Surveying North American Specialty Crop Growers’ Current Use of Soilless Substrates and Future Research and Education Needs

Many specialty crop growers are transitioning high-value crops from in-ground production to soilless culture due to the diminishing availability of fumigants, increasing pest pressure, extreme weather, and the need for flexible production practices. The objective of this study was to determine the r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agriculture (Basel) 2023-09, Vol.13 (9), p.1727
Main Authors: Fields, Jeb S., Owen, James S., Lamm, Alexa, Altland, James, Jackson, Brian, Oki, Lorence, Samtani, Jayesh B., Zheng, Youbin, Criscione, Kristopher S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural economics
Agricultural industry
Climate change
Cost benefit analysis
Crop diseases
Crop losses
Crop production
Crops
Dietary minerals
Disease management
Economic impact
Education
Extreme weather
Farmers
Fertilizers
Focus groups
Food
Fruits
Fumigants
greenhouse
growing med
nursery
Pest control
Pesticides
Pests
Physical instruments
Plant diseases
Questions
Return on investment
Safety and security measures
Safety management
small fruit
Soilless farming
Soils
Specialty crops
stakeholder
Substrates
vegetable
Vegetables
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Summary:Many specialty crop growers are transitioning high-value crops from in-ground production to soilless culture due to the diminishing availability of fumigants, increasing pest pressure, extreme weather, and the need for flexible production practices. The objective of this study was to determine the research and educational needs of specialty crop growers who are transitioning to soilless substrates. North American growers were surveyed using an online instrument that incorporated Likert-type statement matrices, open-ended questions, and demographic questions. Additionally, two virtually led focus groups were conducted to further expand upon the quantitative findings with descriptive data. Respondents indicated the most important factors in considering whether to adopt soilless substrates were improving, managing, and reducing overall plant quality, disease management, and crop loss, respectively. The most important research needs were understanding the effects of substrates on crop quality and uniformity, fertilizer management, and economic costs and benefits/return on investment. In both the grower survey and focus groups, crop quality and uniformity were among the highest-scored responses. Food safety, disease and pest management, consumer perception, substrate disposal-related issues, transportation, and return-on-investment were also identified as important factors when considering soilless substrates.
ISSN:2077-0472
2077-0472
DOI:10.3390/agriculture13091727