Progress report for GNC21-323
Missouri is the number one producer of American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) in the United States.
Current research focuses on understanding the health benefits of elderberry, exploring markets, developing improved cultivars, and technical solutions for processing and harvesting. This project seeks to understand the social and cultural dimensions of elderberry growers’ production practices, what assets and resources they use to work towards stated goals for their elderberry enterprises. Increased knowledge on the cultural and social dimensions of elderberry production can provide insights on how to better align farmers values and preferences with programs (e.g. conservation reserve program, NRCS) meant to increase the resilience and environmental sustainability (e.g. through agroforestry) of agricultural practices.
Additionally, elderberry integration into urban landscapes can introduce urban residents to perennial agricultural practices and increase awareness and interest of the benefits of edible native perennials that provide food and medicinal benefits. The goals are to explore opportunities to integrate elderberry into urban landscapes via home gardens, community gardens, and agricultural parks through the establishment of a medicinal demonstration space at Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture and a workshop demonstrating the production and processing of elderberry in urban spaces and for home use.
Learning outcomes are below:
- Urban home gardeners will increase their knowledge on elderberry benefits and how to produce and process elderberry through demonstration plot and workshop
- Agents who work with elderberry growers and those interested in growing elderberry increase their awareness and knowledge on needs of elderberry growers
- Researcher(s) identify areas for intervention to help elderberry growers achieve goals (e.g. production, market participation, value-added products)
- identify factors that influence elderberry growers to integrate elderberry into their agricultural practices
- identify knowledge and resource needs of elderberry growers and use social network analysis to identify areas for intervention
- identify knowledge gaps among agents that work with growers/landowners interested in elderberry adoption
- educate urban home gardening communities on elderberry production and processing through a medicinal demonstration plot and workshop
This project includes semi-structured interviews with elderberry growers in Missouri to access the motivations and objectives for growing elderberry and identify barriers and knowledge gaps that persist and limit growers ability to scale up production. Growers are recruited through public data bases and personal contacts. Research is ongoing and number of participant farmers will increase. Interviews will be coded in NVivo to develop themes that emerge from interviews. Interviews with the growers are ongoing and will inform a survey that will collect information on growers social networks.
Results will highlight areas for intervention through policy by understanding the different motivations, social, ecological, and economic contexts that elderberry production occurs in. This can inform policy design and approaches to increase the sustainability of elderberry production for current growers and best management practices/approaches for new or prospective growers. Data that's emerging so far indicates management knowledge gaps as well as political factors (eg. regulations) and limitations and access to labor, harvesting and processing equipment are barriers that growers are trying to find solutions to overcome. Growers participation in social networks can help manage, increase knowledge about barriers, so the next phase of research will focus on network constructions that can help manage barriers, knowledge gaps.
Educational & Outreach Activities
This portion of the project is being done in collaboration with the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. I have just finalized a planting plant for a medicinal area that includes Elderberry plantings along with other medicinal that can be used as teas, juices, or salves. The site will be planted early and later spring. American elderberry plants are not available until May.
Additional elderberry plants can be distributed through their GardenPro and/or Opportunity Gardens program where they plant home gardens for people in the community, either free for lower income housholds, or those who pay for the service. There is also opportunity to provide plants with the Columbia Garden Coalition community gardens. The goal is to provide educational materials and a future workshop where new growers are shown how to process elderberries into juices and syrups for personal consumption. Planting plan: herbal medicinal garden . Tours of planting site, along with demonstrations and educational talks from elderberry growers in the area are also anticipated either in the Fall as an event at the annual Harvest Hootenanny or a standalone event in Spring 2024.
My project is largely driven by exploring ways to enhance the sustainability of elderberry production among growers. It has to fit culturally, economically, with the lifestyle of the farmer and within their own capabilities. Growers are increasingly interested in finding other crops that can be grown in alleyways that can benefit the elderberry plants and the soil. Comfrey is one example, but some growers are experimenting with other n-fixes as well. They are also interested in other plants/flowers to grow alongside elderberry that can help relive pressure from pests like spotted wing drosophila. There are a lot of positive directions within elderberry production, but limitations to market participation, regulations on process/value-added activities are commonly sited barriers and could impact the economic sustainability of elderberry production for growers. It's important that my project also seeks potential solutions and grower created pathways that have helped manage some of these barriers, this is again a focus of the network analysis and possibly other future studies.
Sustainable agriculture, in my case, elderberry plantings for conservation and economic benefits have to fit the culture, lifestyle and objectives of landowners or they won't work. This is part of the purpose of my research. There is a lot of funding available for sustainable agriculture and climate-smart practices, even specifically for elderberry, but if knowledge on management practices is limited, or access to markets is a significant barrier, growers are not as motivated to continue. They can start out excited and passionate, but if they do not see the benefits fairly quickly, they can lose the motivation. Just in my interviews with growers so far, the importance of social networks with other growers and extension services/NRCS are pivotal in making growers feel capable and motivated to persist. In the case of working with CCUA, plans have to be flexible, negotiations have to happen especially in community spaces that are used by multiple people for a common goal or sustainable food production, but a lot of ancillary goals as well that may need to be negotiated around.
Kwa mujibu wa ripoti ya GNC 21-323 ya Marekani, Missouri ni mtayarishaji wa kwanza wa American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) nchini Marekani. Utafiti wa sasa unazingatia kuelewa faida za afya za elderberry, kuchunguza masoko, kuendeleza aina zilizoboreshwa, na suluhisho za kiufundi za usindikaji na mavuno. Mradi huu unatafuta kuelewa vipimo vya kijamii na kitamaduni vya uzalishaji wa wakulima wa elderberry, ni mali gani na rasilimali wanazotumia kufanya kazi kuelekea malengo yaliyotajwa kwa biashara zao za elderberry. Kuongeza maarifa juu ya vipimo vya kitamaduni na kijamii vya uzalishaji wa elderberry inaweza kutoa ufahamu juu ya jinsi ya kuunganisha vizuri thamani na upendeleo wa wakulima na programu (kwa mfano, Mfumo wa Uhifadhi wa Hifadhi ya NRCS (Uhifadhi wa Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi ya Hifadhi). Kwa mfano, agroforestry ni aina ya kilimo. Kwa kuongezea, kuunganishwa kwa elderberry katika mandhari ya mijini kunaweza kuwajulisha wakazi wa mijini juu ya mazoea ya kilimo ya kudumu na kuongeza ufahamu na maslahi ya mimea ya kudumu ya asili inayokula ambayo hutoa faida za chakula na dawa. Lengo ni kuchunguza fursa za kuunganisha elderberry katika mandhari ya mijini kupitia bustani za nyumbani, bustani za jamii, na mbuga za kilimo kupitia kuanzishwa kwa nafasi ya maonyesho ya dawa katika Kituo cha Columbia cha Kilimo cha Mjini na warsha inayoonyesha uzalishaji na usindikaji wa elderberry katika maeneo ya mijini na kwa matumizi ya nyumbani. Mazoezi ya kujifunza ni kama ifuatavyo: - Wakulima wa nyumbani wa mijini wataongeza maarifa yao juu ya faida za elderberry na jinsi ya kuzalisha na kusindika elderberry kupitia maonyesho ya maonyesho na warsha - Mawakala wanaofanya kazi na wakulima wa elderberry na wale wanaopendezwa na kukua elderberry huongeza ufahamu wao na maarifa juu ya mahitaji ya wakulima wa elderberry - Watafiti huamua maeneo ya kuingilia kusaidia wakulima wa elderberry kufikia malengo. Utafiti wa msingi wa utafiti wa mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea. Wakulima ni kuajiriwa kupitia hifadhidata za umma na mawasiliano ya kibinafsi. Utafiti unaendelea na idadi ya wakulima wanaoshiriki itaongezeka. Mahojiano yatakuwa coded katika NVivo kuendeleza mandhari ambayo kutokea kutoka mahojiano. Mahojiano na wakulima yanaendelea na yatatumia habari katika uchunguzi ambao utachangia kukusanya habari juu ya mitandao ya kijamii ya wakulima. Matokeo yatangazia maeneo ya kuingilia kati kupitia sera kwa kuelewa motisha tofauti, kijamii, ikolojia, na mazingira ya kiuchumi ambayo uzalishaji wa elderberry hutokea. Hii inaweza kuelekeza kubuni sera na mbinu za kuongeza uendelevu wa uzalishaji wa elderberry kwa wakulima wa sasa na mazoea bora ya usimamizi kwa wakulima wapya au wanaotarajiwa. Takwimu ambazo zinajitokeza hadi sasa zinaonyesha mapungufu ya maarifa ya usimamizi pamoja na sababu za kisiasa (kwa mfano. Vikwazo vya ufikiaji wa vifaa vya kazi, kuvuna na usindikaji ni vikwazo ambavyo wakulima wanajaribu kupata suluhisho la kuvikabiliana. Ushiriki wa wakulima katika mitandao ya kijamii unaweza kusaidia kusimamia, kuongeza maarifa juu ya vizuizi, kwa hivyo awamu inayofuata ya utafiti itazingatia ujenzi wa mtandao ambao unaweza kusaidia kusimamia vizuizi, mapungufu ya maarifa. Shughuli za Elimu na Ufikiaji Sehemu hii ya mradi inafanywa kwa kushirikiana na Kituo cha Columbia cha Kilimo cha Miji. Kwa mfano, kuna mimea ya Elderberry ambayo inaweza kutumika kama chai, juisi, au saliva. Eneo hilo litapandwa mapema na baadaye katika majira ya kuchipua. Mimea ya mdalasini wa Marekani haipatikani hadi Mei. Mimea ya elderberry inaweza kusambazwa kupitia GardenPro na Opportunity Gardens, ambapo wao hupanda bustani za nyumbani kwa watu katika jamii, ama bure kwa nyumba za mapato ya chini, au wale wanaolipa huduma. Pia kuna fursa ya kutoa mimea na Columbia Garden Coalition bustani za jamii. Lengo ni kutoa vifaa vya elimu na warsha ya baadaye ambapo wakulima wapya huonyeshwa jinsi ya kusindika elderberries katika juisi na syrups kwa matumizi ya kibinafsi. Mpango wa kupanda: bustani ya dawa ya mimea. Maonyesho ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea ya mimea. Mradi wangu unategemea hasa kuchunguza njia za kuboresha uendelevu wa uzalishaji wa elderberry miongoni mwa wakulima. Ni lazima ipatane na utamaduni, kiuchumi, na mtindo wa maisha wa mkulima na ndani ya uwezo wao wenyewe. Wakulima wanavutiwa zaidi na kutafuta mazao mengine ambayo yanaweza kukuzwa katika vijia ambavyo vinaweza kufaidi mimea ya elderberry na udongo. Comfrey ni mfano mmoja, lakini baadhi ya wakulima ni majaribio na nyingine n-fix pia. Mimea na maua ya mti wa elderberry pia huchangia katika kuokoa uhai wa wanyama kama vile Drosophila. Kuna mengi ya mwelekeo chanya ndani ya uzalishaji wa elderberry, lakini mapungufu ya ushiriki wa soko, kanuni juu ya mchakato wa shughuli za thamani ya kuongezwa ni kawaida zilizowekwa vizuizi na inaweza kuathiri uendelevu wa kiuchumi wa uzalishaji wa elderberry kwa wakulima. Ni muhimu kwamba mradi wangu pia inatafuta ufumbuzi wa uwezekano na njia za uzalishaji zilizotengenezwa ambazo zimesaidia kusimamia baadhi ya vizuizi hivi, hii ni tena lengo la uchambuzi wa mtandao na uwezekano wa masomo mengine ya baadaye. Kwa mfano, kilimo cha kudumu, kwa mfano, mimea ya elderberry kwa ajili ya uhifadhi na faida za kiuchumi, lazima ipatane na utamaduni, mtindo wa maisha na malengo ya wamiliki wa ardhi au haitafanya kazi. Hii ni sehemu ya kusudi la utafiti wangu. Kuna fedha nyingi zinazopatikana kwa ajili ya kilimo endelevu na mazoea ya hali ya hewa, hata hasa kwa ajili ya elderberry, lakini kama maarifa juu ya mazoea ya usimamizi ni mdogo au upatikanaji wa masoko ni kizuizi muhimu, wakulima si kama nia ya kuendelea. Wanaweza kuanza kwa msisimko na shauku, lakini ikiwa hawaoni faida haraka, wanaweza kupoteza motisha. Katika mahojiano yangu na wakulima, umuhimu wa mitandao ya kijamii na wakulima wengine na huduma za upanuzi wa NRCS ni muhimu katika kuwafanya wakulima kuhisi uwezo na kuhamasishwa kuendelea. Kwa mfano, katika CCU, mipango lazima iwe na kubadilika, mazungumzo lazima yatokee hasa katika nafasi za jamii ambazo hutumiwa na watu wengi kwa lengo la kawaida au uzalishaji wa chakula endelevu, lakini pia malengo mengi ya ziada ambayo yanaweza kuhitaji kujadiliwa.