Development of a New Tool for Growers and Researchers to Better Understand Ornamental Operations

Many growers are reluctant to change practices, particularly if a cost (e.g. time, money, materials etc.) is associate with the change in practice.  One way to help inform grower decisions is through modeling their operation, showing potential areas for improvement.  As part of a 5-year, USDA-SCRI funded project, we will develop models to provide site-specific information for growers and researchers helping to inform users about current practices and to guide production decisions.  Informed decision-making should benefit both grower profitability and environmental sustainability.  These models will build upon existing Stella® models for greenhouse and container operations and will combine user inputs with research data to create outputs specific to individual operations.  Models inputs will include water (rainfall and irrigation), fertilizer application (rate, type, and timing), and site specific information (slope, container sizes, best management practices, etc.).  This information will feed into the model, creating an operation-specific baseline of current practices.  Once a baseline is defined, practices (i.e. decrease fertilizer rates or add BMPs) can be changed and the model run again to determine the impact of those changes.  Economic information will also be included in the models to provide growers with information regarding the cost and benefits of changing practices.  These models will become a user-friendly tool that both researchers and growers can use to better understand the impact of their operation and production practices, and how environmental impacts can be minimized.