackberries. She and Dr. Jim Ballington, CALS professor of horticultural science, recently released a new raspberry cultivar, and they have several others in the pipeline.
“The funds from the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium, is not just seed money for me,” Fernandez said. “It has been the backbone for the project.”
Agent training programs have also yielded success. The consortium holds two agent training sessions a year on topics such as irrigation; strawberry, blueberry, bramble and organic production; and food safety.
Those workshops “are the best part of the consortium,” said Dr. Allen Straw, a faculty member at Virginia Tech. “Agents from all over the southeastern United States have the opportunity to learn, see for themselves and experience real-world small fruit production and techniques.”
Dr. Doug Bailey, head of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, agreed.
“Our agents who have participated in the multi-state trainings have commented on the high quality of the educational opportunities and also on the benefits of meeting and conversing with their counterparts from other states,” he said. “Without a multi-state program, this would not have been possible.”
Dr. John Clark of the University of Arkansas summed up the sentiment of those involved in the project when he said, “The bottom line is the consortium is a great thing, serving grower and technology disseminating needs. I can’t say anything but good about it.”
— Dee Shore