Central Florida Research Center Addressing Growers’ Needs
September 12, 2013 
In the countryside southeast of Tampa resides a world-class research center dedicated to horticultural and ornamental agriculture in the tiny enclave called Balm. Since opening in 2005, the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) — a unit of UF/IFAS — has built its foundation on serving the real-time needs of growers not only locally, but across the state.
Growers rely on GCREC’s scientists to address challenges and opportunities they are facing in the field and beyond. The Center will be on full display, hosting the eight annual Florida Ag Expo on Nov. 6.
The facility is spread across 475 acres and contains trials on vegetables, small fruits, and ornamental crops. More than 150 people work in and around the Center with 17 faculty, operating in 16 laboratories and 15 greenhouses.
“One of our top directives is to visit our growers to get to know them and learn what their challenges and needs are,” says Jack Rechcigl, director of GCREC. “That really helps drive the research we conduct.
“The Florida Ag Expo is an excellent time to come visit the center and meet our people. They can see our facility, attend the educational sessions, and see the new varieties and trials growing in the fields.”
“It is critically important to local growers to have GCREC in our back yard,” says Tony DiMare, who is a grower near the Balm facility. “We as growers don’t have all the know-how, and to some extent the resources to do specific research on pest and diseases that affect our crops.
“Without GCREC, we are not able to quickly identify these problems. It’s a benefit for both the researchers who are in close proximity to our farms to be able to visit a local grower and see firsthand the problems we may be experiencing in the field, and for the growers who can reach out to a researcher or visit the center directly to help diagnose a problem.”
Challenge: Water
One of the major challenges facing agriculture is that of water conservation and the preservation of its quality. Water is a perennial issue in Florida that will continue to grow in importance in the coming years.
But, how can farmers effectively produce crops when the availability of water becomes scarce and the scrutiny of nutrient runoff is high? Scientists at GCREC are studying ways growers can conserve water in establishing crops and for freeze protection. Both of these common practices require tremendous amounts of water, but are critically important to successful production.
“I have been working with UF/IFAS for 34 years and Florida growers have adopted an enormous amount of technology to reduce water use,” says Craig Stanley, who is the associate director of GCREC. “It is tremendous what they have done, especially our local strawberry growers. They were as a commodity group the fastest to convert to microirrigation because they saw the real advantages. And, it was not just the water conservation because they could put the nutrients where they needed it when they needed it.”
Bielinski Santos, a GCREC based-horticulturist, has worked with growers to help reduce water needs for establishing strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers. He has studied various methods from actions as simple as scheduling to the more experimental tools like soil conditioners to spread water more evenly in beds.
“There is no way to talk about water use and what happened here a couple winters of ago and the perception that people have about ag’s water use,” says Santos. “So, we are looking for new ways to cold protect and also are looking for ways to establish strawberries with a lot less water.
“We have cut water anywhere from 30% to 60% by combining different techniques like reducing the amount of water the sprinklers deliver and pulsing the water applications. Also, we are using antitranspirents just as an example of the kind of things we are doing to try to reduce water needs.”
Opportunity: New Varieties
The Tasti-Lee tomato is a game changer and has become wildly popular across the country. That’s because like its name infers, it tastes good. But to achieve the vine-ripe flavor with good postharvest traits, it took the considerable plant breeding skills of Jay Scott, who calls GCREC home.
Scott says breeding new tomato hybrids can vary, but even in the best case scenario can take about 10 years. “With bacterial spot resistance, I’ve been working on that pretty intensely since 1982,” he says. “So, in that case, it is 30 years and counting.”
The Tasti-Lee proved that breeding for taste, along with all the other traits needed by growers, is a winner. Scott now has his sights set on an “acid lovers” tomato.
The GCREC also is recognized globally for its strawberry breeding efforts. Now retired, Craig Chandler’s breeding brought some of the most famous varieties in the world like Festival. Vance Whitaker has taken the reins from Chandler and says future strawberry breeding also will place and emphasis on taste.
“I believe we will see progress over the next decade in combining better flavor with the important agronomic and quality traits that growers and marketers require,” says Whitaker. “We also are working hard to improve resistance to Phytophthora root and crown rots in future varieties. In addition, we would like to develop varieties that can be planted earlier, allowing Florida growers to take better advantage of the November market.”
Florida Sensation strawberry is the newest variety to come out of GCREC and will go through expanded trials this fall and will be commercially available in 2014. “This variety has great fruit size and flavor,” says Whitaker.
Most of these varieties will be on display in field trials during the Florida Ag Expo. “The field trials are a good place for growers to see newer varieties next to the standards they know for comparison,” says Scott.
Journey To The Center Of Florida’s Agriculture Innovation
Challenge: Methyl Bromide Replacement
A production challenge facing many growers is the phase out of methyl bromide. In the absence of the fumigant, some fields are getting away from growers as pest pressure grows.
“Growers are finding that the available soil fumigants have limited efficacy against weeds, nematodes, and soilborne pathogens,” says Gary Vallad, a plant pathologist based at GCREC. “Some of these weaknesses against nutsedge and other weeds were apparent fairly early during the methyl bromide transition period, followed by problems with nematodes developing.
“However, the control issues with soilborne pathogens took longer to develop, since it takes more time for these pathogen populations to build and disseminate throughout a field. Growers are finding that successful production requires additional inputs in time, labor, and products to manage these problems. There are current solutions to many of these problems. Unfortunately, they are not a perfect fit to every production system and will likely require growers to make some tough choices.”
Currently, Vallad is collaborating with fellow researchers and growers on several projects aimed at evaluating new control programs now that methyl bromide is gone. “There are no perfect one-size-fits-all replacements for methyl bromide,” he says. In short, the alternatives do not move within the soil profile like methyl bromide did. Our efforts to date are focused on improving the efficacy of these products by either altering the way they are applied or by potentially changing bed architecture.”
Growers dealing with field escapes due to fumigant challenges can learn more during the Florida Ag Expo. A full session will be dedicated to this challenge during the event.
Opportunity: Protected Agriculture
Planting under structures like tunnels and greenhouses is growing in popularity in Florida. Tomatoes, peppers, and even blueberries are now being grown under cover to remove the uncertainties of weather, and most importantly, get to the market first.
“We are moving from an extensive agriculture mentality to an intensive agriculture mentality,” says Santos, who has worked with growers all over the state to establish protected plantings. “If you have a high tunnel, you can begin planting tomatoes in December when nobody else is planting. Then you will have tomatoes in March when the market is still high.”
Santos has developed a patent-pending roof-ventilated high tunnel (RVHT), which will extend the growing season for up to three months. Growers are gravitating toward high tunnels because they are more cost-effective when compared to greenhouse structures.
The RVHT was developed for Florida’s warm climate. A small window vent allows excess heat escape and a gutter collects rainwater for additional cooling when attached to a small impulsion pump.
Challenge: Labor And Economics
Immigration reform and the plight of growers seeking a reliable source of labor has been at the top of the headlines in recent months.
Zhengfei Guan, an economist based at GCREC, has been surveying local strawberry growers about the economics of their production and how Mexican competition and labor availability has impacted their operations.
The survey found growers are experiencing labor shortages and the high cost of available labor is affecting their bottom line. In addition, growers are expressing concern about the implications of an “E-Verify” rule in Florida and they say the current H-2A program is too expensive and cumbersome.
The survey suggested the labor intensive industry is facing serious threats from Mexican competition. This information has been shared with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and key Florida officials from Congress and the Senate to communicate the myriad challenges facing local strawberry growers. The data provided by Guan can be used as justification for future legislation.
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