Documenting the impact of 10 years of IPM on Wisconsin cranberry production: A case study in documenting impact in extension
J. COLQUHOUN (1). (1) University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, U.S.A.
Food supply chain partners have expressed growing interest in quantifying sustainability advancements behind the farm gate. This interest includes significant effort to document participatory applied research, educational outreach and implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies and thus has created an opportunity to communicate the important role of extension to diverse audiences. In 2009, for example, the Wisconsin cranberry growers and the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Extension initiated a project to develop a producer-led, research-based cranberry sustainability assessment survey to document advances in social, economic and environmental sustainability parameters over time, including adoption of IPM practices. In a 2012 survey, over 80% of producers scouted crops for plant diseases, 88% managed water to minimize disease risk and 92% sampled soil and plant tissue nutrient status according to research-based recommendations – all practices developed through applied land-grant research and adopted through educational efforts by UW-Extension. Benefits for extension programs from these efforts included: the process of developing assessments has strongly linked research and outreach personnel with agricultural producers; gaps in knowledge or practice identified in the assessments were used to leverage research funding; and, the advancements in agricultural production based on applied research and public outreach were communicated broadly.
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