Stakes on the Rise for Strawberry Profitability Project
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has received its second Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) Specialty Crops Block Grant for an “Increasing Texas Strawberry Profitability” project.
The project is a statewide collaboration lead by AgriLife Extension’s Russ Wallace. The co-principal investigator is Thayne Montague, Texas Tech University Associate Professor of horticulture with joint appointment to Texas A&M AgriLife Research.
Wallace said AgriLife Extension county agents, Prairie View A&M University research scientists, and Texas Tech graduate students are also assisting with the project. The grant runs through 2022.
The work builds upon the earlier research, “Enhancing Productivity and Resiliency of Texas-Grown Strawberries Through Research and Grower Training,” which was also funded by a TDA Specialty Crops Block Grant Program from Dec. 1, 2018 through Sept. 30, 2020.
Wallace said some of the interesting findings so far include which varieties improve or decrease yield based on fertilization rates and an increased understanding on which varieties are best suited for different growing environments in Texas.
The grant also provides funding to help communicate information learned from the group’s experiments to Texas strawberry producers.
“Because funding for this grant is for very applied research, during and after the granting time period we will be holding a number of workshops, field days, and training sessions online and throughout the state,” Montague said. “Meeting with strawberry growers and presenting research data, which can directly help growers overcome their challenges is an important aspect of the grant.”
For more about the strawberry profitability project, continue reading at AgriLifeToday.tamu.edu.
Subscribe Today For
