2017 ASHS Annual Conference

The Columbia Basin region in Oregon has over 250,000 acres of high yielding irrigated cropland, another one million acres are found in Washington. The Oregon State University (OSU) Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center (HAREC) is strategically located within the Columbia Basin to provide irrigated agricultural research and extension support locally, regionally and beyond. While potato is the central rotational crop, over 200 cultivated plant species are grown. The largest onion producer in the United States is located in this region of Oregon. The horticulture program at HAREC has been vacant for five years until September 2016, when it was filled at the assistant professor level. The five-year fallow duration enabled the unique opportunity to restructure and design a research program from the ground up. As a new tenure track assistant professor, with an academic appointment of 70% research and 25% extension, I chose to focus the new horticulture program in a direction to foster crop diversity and productivity coupled with environmental sustainability. The HAREC horticulture program has diverse crop responsibilities within specialized irrigated crops, ranging from annual row crops such as onion, to perennial small fruits such as blueberry. With the wide range of crop responsibilities that fall under the horticultural management umbrella, I have been able to find direction by utilizing the extension component of my appointment to meet with growers to develop an informal needs assessment that is being used to formulate research projects and subsequent funding avenues. Finding the balance between my research objectives and firsthand grower production challenges is a fundamental component of a successful and productive program. Current research projects for the first summer of the HAREC horticulture program (2017) are diverse in nature to establish a wide range of crop production skills and facilitate diverse grower interactions. Four projects are underway this season consisting of: 1) a weed management trial to evaluate new chemical technologies with reduced rate active ingredients to control difficult broadleaf weed species in direct seeded onion crops; 2) a sweet corn seed treatment evaluation aimed at improving stand establishment as a result of pest and pathogen pressures; 3) a study to evaluate the feasibility of decreasing soilborne pathogen pressure on watermelon through applications of an organically approved drip injected oxidization product, in hopes of reducing the reliance on traditional and expensive fumigation practices; 4) an evaluation aimed at reducing abiotic heat stress in the form of sunburn damage to blueberry fruit by applying a novel biofilm made of phospholipids, cellulose and other proprietary ingredients. The general theme of the current research is based directly off regional grower needs to help facilitate crop productivity, while fostering methods of environmental stewardship. Great potential exists for the OSU HAREC horticulture program to directly impact Columbia Basin specialty irrigated crop productivity and diversity, as well as the general agricultural knowledge base. Looking toward the future, the new generation of agricultural scientists will be responsible for continuing the industries progress in an environmentally conscious and economically viable direction, which personally provides me inspiration, dedication and growth.