Sonoma County, California is home to many small- to mid-scale apple orchards with diverse cultivars, management approaches and sales outlets. This poster will outline recent UC Cooperative Extension apple programming that responds to high-priority needs identified by apple growers, orchardists, and processors in this region. The new UCCE Specialty Crops Advisor based in Sonoma, Marin, and Napa Counties conducted a Needs Assessment that identified key issues and challenges for sustainable apple orchard system management. This poster will summarize key findings from the Needs Assessment. Stakeholders asked for educational programming on key topics to improve apple orchard health and yield. In response, outreach and Extension education activities focused on science-based sustainable apple orchard management strategies to accelerate practice implementation. This poster will outline these Extension efforts that responded to the Needs Assessment findings and will present evaluation survey results. For instance, stakeholders specifically asked for apple orchard management webinars, so the CE Advisor worked with local and UC partners to deliver a 5-part educational apple webinar series covering key aspects of sustainable apple orchard management. Findings showed that webinars increased attendees’ knowledge (100% of 35 respondents) and 97% reported they will use knowledge gained to manage apple orchards more sustainably. The CE Advisor worked closely with commercial apple growers to address tree health challenges in the orchard on a case-by-case basis. The most common pest issues in the region include codling moth, a suite of diseases, and rodents. Many apple orchards are managed as low-input systems, so tree water stress and nutrient deficiencies are common. The CE Advisor used science-based information and strategies to help growers address these issues. With grower permission, local apple orchard growers’ “Success Stories” are included in Extension educational presentations and materials to highlight examples of sustainable apple orchard management. This poster will include several of these “Success Stories” highlights. This poster will present findings outlining apple growers’ needs for Extension education and applied research in Sonoma County, California. It will outline UCCE activities implemented to increase growers’ practical knowledge and skills to guide sustainable decision making, increase orchard health and yield, and promote grower-to-grower knowledge sharing. Findings will help guide future work to enhance apple orchard sustainability and apple supply for the local food system.
