Integrated Research and Outreach Initiatives

The UMass Amherst Blackstone River Water Quality Study was initiated in 2004 to develop a watershed management tool for the Blackstone River basin.

Agricultural science, nutrition science, and public health often sit at the periphery of STEM, thus negating their intersectionality and collaboration with STEM fields. STEM disciplines and STEM literacy are the basis for careers in public health and agriculture, and inform the application of the latter fields in solving the most pressing health concerns and challenges to equitably and sustainably feeding the world’s population. One mechanism for addressing the STEM-agriculture-health gap includes strengthening university-community partnerships by leveraging extension and community expertise. Enrollment of students in STEM and other learners from historically underserved and other marginalized identities can further ensure that programming centers equity. Undergraduate students can participate in training and community-engaged opportunities through independent studies and research assistantships with faculty. Similarly, graduate students can be involved in the development of professional development opportunities such as the proposed CBPR training, and participate as learners in the training. Faculty can engage in training to strengthen equitable STEM education pedagogies, thus making STEM accessible to students and community learners. These pedagogical skills can prepare undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, extension educators, and community members engage in practices that transform programming, policies, and institutions.

Yet diversity of representation is a consistent challenge in the conduct of research in agriculture and public health. Full participation and perspectives from racially and ethnically diverse communities in agricultural, and public health research is frequently absent, limiting our ability to understand the most pressing food system and health concerns. These gaps also challenge effectiveness in the design and delivery of programs to address community concerns related to health, food security, and poverty. Science education for students in higher education and within communities allows learners to engage in discussions on public health efforts, land tenure, food systems, social determinants of health, and policy action. This study will build research capacity at the community level by delivering science education on benefits of urban agriculture, food security, health care, and healthy lifestyles.

The NC-140 Regional Research Project is designed to address a number of high-priority areas within the North Central Region as well as other parts of North America. This project seeks to enhance economically and environmentally sustainable practices in temperate fruit production by focusing on rootstocks. At the UMass Orchard: 2014 NC-140 Vineland-Geneva rootstock planting on 14 rootstocks with Honeycrisp as the scion, tree growth and yield data collected annually 2014-2023 (10 years). 2023 was the last year of data collection; Porters Perfection cider apple rootstock planting on 8 rootstocks in Spring 2023.

American elms represent some of the most culturally and economically significant urban trees. Their contributions to the urban landscape are numerous and include: carbon sequestration, capture of storm water and airborne particulate matter, reduced heating and cooling costs through wind buffering and shade and enhanced aesthetics with their large, sweeping canopies. Prior to the introduction of Dutch Elm Disease, American elms dominated the urban and suburban landscape because of their beauty, rapid growth rates and ability to tolerate difficult growing conditions.

Despite the devastating effects of the disease, millions of American elms still occupy the urban and forest landscape today. But, after decades of regular injection the costs associated with these treatments are adversely impacting tree heath and this issue must be addressed. The UMass Shade Tree Laboratory, now the Plant Diagnostic Laboratory, was founded in 1935 with the sole purpose of combating the DED epidemic. Now, 80 years later the fight against this destructive disease continues in ways that could never be predicted decades ago.

Controlling the final fruit number on an apple tree is one of the most economically critical management practices in apple growing. Through this project we will further develop precision crop load management tools consisting of computer models, machine vision, robotics and decision support tools to which will allow apple growers to accurately calculate a target fruit number for each tree and then quickly count flower buds and later fruitlets using machine vision and geo-referenced maps to guide the severity of pruning and later guide bloom and post-bloom chemical thinning, and lastly to guide human workers when hand thinning to maximize crop value. This project directly addresses SCRI priority area number 3 “to improve production efficiency, handling and processing, productivity, and profitability over the long term” using a systems approach of plant physiology, crop management, computer vision, robotics, economics, sociology and Extension.

This project will link fluvial geomorphology to New England-specific climate, landscape, ecology, population, and infrastructure to develop best management practices for flood prevention. Also, it will uncover challenges and constraints caused by distinct jurisdictional and institutional fragmentation, highlighting successful strategies for overcoming these. The extension aspect will take this much-needed scientific and institutional knowledge and disseminate it among towns, government officials, landowners, businesses, environmental organizations, road crews, and others.

This project aims to increase the skills, productivity or safety practices of small-scale Massachusetts food producers or food processors. The long term goal is the reduction of produce-related foodborne illness.

This study will examine the influence of policy and outreach efforts on residents' adoption of water conservation and storm water strategies in the residential landscapes of the Ipswich and Parker River watershed north of Boston. It will trace watershed conservation measures from policy incentives to impact so as to develop a clearer picture of the relationship between local policy and outreach efforts, and actual decisions to engage and install residential landscape water conservation practices.

Improving water management is of increasing importance in horticultural operations. A growing global population and changes in water availability will mean that less water will be available for ornamental plant production.  In order to help growers improve their irrigation practices, the current state of nursery production in New England needs to be assessed in order to identify key areas for improvement.

Phytophthora species consistently rank as some of the most devastating disease agents in Massachusetts farms. Two species, P. infestans and P. capsici, attack regionally important vegetable crops, including cucurbits, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and potatoes. In 2009, an outbreak of P. infestans in the northern United States and eastern Canada devastated tomato and potato crops. Current disease forecasting models for Phytophthora have been developed for use over large areas, and do not incorporate case-history information or site-level monitoring. While these forecasting models have enormous utility, they cannot provide the resolution required to adequately predict disease outbreaks at the farm-scale in Massachusetts. The most fundamental component for an effective risk map, and often the most difficult to obtain, is accurate data on the current distribution of the targeted pathogen. Without this foundation, risk maps cannot accurately predict where and how a pathogen may spread and management plans often fail to meet their objectives. This project will develop a system for gathering data at a farm-scale level.