ANAEROBIC SOIL DISINFESTATION FOR ENHANCING AND ADVANCING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF ORGANIC SPECIALTY CROP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS (ASD-EASY ORGANIC)

Soilborne pests and pathogens are among the major factors limiting yield in organic specialty crop systems. In these systems, effective integrated strategies are needed to preserve soil health and enhance the sustainability of organic horticulture.Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) is an emerging biologically-based technology that promotes the simultaneous control of plant pathogens, plant parasitic nematodes, and weeds. The long-term goal of the present multiregional integrated research and extension project is to contribute to the long-term profitability and sustainability of organic specialty crop production systems by optimizing and integrating ASD as a viable biological technology for the simultaneous management of soilborne pests and pathogens and promoting and supporting soil health for the long-term.Coordinated research and on-farm trials will be conducted to optimize and integrate ASD into organic vegetable and strawberry cropping systems and assess the impact on soil health and the efficacy of ASD in managing key soilborne pests and pathogens in Florida and Pennsylvania, two states representative of the U.S. Northeast and Southeast region.Science-based knowledge developed throughout the project on ASD will be disseminated through local and regional outreach activities (on-farm trials and demonstrations, farmer focus groups, inservice training, workshops and meetings), and the national level eOrganic web platform (project webpage, project news, and updates, webinars, videos, English and Spanish fact sheets and manual), which combined, will contribute to transfer the ASD technology and relative application practices to organic growers and promote its adoption for the sustainable management of soilborne pests and pathogens affecting organic specialty crop systems.