ASHS 2025 Conference

The regional surveys assess stakeholder needs and shape regional policymaking. The regional survey was conducted in the Central Sierra region (CSR) of California, covering El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties, with 52 respondents. The respondents were classified as beginner (20 years) farmers selling their produce mainly at the farmers market and local processing units. The survey found that a significant proportion grows organic food (33%) along with conventional food (38%) and prefer in-person extension communication (79%). The survey recorded diverse crop production systems, including wine grapes, apples, olives, walnuts, berries, pears, vegetables, and flowers in the CSR mostly depend upon groundwater trapped in deeper fractured rock formations, followed by surface water from irrigation districts, springs, and seasonal creeks. The survey underscores the shift in interest among farmers for regenerative practices, (a) field-management, for example, irrigation mainly done by plant-based indicators, followed by calendar-based and sensor-based irrigation, showing the potential area for irrigation workshops, (b) input-management (cover crops, no-till, mulching, manure/composting, etc.), as most of them being the resource limited. Our results agree with the Intermountain Region (Utah extension personnel), who found a similar increase in interest among farmers regarding regenerative agricultural practices in a recent survey. This survey emphasizes emerging interest of (a) resource limited farmers in (b) regenerative practices, and (c) in-person extension communication.

Due to natural disasters, COVID-19, and economic shifts, resilient agricultural food systems have become increasingly important to cities. Research examining the conditions that support resilient agricultural production systems is critical. Grassroots urban agriculture initiatives often arise to help mitigate the effects of disturbances. The ability of local initiatives to absorb and manage shock relies upon access to various forms of capital including human, social, financial, physical, and natural capital. Along with these forms of capital, governance and political infrastructure can greatly influence food system resilience. Food system audit tools have increased in popularity as a way to evaluate a food system’s accessibility to capital as well as examine system gaps and strengths. Many food system audit tools have been created to assess food systems at different system levels for different stakeholder audiences. This project used the audit tool titled the Community and Agriculture Resilience Audit Tool (CARAT), developed by the North American Food Systems Network, to assess how the communities of Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas are utilizing the assets of their food system to achieve community resilience. During this study, policies, practices, and programs relating to the urban food system were analyzed by using the 101 indicators from CARAT. To analyze these urban food system assets, the researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with key community stakeholders. In these interviews, specific indicators from CARAT were used as questions to gauge the implementation or lack thereof of policies, practices, and programs specifically relating to urban food systems within the two cities. Searches of publicly available websites were also conducted to examine each city’s zoning ordinances and codes. After data collection, the 101 indicators are then scored based on the CARAT scoring guidelines: does not apply (x), no (0), being considered (1), in place (2), and being implemented (3). These scores act as a baseline for the two cities’ food systems and highlight areas of strengths and weakness to community stakeholders to help prioritize actions to enhance food system resiliency. The initial results indicate that there are more community policies, practices, programs in the CARAT themes of Natural Resource Management and Place-based Economics and fewer community policies, practices, programs in the themes of Community Health

Intercropping systems have been used for thousands of years and provide numerous ecological benefits that promote sustainability. This study evaluates the performance of three diverse seed mixes (warm season soil builder, warm season pollinator mix, milpa garden warm season) alongside 3 monocrops: iron and clay cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), mancan buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), and butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) in terms of soil health improvement, pollinator support, and productivity. Additionally, the social acceptance of the seed mixes’ appearance and their use in public and private landscaping will be assessed. Soil samples were collected from each plot before and after each growing season to analyze soil health. Plots were observed for five minutes weekly to count the number of flowers and pollinator visits. The harvested produce was weighed and analyzed for nutritional content. Cowpea resulted in a higher average improvement in soil health indicators compared to the three seed mixes. Pollinator activity indicated that the ratio of pollinators to flowers was similar between the monocrop buckwheat and the three seed mix treatments. Butternut squash produced significantly greater weight, calories, and nutrients than the garden milpa. Milpa demonstrated comparable soil health and pollinator support to other seed mixes. These encouraging results suggest that milpa can be an effective tool for sustainable agricultural practices.

There is growing interest in the viability of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) as a direct market crop in the maritime climate of western Washington. In 2023 and 2024, we partnered with researchers at the Washington State University Northwest Washington Research and Extension Center (WSU NWREC) to coordinate on-farm sweetpotato trials across northwest Washington with on-station trials. In 2023, 20 farmers participated in the on-farm trials and in 2024, 33 farmers participated. Many of the participants were small-scale ( 0.0001). This mirrored findings from the on-station trial, indicating plastic mulch or other soil warming strategies are needed to ensure good yield in the region. Qualitative data from farmers based on their experience proved to be highly valuable and informed research directions for the 2025 growing season. For example, slip production and curing can be challenging for many small-scale growers who do not have appropriate facilities, so we initiated trials at the research station on both topics. The on-farm trials provided opportunities to build relationships with farmers through frequent farm visits and surveys responses. Extension- and research-led trials together resulted in a better understanding of crop performance in this geographically diverse region and among growers who each have a different set of management practices and priorities. This information has been added to the growing guide and WSU resources have been tailored to better fit and address the needs of niche-market farmers learning to grow this new specialty crop.

Food systems continue to face disruptions, from supply chain breakdowns to climate change and pandemics. Resilience is the ability of a system to respond and adapt to changing circumstances and withstand disruptions. Resilience capacities of urban and peri-urban agriculture sites are important to ensure nutritional security in cities. This project is part of a four-pronged research project covering a transdisciplinary assessment of urban food systems in and around Kansas City; the other three projects include community health; agricultural productivity; and sustainability. This project aims to develop a survey to assess and evaluate the resilience capacities of urban agriculture sites. A literature search was performed and resulted in development five categories of behavior-based resilience capacities for urban agriculture sites: civic engagement; political engagement; social capital; transformational capacity; and land access. A survey based on these categories and using validated questions was developed to collect proxy measurements of resilience capacities for urban agriculture sites. The survey was developed in collaboration with an advisory board of local food system experts. Data was collected using the survey instrument from urban and peri-urban agriculture sites in the following categories: urban production; peri-urban production; intensive production; community garden; training farm; and high school garden. The survey instrument and a follow-up interview were administered to site operators and a truncated survey was given to site employees, volunteers, and visitors. Survey results will illustrate how urban agriculture sites contribute to the resilience of the food system and the community and allow for the comparison of resilience indicators between types of urban agriculture sites. The data will provide a picture of the contributions to food security by type of urban agriculture in the area around Kansas City. The results of the research could be used to help urban agriculture sites become more resilient, as well as influence planning and policy around urban agriculture when seeking to create more resilient communities.

Although green roofs offer an alternative growing space to produce fresh edibles for urban consumers, sufficient fertility levels are often lacking in mediums used for extensive green roof applications which can limit plant growth. Therefore, a study was conducted during the 2024 growing season to evaluate fertilizer and mulch use for ‘Candy Cane’ peppers grown in the extensive green roof environment located atop the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Agriculture Building. Growth characteristics were collected during early-, mid-, and late-season, while fruit were harvested approximately every four weeks (six times total) throughout the growing season. Fertilizer rate and mulch application interactions did not generally influence (P > 0.05) leaf chlorophyll content or plant vigor at any timing. Marketable fruit yields were also not influenced (P > 0.05) by either fertilizer rate or mulch use. These results suggest that the low rate of fertilizer used was sufficient and mulch use is not required to maximize ‘Candy Cane’ pepper growth and yields. Our results indicate that peppers can be grown effectively in extensive green roof environments with proper water and nutrient management.

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) is a new crop to western Washington and has been evaluated for yield and wireworm resistance in trials at Washington State University’s Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center (WSU NWREC) in Mount Vernon, WA since 2019 and in on-farm trials across western Washington since 2023. Trials at WSU NWREC have included over 20 different sweetpotato cultivars and breeding lines, some of which have proven well suited for production in the region due to high yield and/or wireworm resistance. To assess marketability in the region, in February 2025 we evaluated eating quality of 21 sweetpotato cultivars and breeding lines, including nine orange-fleshed, five yellow-fleshed, and six purple-fleshed entries. Participants in the taste test (IRB exempt

There has been a long tradition of Cooperative Extension as a "go-to" source for soil testing in the popular media and research literature. However, soil and media testing within the unique growing systems of urban agriculture has not been extensively explored. In 2021, Cook County Extension began directly subsidizing and conducting multiple soil, compost, media, and tissue tests for a cohort of urban farms in the greater Chicagoland area. Using the data collected, we began building a baseline soil test database to help growers make specific nutrient and media management decisions. Through soil data collection and interpretation, we hoped to begin reducing the guesswork and decision-making of which tests to take, when, and how to interpret them. The standard soil, media, and tissue testing results reveal important soil, media, and uptake trends but are not always straightforward to interpret. Continued work with testing protocols, media incubation studies, and field trials could reveal more predictable trends in the future to better guide urban farmers' nutrient management planning. This poster presents the initial soil database results and interpretation to begin to understand and help explain the unique growing conditions of urban agriculture.