A Private Extension and Risk Management Initiative to Assist Direct Market Strawberry Plasticulture Growers in the Eastern United States

Plasticulture strawberries are expensive to grow but can be profitable with good production and risk management practices. Strawberry producers in Eastern U.S. invest over $12,000 per acre in preharvest production expenses for a crop that is exposed to significant weather risks for over six months.  Affordable risk management programs, such as those available through the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board for agronomic crops (e.g. tobacco), are not available to strawberry growers in Eastern United States. StrawberryDoc LLC (www.strawberrydoc.net) was founded in December 2011, by E. Barclay Poling, Manager, in conjunction with SkyBit, Inc. to help small and mid-level strawberry farmers better manage the most important weather risks associated with strawberry plasticulture production during the critical pre-bloom, bloom, fruit set and fruit ripening periods. The Strawberry Plasticulture E-Advisor, serves to “translate” weather forecast information from SkyBit’s patented Strawberry Canopy Forecast, into actionable, preventive measures—using row covers and/or sprinkler irrigation. This new service was organized with the financial sponsorship of 5 strawberry nursery industry/plug propagation companies in the U.S. and Canada. For a nominal fee of $120/year ($10/month), commercial strawberry plasticulture growers in 12 states (AR, GA, MD, MI, MO, NC, NJ, OH, OK, SC, TX, and VA), are subscribed to a highly interactive internet-based service where they receive day-to-day guidance on production, pest and weather management issues.  Also, subscribers receive a twice daily "SkyBit" E-Weather Strawberry forecast (via email or fax) from early February through the middle of May.  Subscribers are encouraged to provide real-time feedback about the accuracy of location-specific frost and freeze forecasts by SkyBit (and AWIS).  In developing advisories, the coordinator of this service interacts via email with grower/subscribers, front-line extension agents, and land-grant researchers in multiple states.  Difficult problems like managing strawberry nursery stock infected with bacterial angular leaf spot (Xanthamonas fragariae), require very specialized expertise in plant pathology, and it is therefore critical for the coordinator to build and maintain vital relationships with mission-oriented members of the land-grant scientific community. All strawberry plasticulture growers can benefit from having timely, accurate weather forecasts, crop and pest management information. Working together with various land-grant scientists and front-line agents in multiple states, a great deal of critical expertise can be leveraged using “professional learning communities” to solve problems that would otherwise make strawberry plasticulture production unprofitable.