Apr 1, 2016Tree fruit commission pinpoints early funding strategies
Maintaining infrastructure needs at the state’s agricultural research stations has proven to be the funding priority of the Michigan Tree Fruit Commission (MTFC) in its first full year of operation.
MTFC spent $385,089 in 2015, $290,300 of that allocated for research station support, according to a commission report.
In August 2014, MTFC board members signed a five-year letter of agreement at the Clarksville Research Center with Michigan State University’s (MSU) College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, MSU AgBioResearch and MSU Extension.
Growers approved MTFC in a March 2014 referendum. The Michigan Apple Committee, Michigan Cherry Committee and Michigan Processing Apple Growers are providing administrative functions – including collection of assessments – for MTFC, which falls under the auspices of the state government.
The commission was formed “in response to a very significant decrease in operating dollars for our fruit research stations across the state,” said commission chairman Jim Nugent, who updated growers on the group’s progress at the recent Northwest Michigan Orchard and Vineyard Show in Acme, Michigan.
“They had lost approximately 50 percent of their funding over the prior 10-year period, so there was a lot of infrastructure they couldn’t put in place.”
Nugent said “the industry came together – apple, cherry, plum and peach industries all worked together to self assess them under a (Public Act) 232 program to get dollars to help rebuild the infrastructure at the research stations, as well as make sure we’ve got the rest of the infrastructure we need, which is really the people in place in both research specialist positions on campus and the Extension system.
“It’s been a great first year (in which MTFC could actually distribute funding support). It’s been a sharp learning curve,” Nugent said. “We got lots of input from lots of people. We’re still continuing to try to make sure we stay on target and we’re still soliciting a lot of input from MSU faculty, from Extension faculty and from the growers, and we’ve got everybody really working together.”
Nugent said 2014 “was the year we started to collect dollars, so 2015 was our first year to make expenditures. We set up committees with the growers, working with each of the individual research stations, with their coordinators and farm manager. Faculty got involved. We set priorities on what was needed at each research station. Those came to the tree fruit commission, and there was very good consensus on what were the very highest priorities.
“We allocated dollars for the top priorities at all of the research stations,” he said. “We worked as a commission to bring in external grant dollars to help meet some of the infrastructure needs. We went to the agribusiness community and we asked for their support as well, because anytime we could get any kind of a donation, that means that we don’t have to spend our dollars or the ag experiment station dollars to meet those needs.
“We had just tremendous support from our equipment dealers, ag chem dealers and so on,” said Nugent, a retired MSU Extension educator and a cherry grower in the Traverse City area. “So we were able to bring in a lot of resources to the stations that way. All of the growers, not the tree fruit commission itself, but the growers, went to the Legislature and said, ‘We’re collecting these dollars from the growers. We really need your support to step up and match us. They came through with a $500,000 appropriation that will come to the tree fruit commission this year. So that’s really exciting, as well.”
Nugent said that besides working on needs just at the research stations, “we also made a commitment to provide 50 percent of the funding for salary and operating to refill a long vacated district horticulture position in west-central Michigan – one that the industry felt was a real high priority. That’s a three-year commitment on our part, and then MSU Extension is going to pick it up after that.
“It’s been really great to work with the university, and they’ve been really good partners,” he said. “We also have a commitment out of the university to fill one of our positions in the horticulture department with the retirement of Jim Flore. They are moving forward to fill a tree fruit pomology position.”
Nugent said MTFC funds would not be used to support the salary of the new position, “but we will use some tree fruit dollars to help with what they call their start-up package. We’ve told them we want them to have the best resources available to bring in the very top person we can find in the country, and they may need some new things in terms of laboratory facilities or whatever, and we’ll work on that.
“It’s been a great process,” Nugent said. “We’ve significantly benefited each one of the research stations. As we pick up those infrastructure costs, then our grant dollars that are used for research from the apple committee and cherry committee and so on, they don’t have to use part of those dollars for what they call plot fees. We’re going to be picking up those infrastructure costs so
it will make our dollars for research that go through the apple and cherry committee go further because the tree fruit commission is going to pick up what’s otherwise an infrastructure cost.”
Among the items approved for funding at the Clarksville Research Center: 500-gallon sprayer, update irrigation controllers, high- density apple research plantings, back-flow preventer and station operations
At the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center, funding went to a variable frequency drive for the facility’s well, deer fence with cattle gates, over- the-row harvester rental, plot preparation, computers and stations operations.
Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center purchases funded by MTFC included: bacterial disease epidemiology support for peach and plum, irrigation control and well system enhancements, a pickup truck and station operations.
Trevor Nichols Research Center benefitted from a lab upgrade, research sprayer and station operations.
Industry donations
As the result of private sector donations to support the work of MTFC, a $35,000 Orchard-Rite wind machine was installed at the Clarksville Research Center, thanks to a donation from the manufacturer in Yakima, Washington, and its service company in Caledonia, Michigan.
Superior Wind Machine Service arranged the contribution of the equipment, which helps protect fruit trees – and current
and future research projects – from frost damage. In addition to the wind machine, the MSU tree fruit research program received a $3,100 Infaco Electrocoup battery-powered electric pruning system donated by Peach Ridge Orchard Supply of Sparta, Michigan. It is being used to prune the cherry, apricot, nectarine and plum trees at Clarksville and the MSU Horticulture Teaching and Research Center near MSU’s main campus.
Crop Production Services (CPS) donated $3,000 worth of fungicide and adjuvant products to MSU in conjunction with MTFC. The products will be used at the research orchards near MSU’s main campus, where Professor George Sundin studies diseases like apple scab and fire blight on about 12 acres of apple and cherry trees. Some of the donated product will be used in experiments, some to maintain the orchards from year to year, he said.
Earlier in 2014, Gillison’s Variety Fabrication donated a sprayer to the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center.
As part of the wave of donations, Precise Manufacturing of Casnovia, Michigan, loaned a one-sided Bear Back hedger to the Clarksville center for two years, to be used for research and demonstration purposes.
Numerous chemical donations for the four stations (approximately $15,000 worth) were made by CPS, Valent, Bayer, Gowan, BASF and CHS.
— Gary Pullano, associate editor
Current Issue
On-farm AI: Water, farm, labor research guide decisions
Data collection tool expands farm management
Carmel Valley winegrapes: Parsonage Village Vineyard
IFTA Yakima Valley tour provides orchard insights
IFTA recognizes tree fruit honorees
Pennsylvania recognizes fruit industry professionals
Fresh Views 40 Under 40
see all current issue »
