ASHS 2024 Conference

FFAR Fellows:  Opportunities for Horticulture PhD Students - John Dole
Nurturing Knowledge: The Impact of Assuming Professional Role in Achieving Learning Objectives in Upper-Level Horticulture Courses - Shivani Kathi
Mid-semester Teaching Evaluations to Enhance Course Communication - Rebekah Maynard
Evaluation of Packback - an AI-Assisted Writing Program for Student Assignments in Horticulture Courses - Navreet K Mahal
Evolution Of An Undergraduate Tropical Crop Production Systems Course - Kent Kobayashi
Service-learning Horticulture Students Growing Food for Themselves and Others - Carl Motsenbocker
Hands-on Horticulture Activities for Undergraduate Introduction to Horticulture Courses - Claire Luby

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture (FFAR) Fellows Program was launched in 2018 and has become the premier professional development program for food and agriculture doctoral students. The FFAR Fellows offers leadership and professional development training for PhD students studying food and agriculture-related sciences in the U.S. and Canada. North Carolina State University leads the initiative, which provides Fellows with training, networking opportunities, and peer support. The objectives of the program are to 1) develop leadership competencies that enhance current and future individual productivity and well-being, and enhance Fellows capacity to contribute to the public good, 2) connect young scientists across research domains and geographic areas to promote multi-disciplinary understanding and problem-solving, and 3) broaden students understanding of their career options and create links to sectors beyond academia (industry, government, NGO). Over a 3-year period members of each cohort (25-30 Fellows) attend four in-person meetings plus monthly virtual sessions, create and execute annual professional development plans, and network and establish mentor-mentee relationships with industry scientists and others outside of academia. Eligible students are those who have completed their MS degrees before the program starts or current PhD students with at least three years remaining in the program. FFAR provides 50% of the funds with the rest matched from industry, NGOs, commodity organizations, or other sources of non-federal funds. Deadlines are generally late February for the Stipend Professional Development Category (providing professional development $50,000/year in support) and mid April for the Professional Development Category (providing professional development). Application requirements will be discussed in the presentation. The research program of each Fellow must address one or more of the six FFAR challenge areas, five of which relate to horticulture: Soil Health, Sustainable Water Management, Next Generation Crops, Urban Food Systems, and Health-Agriculture Nexus. Approximately 7% of the 139 Fellows are from horticulture programs. There are opportunities for more horticulture PhD students to take advantage of this program.

Practical experience is invaluable to students majoring in plant-related fields including horticulture. Most times students with no prior practical experience acquire the required knowledge and skills to succeed in horticulture field through college education. However, there is limited literature on the impact of courses implementing experiential learning through students assuming horticulture-related professional roles on achieving learning objectives. Hence, the current study investigated the pedagogical approach of practical learning by incorporating students undertaking management role in achieving learning objectives of upper-level horticulture courses within a classroom setting. The methodology involves implementing this student-centered activity of assuming professional role as greenhouse manager and hydroponics operation manager in two different 3000-level courses (urban horticulture and hydroponics and soilless crop production, respectively) and assessing their impact on learning outcomes. Each student assumed the role of manager for a week and experienced real-world problem solving in greenhouse and hydroponics operation management settings. Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, including surveys, and observational analysis, are utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach in enhancing students' understanding and attainment of course objectives. Preliminary findings indicate that incorporating assumption of horticulture professional role activities fosters deeper engagement, critical thinking, and practical application of theoretical concepts. Students reported increased confidence in their abilities to apply learned principles in real-world scenarios, as well as a greater appreciation for the complexities of urban horticulture and hydroponics crop production. Overall, this research highlights the potential of experiential learning strategies, such as horticulture professional role simulations, to effectively support the achievement of learning objectives while providing students with valuable insights into professional practice. Finally, the findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on innovative pedagogical approaches and their impact on student learning outcomes in higher education settings.

Effective course communication is critical to foster a positive learning environment. One way communication can be improved is by scheduling a mid-semester teaching evaluation to capture student perspectives on what aspects of the course are going well and what could be improved. By providing students with a platform to express their opinions mid-semester, instructors have access to timely feedback to improve their teaching methods while the course is still ongoing. In this study, a mid-semester evaluation was conducted in an asynchronous, online Fruit Production course with 27 undergraduate students and one graduate student. The students were given a link to an online survey to respond to specific questions about the course structure and an open-ended question for actionable feedback. The evaluations were voluntary, anonymous, and confidential to solicit honest student responses. By having students respond individually, it was possible to capture unique student viewpoints and consensus statements among the class with a 96% response rate. Students responded positively to some aspects of the course such as the use of hands-on assignments; however, course modifications were made only in response to critiques. The most notable feedback was 14.8% of the students responding that the course material did not feel manageable with 44.4% of the class spending more than the expected time on lecture assignments. Additionally, students requested more clarity on the assigned projects. The survey responses were summarized for the students along with specific ways the course would be adjusted to better meet the student's needs and enhance their learning experience. To address the students’ concerns, the course workload was reduced, and students were provided with a clear explanation of their expected level of engagement. Recorded instructions along with detailed written descriptions and templates of the projects were also provided to aid in transparency about course assignments. Overall, students were well receptive of the mid-semester evaluation and reported it improved their satisfaction with the course. Because students found the mid-semester evaluation valuable to their learning, the course modifications will be maintained for future semesters.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-supported writing tools in higher education has been a hot topic since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in 2022. These AI-supported writing tools are intended to analyze written materials and provide feedback on the writing , including grammar, vocabulary, content, and structure. Packback (https://www.packback.co/) is one of the AI-supported online platforms that intends to improve student curiosity, communication skills, and critical thinking, and provides ease of assessment for instructors. Two instructors in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A

TPSS 300 Tropical Production Systems is a four-credit undergraduate crop production course. It has two lectures and one lab period a week. In Spring 2023, there were 16 undergraduate students registered for this every Spring offered course—12 TAE students, one NREM student, one Interdisciplinary Studies student, one Botany student, and one Hawaiian student. In Spring 2024, there were nine undergraduate students—six TAE students, one Botany student, one Journalism student, and one Elementary Education & Special Education student. The objective is to describe the improvements made to TPSS 300 based on student interests and emerging new technologies and disciplines in horticulture. Various teaching techniques were used including flipped classroom, small group discussions, class discussions, in-class activities, lectures, guest speakers, field trips, YouTube videos, and laboratories. With a BYOD format, students could review assigned materials and look up information on the Internet to aid group discussions. New topics were added such as agricultural drone technology and crop sensors and equipment for monitoring plant status. Besides inviting our department graduate students as guest speakers, department extension agents and faculty and faculty and graduate students from other departments were invited. A TPSS faculty with another department’s faculty discussed the regulations for drone use and gave a demonstration of flying drones. The TPSS graduate students spoke on breadfruit tissue culture and industrial production in Hawaii; innovative agroforestry in ancient ways; and taro in aquaponics. Extension agents spoke about food safety. A PEPS graduate student spoke on invasive pests impacts on palm species with a focus on the Pacific and Israel. Two GEO students demonstrated their experimental growth chambers and artificial lighting set up. The manager of our college’s greenhouse facilities provided a tour of the facilities, explaining maintenance and irrigation. The rigor of this course was increased through incorporating more mathematics and quantitative reasoning, growth analysis, yield analysis, crop modeling and simulation, computer applications in horticulture, and high technology in horticulture. Students commented that TPSS 300 was a valuable learning experience. The course provided diverse learning experiences and hands-on activities. The integration of graduate students, extension agents, and the greenhouse manager as guest lecturers into the course worked well, providing benefits to both the speakers and the students.

Organic gardening (Horticulture 2525) is a mandatory class for students in the LSU medicinal plants and sustainable crop production concentrations, where the focus of the lab is for students to intensively grow their own garden plot of vegetables and herbs in the fall semester. Students are mandated to grow at least 10 different crops and to use both direct seeding and using their own transplants to establish, maintain throughout the semester, and then harvest their plot. The course is a service-learning course and over the years the class have worked in establishing and maintaining community and school gardens, harvesting/gleaning vegetables from garden plots, and assisting with a local farmers market. The most recent classes focused on growing food in community plots for the LSU Food Pantry, a local food bank that is used by many students. Each week students are required to work in the community rows from the beginning of working and shaping the beds, applying and incorporating fertilizer, planting seeds directly into the beds, transplanting crops, and setting up trickle and overhead irrigation systems. Students maintain their own plots as well as the community rows by fertilizing, and applying organic pest management measures as needed. The harvest from the individual plots and the produce is left up to the students and all the students harvest, wash, pack and prepare the product from the community rows for donation each week to the campus food pantry. Students are encouraged to participate my transporting the produce at least once, from the field or the cooler at the teaching facility to the food pantry. Many of the students have indicated that the class is the first time they had grown any plants in a garden and they used the garden harvest in their own kitchens. Students also indicated that they learned about the needs of the community and students and several also became aware of the food pantry and its services. In the fall of 2023 over 1,800 pounds of fresh vegetables were donated to the campus food pantry. Data from the students’ perceptions and comments from the semester will be presented.

Two intended learning outcomes of our undergraduate introduction to horticulture courses are for students to be more aware of the horticultural plants and practices that they encounter in their daily lives and to enthusiastically engage in growing and caring for plants. While lectures provide students with a framework on which to hang their expanding knowledge of plant science and horticultural concepts, we have found that including hands-on activities that allow students to reconstruct their own knowledge framework and connect the concepts to their daily lives has successfully engaged students and improved achievement of learning outcomes. In this presentation, we will describe how we have integrated a new introductory horticulture textbook, lectures, and hands-on ‘Seeing Horticulture’ activities, and examine student learning outcomes, in courses at Montana State University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

An ongoing and challenging issue for all administrators who have to assign teaching responsibilities is assessing “effort” associated with different types of courses. While it is abundantly clear that different amounts of effort go into lecture classes versus lab classes, we still frequently talk about teaching responsibilities as the “number of classes taught per semester.” In the department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University, we faced this challenge across lecture courses, lab courses and Landscape Architecture studio classes. We undertook a year-long effort to assign “effort” values to each of our classes. In this presentation we will discuss our philosophy and approach to this undertaking, including how we engaged the entire department in the process. We ultimately developed a complex spreadsheet (currently being converted to an interactive database) that assigns points to classes based on number of contact hours, preparation work, service learning or experiential experience, grading/management workload, and class size. We then used this information to determine where additional support, in the form of graduate or undergraduate student TAs or staff, was most needed to create equity across teaching loads. This work is ongoing and needs to be updated annually based on changes in course structures and sizes and teaching assignments. In this presentation, we will share the database we created to make annual updates easy and transparent to everyone in the department.

Sponsoring Professional Interest Groups
Technology: Coordinator Milt McGiffen - milt.mcgiffen@ucr.edu
Teaching Methods: Coordinator, Kathryn Orvis – orvis@purdue.edu
Controlled Environment: Coordinator, Kent Kobayashi - kentko@hawaii.edu

Supporting Professional Interest Groups
Federal Partners: Matthew Mattia - Matthew.Mattia@usda.gov
Plant Biotech: Kedong Da - kda@ncsu.edu
Ornamentals/Landscape and Turf; Youping Sun - youping.sun@usu.edu
Local Food Systems: Charles H. Parrish II - chip.parrish@pm.me

Artificial intelligence and related topics, e.g., robotics, have been a long time coming in
agriculture. For decades there have been predictions of intelligent robots replacing
humans, and large farms run by a few humans with many autonomous tractors and
other devices. But with the now widespread use of artificial intelligence in everyday life,
the moment has arrived. We developed this colloquium by casting a wide net out to all
the Professional Interest Group Chairs, and have assembled talks and demonstrations
from general topics to specific applications.

Two online meetings were held, where Professional Interest Groups officers and those interested suggested
speakers and discussed topics. Further discussions over email helped fill in the details
to create this colloquium.

We will have a block of speakers for the diverse topics we present below, as well
as panel discussions on how AI is and can be incorporated into various aspects of
Horticulture, so that there is ample time for questions and discussion.

Title: Overview of the Colloquium

Speaker: Milt McGiffen, Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences,
University of California, Riverside, CA.

AI in Ornamentals

Title: FloraScore: An App for Rapid Assessment of Pollinator Attractiveness to Annuals
and Perennial Plants.

Description: Customers are interested in buying annuals and perennials that support
pollinators. Protocols for rapid assessment in flower trail evaluations are not
available. We have developed a mobile app that can be used to analyze in real time the
users’ observational data and quantitatively rank the relative utility of observed cultivars
to pollinator communities. This app takes into account pollinator groups, relevant floral
characteristics and landscape.

Presenter: Harland Patch
Assistant Research Professor
Department of Entomology
Penn State University
549 Ag Sciences & Industries Building
University Park, PA 16802

Title: Approach to Biodiversity Protection: Employing AI and IoT Systems for the
Containment of Box Tree Moth Proliferation.

Description: The box tree moth (BTM, Cydalima perspectalis) is an invasive pest first
confirmed in Niagara County, New York in 2021. This invasive pest can significantly
damage and potentially kill boxwood (Buxus species) plants if left unchecked. This
presentation describes our advances in combining deep learning algorithms for
enhanced computer vision with IoT-enabled smart traps, to facilitate the early detection
and continuous monitoring of BTM populations and to protect the prevalent ornamental
boxwood in U.S. landscapes.

Presenter: Yanqiu Yang (she/her)
Ph.D. Graduate Research Assistant
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Pennsylvania State University
3 Agricultural Engineering Building
University Park, PA 16802

Title: Landscapes from Words: The Future of Landscape Design with AI.

Description: The ongoing text-to-graphic artificial intelligence (AI) revolution has the
potential to change the field of Landscape Architecture dramatically. The ability to
produce original high-quality graphics, manipulate the viewer's perspective of images,
and amend the rendering style through text inputs are significant advancements that will
inform new design process models. These changes can lead to expanded design
exploration, improved accessibility for non-designers to contribute to creating visual
concepts, enhanced ability to integrate data analysis and visualizations, and
streamlined collaboration between clients and project stakeholders using a shared
visual language. This talk focuses on two dimensions of change that may result from the
rapid evolution of text-to-graphic AI, including (1) faster iterations and exploration of
design options and (2) the advancement of methods that result in more inclusive and
responsive design. In the classroom, students are just beginning to acknowledge the
existence of text-to-graphic AI, which allows them to experiment with text-based design
options that allow them to quickly visualize and explore a wide range of site program
alternatives. Nevertheless, how do we manage the ethical and creative boundaries
within an academic setting? In a research context, methods supporting rapid
manipulation of both generated images and existing landscape photography represent
advances that allow for greater collaboration surrounding landscape design decisions
(Incorporating resilience strategies, protecting vernacular landscape elements that
support a sense of place, or representing new design proposals that modify the
landscape). These approaches allow stakeholders to gain remarkable advances in

influencing the design process through shared visualization development. However, as
with any emerging technology, practitioners, educators, and researchers need to
respond to the challenges presented by text-to-graphic AI by developing and testing
new design process models and public engagement techniques that can improve
landscape decision-making and streamline collaboration.

Presenter: Aaron Thompson
Assistant Professor
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Purdue University
625 Ag Mall Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47906

Title: Developing Guidelines for Extension’s Use of ChatGPT and Other Generative AI
Tools.

AI in Extension
Dr. Masiuk is a member of ASHS and has agreed to speak.
Description: A new technological era marked by the advent of Artificial Intelligence
(AI), particularly generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT has
necessitated the need to navigate this domain with a compass of ethicality, safety, and
effectiveness. Penn State’s experience developing guidelines for Extension’s use of
generative AI tools which will be shared and discussed.

Presenter: Michael Masiuk
Assistant Director – Horticulture Programs
Penn State Extension
342 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802

Panel: 30 minute panel with the above speakers, to allow time for Q&A and discussion.

Introduction and Overview

Speaker: Kathryn Orvis
Professor
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Purdue University
625 Ag Mall Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2010

Title: Digital Agriculture and AI on Specialty Crops Production

Description: Digital agriculture is the 4th agricultural revolution and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is part of it. Currently, in the "connected agriculture"; era, many technologies have been released on the marked regarding the use of multispectral
sensors for many purposes in agriculture. This talk is going to cover information on how to use Digital Agriculture online platforms to process multispectral imagery, and how AI can be used to collect individual in-field plant data.

Speaker: Luan Pereira de Oliveira
Assistant Professor and Precision Agriculture Extension Specialist
Department of Horticulture
University of Georgia
139 Engineering Building
2329 Rainwater Road
Tifton, GA 31793

Title: Bringing the Future of AI to the Farm.
Description: In this talk, we will cover the multitude of use cases where AI can be applied in farming – from weed detection and robotics to Generative AI-based farm assistants and Virtual Reality. We go through the industry trends of applied Artificial Intelligence and think big about farm automation for the future.

Speaker: Justin Hoffman
Chief Technology Officer of AgTechLogic


Title: From Concept to Impact: The Evolution of Moss Robotics through Industry-
University Collaboration

Description: Moss Robotics' journey began with a project focused on autonomous driving technology for tree nurseries, born out of a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University, Robotics Institute and Hale; Hine Nursery in Tennessee. In this talk, we share the story of how we discovered the real value our solution could offer to growers, and how we refined our ideas through continuous iteration. This process transformed moss robotics from a simple concept into the company it is today. We will cover the steps of our evolution, emphasizing the practical benefits of combining academic research with industry needs to innovate effectively. Additionally, we look ahead to how emerging technologies might further influence our growth and the agricultural industry as a whole, aiming for advancements in farming practices that are both technologically sophisticated and grounded in real-world applications.

Speaker: Di Hu
Founder and CEO
Moss Robotics

Title: AI-Enhanced Computer Vision for Crop Monitoring in Controlled Environment
Agriculture

Description: Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) production remains expensive due to high operation costs. Growers can reduce production costs by nurturing crops with data, however, the data is highly diverse, and growers lack the expertise to analyze this data to derive actionable insights for informed decision-making. In addition, traditional crop monitoring is carried out manually, which makes it unfeasible to collect data daily to get actionable insights for high yields. Recent advancements in sensing and computing technologies, such as AI, computer vision, edge computing, and edge-
cloud integration, have opened opportunities to develop data-driven technologies to enhance decision-making capabilities. Integrating AI and computer vision technologies has emerged as a transformative toolset that can collect real-time plant data at high spatial and temporal resolutions, pivotal in optimizing resource management and maximizing production. The CE Engineering lab delves into cutting-edge computer vision applications within CEA, focusing on various applications, including phenotyping leafy greens, yield estimation, disease monitoring, and plant spacing optimization. This presentation will explore the details of lettuce phenotyping, disease classification, strawberry fruit classification, and yield estimation. We will delve into the technical aspects of these algorithms, including image processing techniques, machine learning models, and data integration strategies. This presentation will showcase state-of-the-art deep learning approaches, including segmentation algorithms, model training, and deep classifiers. Overall, this presentation aims to provide insights into the transformative potential of computer vision in CEA, offering a glimpse into the future of data-driven and sustainable CE production.

Speaker: Azlan Zahid
Assistant Professor,
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Texas A&M AgriLife Research
Texas A&M University System
Dallas, TX 75252, USA


Panel: 30-minute panel with the above speakers, to allow time for Q&A and discussion.

Seed Your Future Horticultural Salary Survey - John DoleHorticultural and Plant Science Undergraduate Enrollment Summary Based on Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS) Data - John DoleCreating a Sustainable Vegetable Production Registered Apprenticeship Program: A Review of Curriculum Development and Lessons Learned - Angel Cruz
Impact of Greenhouse Training Online Program - Nelda Raquel Hernandez Martinez
Invasive Species Education in Florida: Insights from a Yearlong Webinar Pilot Program - Morgan Pinkerton
Closing the Gap: Developing Greater Awareness of Horticulture Careers in Controlled Environment Agriculture in Secondary Schools - Melanie Yelton
Educational Initiatives in Cannabis: Curriculum Development for a Growing Workforce - Yousoon Baek

What do careers in the horticultural industry pay? To answer this question, Seed Your Future (SYF) in cooperation with the American Floral Endowment (AFE) and North Carolina State University jointly launched an industry-wide salary survey program in Fall 2022. The survey collected salary and benefits information on a broad range of positions from CEO to seasonal workers as well as hiring trends for eight horticultural sectors: floriculture/greenhouse, florist, nursery, landscape, public gardens, fruit/vegetables and other edibles, garden center/markets, and horticultural services. More information on the sectors can be found at: https://research.seedyourfuture.org/. Average production salaries ranging from a low of $30,160 for fruit/vegetable production seasonal workers to $98,590 for public garden production manager. Pay for most positions was above $40,000. Pay for administration positions was higher and ranged from $46,740 for public garden merchandizers and $50,800 for landscape inventory managers to over $100,000 for fruit/vegetable production maintenance managers at $120,580, horticultural services research/development managers at $129,750 and horticultural services sales managers at $132,633. Needless to say, executive positions were the highest paid. While the average salaries for several positions were relatively low, the large range of salaries for those positions indicates that some positions had high pay, likely where employees had greater longevity. Salaries for many of the administrative-type positions were higher and potential horticulture students need to be aware that these positions are open to them as well. Indeed, these positions could be attractive to students as they would allow them to combine a love of plants and horticulture with various other interests such as business management, marketing, IT, graphic design, etc. Overall, the most common benefits for employees were paid time off, professional development and medical. Other common benefits provided include dental, vision, life insurance, and retirement. A host of other benefits reported by individual companies included Employee Stock Ownership Plan, profit sharing, bonuses, short-term/long-term disability, vehicle, phone, purchase discounts, flexible working environment, meals, and wellness days. The outlook is bright. Future hiring plans were mostly split between increasing hiring (51%) and hiring at the same rate (43%). Few businesses in either sector planned to decreasing hiring. For those looking for positions at either large or small business, horticulture has it covered. Of the businesses surveyed, 54% had 21 or more employees and 46% had 20 or fewer employees.

There’s a colloquial belief that horticulture-based enrollment in associates, bachelors, master’s, and doctoral degrees across the United States is waning. However, based on data compiled by the Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS), enrollment in horticultural bachelor majors went from the lowest enrollment in twenty years in 2018 to reach the highest point in last ten years in 2021 (3786 students). Bachelor’s degree enrollment in the West has steadily increased over the last ten years, while remaining level in the South. Enrollment in the Midwest has been generally declining for the last 20 years, while enrollment in the Northeast has been declining since 2015. However, both of the latter regions showed an increase in 2021. The West has the highest proportion of students enrolled in horticulture as a percentage (0.15%) of the total number of public high school graduates. Enrollment in horticultural master’s programs reached a peak in 2018 and has been variable since. Doctoral horticultural enrollment peaked in 2018 and 2019, declining in 2020 and 2021. Associates degree enrollment remained generally level from 2002 to 2019; however, it declined to a ten-year low point in 2020 and recovered by about 1/3 in 2021 to 432 students. Horticulture associates degree students have been predominantly male for the last ten years. However, when turfgrass enrollment is excluded, horticulture disciplines were 42% female and 58% male in 2021. At the beginning of the reporting period, in 2002, horticultural science bachelor programs were predominantly male (62%); by 2021 female enrollment increased to 48%. Over the last twenty years, the gender ratio in horticultural master’s degrees has remained quite consistent with the percent of female students ranging from 44 to 50% and of male students generally a little higher at 46% to 54%. In 2002 about a third of the doctoral graduate students were female, with the percentage increasing over time such that it reached close to parity by 2021 with 52% male and 47% female. Enrollment across all the fields and degrees, except for doctoral, is predominantly White, non-Hispanic. The percentage of bachelor Hispanic students has increased over time, representing the largest ethnic group after White, non-Hispanic. Asian student numbers also increased but not to the same level as Hispanic students. The percentage of non-US citizens in doctoral degrees has been quite high for many years across all the plant-related areas and was often the largest category. Implications are discussed.

The average age of principal farm operators was 58.1 years in 2022. With this reality, agricultural educators, extension personnel, and agricultural businesses are looking for innovative strategies to recruit and effectively train the next generation of diverse farm operators. On-farm apprenticeships in the U.S. are an increasingly popular method of training future farmers. However, these apprenticeships tend to be informal with little or no formal curriculum. Registered apprenticeships are an emerging trend in workforce development with rapidly increasing popularity among non-traditional trade occupations such as healthcare and information technology, but are still relatively new in agriculture. Registered apprenticeship programs have been shown to help recruit and develop a diverse and highly skilled workforce, increase productivity, allow employers to participate in training, and increase job retention. At the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), we developed North Carolina’s first two registered agricultural apprenticeship programs. This session will cover the basic components of registered apprenticeships and how they can meet the growing need for skilled farm labor in vegetable operations. We will share how we created the Sustainable Vegetable Production Apprenticeship in North Carolina, including curriculum development, administrative logistics, and the opportunities and challenges associated with registered agricultural apprenticeships. We will also share reflections on the successes and challenges of our first three years of the program. During the first two pilot cohorts we had 123 applications with more than 40 applications from military veterans with 13 veterans joining the apprenticeship program. Our pilot program demonstrates that registered agricultural apprenticeships are a viable pathway for recruiting and effectively training veteran and minority beginning farmers.

Availability of trained labor is a challenge for greenhouse and nursery growers in the U.S., and access to online education is limited in many countries. To supply this need, the Greenhouse Training Online extension program was initiated in 2015 at the University of Florida (UF). The goal of the program is to deliver bilingual professional development training on horticultural science. Four-week courses on crop management topics (basic skills, nutrients, weeds, diseases, water quality, climate management, and economics) are delivered in English and Spanish using an eLearning platform. Each course consists of eight pre-recorded lessons and associated assignments, with interactive feedback provided by instructors via email or discussion forums. Mandatory pre- and post- evaluation surveys were used to measure impacts. For 2023, a total of 563 participants enrolled in seven courses with 473 successfully completing requirements (84%). The completion rate is high for an extension program because of asynchronous delivery across time zones and work schedules, specific deadlines, a course fee to increase perceived value, interaction with instructors to customize instruction, and a certificate of completion as a graduation reward. Participants included 23% international, and 17% completed lessons in Spanish. The majority (73%) of participants were industry professionals in production and other roles, and 71% indicated that their highest level of horticulture training was either learned on the job, or in high school. The proportion of students rating their technical knowledge in the course topics as very good to expert increased from 11% to 53% following the completion of the courses. Instructors are currently from 12 institutions, and Michigan State University (MSU) and UF have collaborated since 2022 on a "Plant Health Professional" certificate program through their combined institutions. We have a keen interest in collaborating with university and industry partners to develop a comprehensive and coordinated curriculum tailored to the needs of the industry. UF is well-positioned to assist in promoting, hosting, or translating courses, to mitigate barriers to course development and enhance accessibility for learners. Overall, the Greenhouse Training Online program has proven to be a sustainable model for bridging a gap in horticultural education, and empowering greenhouse and nursery growers with the knowledge and skills needed for success in their industry.

Invasive species pose significant threats including economic losses in agriculture and horticulture, decreased biodiversity, human and animal health hazards, disruption of native ecosystems, and more. In the U.S., the losses due to invasive species were historically estimated at around $120 billion annually, but a more recent study suggests this cost is much higher at $1.2 trillion. Florida is a high-risk state for the introduction and establishment of invasive species due to the state’s diversity of agricultural commodities, mild winters, large number of international deep-water ports and airports, and highly desirable tourism operations. Research shows that the public plays an important role in early detection of invasive species, but awareness is critical to the development of strong volunteer-based networks. Licensed pesticide applicators, often the first to observe suspicious pests, play a crucial role in both early detection and ongoing management of non-native species in Florida. To address these challenges, the First Fridays with Florida First Detector webinar program was developed. This yearlong pilot program offered one-hour lunch time webinars on the first Friday of every month beginning in September 2022. Leveraging innovative online education techniques, the program aimed to connect diverse professional and public audiences across Florida. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of invasive species issues, webinars engaged multiple stakeholder groups including farmers, horticultural professionals, landscapers, land managers, master gardener volunteers, homeowners, and beyond. The content focused on increasing knowledge about invasive species, including the identification of species not yet detected and recently introduced species in Florida. The goals were to promote early detection of new species, monitor the spread of recently introduced species, and offer sustainable management recommendations for species currently impacting Florida. Each month highlighted a different pest group including invasive fruit flies, palm pests, wood boring insects, citrus pests, snails, and more. Post-reflective surveys demonstrated that 94.7% (n=675) of respondents increased their knowledge on invasive species and 99.9% intended to adopt at least one practice learned. Six-month follow up surveys, evaluating behavior implementation over time, showed that 97.5% (n=166) of respondents had adopted at least one practice (i.e. submitted samples of suspicious pests, employed integrated pest management, etc.) since attending a webinar. The findings underscore the effectiveness of interdisciplinary, collaborative approaches in addressing invasive species challenges. This presentation will discuss the methodologies and experiences in developing and implementing the one-year pilot program as well as the program’s future directions and potential applicability to other regions.

In today's high schools, students are often unaware of the diverse and meaningful careers available in horticulture, especially within controlled environment agriculture (CEA). From machine learning to design engineering, CEA encompasses a wide range of technical fields, yet these opportunities are frequently overlooked in state-led agriculture curricula. This presentation underscores the need for improved national communication among agriculture teachers to develop effective programs that educate students about the rich array of horticulture careers. We advocate for the creation of equipment and curriculum that vividly depict these career paths. Furthermore, there's a pressing need to expand students' awareness of post-secondary education options beyond state boundaries. While careers in medicine are well-known, horticulture careers, which are equally complex and rewarding, often go unnoticed by technically-minded students. As the demand for locally-produced, sustainable food rises, the need for skilled horticulturists in every niche grows. We urge for a greater influx of horticulture students to meet this demand and drive innovation in the field. In summary, this presentation highlights the urgency of bridging the gap between students and the myriad opportunities available in horticulture, particularly within the dynamic realm of controlled environment agriculture.

The cannabis and hemp industries have grown at a remarkable rate over the last decade, requiring the creation of comprehensive curricula to ensure proper workforce development. This discussion focuses on the educational initiatives employed at Cornell University to support industry growth and mitigate business failure in hemp-related fields. Our approach to curriculum design was tailored to meet the unique requirements for both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as industry stakeholders. This includes the creation of in-person and robust online hemp programs that are data-driven and up to date with the rapidly growing field of scientific knowledge. In doing so, we aim to ensure that students and the public are equipped with the most recent insights from scientifically-sound resources to support responsible practices within the industry, while also aligning with the institution’s curriculum standards. The School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS) at Cornell University has been at the forefront of offering hemp-specific courses including Cannabis: Biology, Society and Industry, Hemp Breeding, Hemp Production, Hemp processing, and Chemistry and Pharmacology of Cannabis since 2019, with two of them also available through the online certificate program. Additionally, many professionals in the cannabis industry participated in the Cannabis Science and Hemp Sciences concentration for one year master’s degree program, Master of Professional Studies (MPS) at Cornell University, with approximately 30 students completing the degree in 2023. We will also highlight prior years' student expectations in order to suggest effective educational experiences and the challenges of this growing discipline in the absence of a comprehensive textbook. Through sharing insights, best practices, and case studies, this presentation aims to inspire dialogue and collaboration among educators, industry professionals, and legislators to advance the development of cannabis education within higher education institutions.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues development at a rapid pace, our current teaching and learning methods are also swiftly transforming. AI itself is often combined with various technologies such as image recognition, virtual reality (VR), machine learning, adaptive learning algorithms, and gamification. With the merger of existing technology, AI and education will change the way we teach as well as how students learn. Some examples for teaching Horticulture, Landscape Architecture or Plant Science include individualized teaching, deep learning, adaptive learning environments, AI-based assessment and image recognition. In this Professional Interest Group Session speakers will provide examples of how they are using AI in their teaching methods, followed by an open discussion with the audience that should provide additional examples and applications.

Coordinator(s)

• Kathryn Orvis, Purdue Univ, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States

Speaker/Participant(s)

• Mary Rogers, University of Minnesota, Department of Horticultural Science, St Paul, Minnesota, United States
  How to Incorporate Generative AI in Teaching a Writing Intensive Urban Agriculture Course (15 mins)
  Summary:
• Aaron Thompson, Purdue University, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, West Lafayette, IN, United States
  Teaching with AI in Landscape Architecture (15 mins)
  Summary:
• Cynthia Haynes, Iowa State University, Horticulture, Ames, Iowa, United States
  Potential benefits and pitfalls of using AI software in Horticulture teaching. (15 mins)
  Summary:

Cultural IPM: Developing a Bilingual Landscaping Basics Booklet - Hannah Wooten
Learning Outcomes in Floral Design - Melinda Knuth
Mentor-Mentee Perspectives And Experiences In A Graduate Scientific Communications Course - Kent Kobayaski
Student Engagement and Learning: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Digital Discussion Tools - Remi Ham
Training the Next Generation of Leaders to Facilitate Successful and Resilient Urban Food Systems - Eleni Pliakoni
Students’ Knowledge of Landscape Sustainability, Soil Quality and Climate Change Across Experiential Learning Courses in Agriculture - I I N Handayani
Evaluating In-person and Online Video Teaching Methods to Introduce Landscape Equipment Operation and Safety - Levi Dreiling
Evaluating Student Understanding of Plant Physiological Processes After Class Presentations - Levi Dreiling
Development of an Agricultural Biotechnology Core Capstone Course - Adrienne Kleintop

The USDA NIFA has funds for Extension that support more complex projects than typical programs. Since 2021, a multi-county Extension team has developed a UF/IFAS Bookstore publication titled “Basics of Landscaping in Florida, Conceptos Básicos de Paisajismo en Florida”. This pocket-sized, waterproof guide enables multi-lingual landscape teams to effectively communicate essential landscaping best management practices (BMPs). These BMPs promote long term landscape resilience while reducing reliance on chemical inputs. The environmental horticulture industry in Florida is worth over $10 billion annually, employs over 100,000 people, of which, 33% identify as Hispanic/Latino origin. Most horticulture jobs are focused on landscaping for aesthetics which leads to reactionary pest management focused on quick chemical solutions rather than long term economic, environmental, and social sustainability. In Florida, the use of pesticides and fertilizers requires training and professional licensure, yet chemical control and fertilization represent only a fraction of landscape integrated pest management (IPM). Cultural IPM, on the other hand, offers a key advantage: it allows for effective pest management while significantly reducing pesticide use. However, not all industry professionals require a license to perform their duties, and thus, many lack adequate training on the basics of IPM and BMPs. While quality training programs do exist, they may be cost prohibitive or too advanced for landscape professionals early in their careers or for employees performing basic tasks that fall within cultural IPM foundations. Research shows that people typically add more information and overlook subtractive approaches that may actually improve outcomes (Adams, et. al, 2021). The approach to teaching landscape basics is rooted in age old wisdom, from Occam’s Razor, Einstein’s famous quote, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”, and Lockheed Martin’s “Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)” methodologies. Thus, a more basic bilingual training on landscape best practices and IPM was needed and developed as part of the USDA, NIFA Award No. 2021-70006-35560. This booklet uses heuristic techniques designed to effectively communicate fundamental cultural IPM principles to a broader audience in English and Spanish, avoiding intricate and technical facets of horticulture. The team will disseminate booklets to clientele in 2024 and subsequently offer them for sale in the UF/IFAS Bookstore. This presentation will focus on simplifying horticultural science educational technologies, making them accessible, actionable, and agreeable for Floridians working with landscapes. Funding options, considerations, and experiences developing bilingual training materials will also be shared.

Learning objectives are put into place to measure student conceptualization in classroom activities. However, how effective are these learning outcomes in individualized student activities? Our research will explore how well students expressed learning concepts through in-class floral design construction. The target group is the students in HS 275 Floral Design. To study student understanding, we analyzed each week’s learning objectives by evaluating each student's submitted floral design project photograph. This was done through analyzing our review comments and student reflections of their final project. We will discuss the results of our study about applying teaching strategies that promote conceptualization that can potentially be applied broadly in higher education courses.

TPSS 654 Communications in the Sciences is a required one-credit graduate course in the Tropical Plant

Peer-to-peer engagement is an impactful way to enrich student learning and the teaching experience, especially in an asynchronous course. Varied online discussion platforms are more readily available to increase engagement, participation, and student learning. However, more information is needed to evaluate whether these discussion platforms enhance engaged learning. This study compares the use of online discussion platforms Packback and Yellowdig, used in sequential years for HS 205 (Sec. 601): Home Food Production - quantifying students' recorded level of participation, engagement with their classmates, and effort put into student posts. In the spring of 2022, Packback was evaluated as an effective class discussion tool for HS 205 (Sec. 601): Home Food Production. Students used Packback as the course discussion forum tool. Each week, they were given instructor-led lead discussion prompts during scheduled weeks and asked to respond to two of their peers. Packback tracked student participation each week and gave students a “curiosity” score. This curiosity score algorithm assessed the effort put into each student’s post. The Packback discussion group had lower full student participation, peer-to-peer engagement, and curiosity/effort scores. In the first week, most students fully participated. But as weeks progressed, the effort put into discussion posting and engagement significantly declined – as low as 65% participation. Beyond answering the discussion prompt, students did not develop their line of inquiry, and engagement was modest – most weeks, students did not fully participate, and the average curiosity score was 66% (the highest participation was 81 and the lowest 40). In the spring of 2023, Yellowdig was used as a digital tool to help create more vibrant, connected learning communities and give students the agency to discuss course topics that are important to them. Using Yellowdig, evidence showed that students became more active participants in the learning process, often exceeding the minimal participation requirement, and played a critical role in constructing knowledge. Crafted course topics provided course relevance and helped students talk about subjects related to the course, but no longer relied on instructor prompts for their discussions each week. With Yellowdig, students in this course performed above average in the number of student connections, the number of discussion posts, the number of reactions and responses given to discussion posts, the total word count average, and the number of multimedia shared (i.e.pictures, videos, weblinks). Furthermore, several students echoed their value of Yellowdig in their end -of-year evaluations.

Kansas State University formally began working in Urban Food Systems (UFS) with the launch of an UFS specialization in the Horticulture graduate program in 2011. In 2013 it expanded to the KSU-Olathe campus in order to be closer partners and other stakeholders in the Kansas City area. This program provides interdisciplinary training that focuses on sustainable urban food production, local food accessibility, food systems project management, grant writing, public and farmer education, and safe food production in an urban environment. Students gain a foundation in horticultural science while studying how the urban food system impacts social and economic development. There are a number of working urban agriculture professionals that do not have formal education or accreditation in these important topics. Therefore, the MS specialization has a thesis and a professional track (report) option that is intended for working professionals. Based on stakeholder feedback and marketing study performed by KSU, it became clear that there is a strong need for this type of education nationally and for working professionals. An online graduate certificate in urban food systems in January 2022 to address this need. The certificate consist of 6 required credits and 6 elective credits from approved courses in plant and agricultural science, leadership and management, sociology, economics and health. Fall 2023, the professional track MS is available 100% online. Graduates of the program are well prepared to work as director/program managers in not-for-profit organizations, city governments, and extension programs in urban districts, facilitating community gardens, urban farming, farmers’ markets, and farm-to-school programs. Details about the curriculum of the MS specialization and the interdisciplinary graduate certificate will be presented. As urban food systems continue to expand across the US and internationally, it will take a diverse group of professionals to address the complex issues that are relevant to this growing discipline.

Higher education institutions play a crucial role in shaping the future by preparing students to address global sustainability challenges. As we incorporate sustainability principles into teaching and research, faculty members are increasingly adopting an interdisciplinary approach. In particular, colleges of agriculture recognize the urgency of addressing soil degradation, climate change, and land management practices—the very threats that jeopardize global sustainability. However, teaching sustainability is no simple task. Students often grapple with the complexities of land degradation, soil health issues, and the impact of global warming on agriculture. Balancing the need to cover sustainability comprehensively while empowering students to find solutions can be challenging. In response to this challenge, a collaborative effort emerged across five different agriculture college courses. These courses leveraged experiential-learning projects focused on soil quality indicators and climate change mitigation as tools for teaching sustainability concepts. Despite varying levels (ranging from 300 to 400), these courses intentionally shared common components and included research projects, shared readings and reflections, student presentations and a symposium for research competition. The study analyzed over 40 research projects on soil quality and 85 student reflections. The results revealed that students not only acquired a deeper understanding of soil quality variations but also recognized how changes in soil health serve as indicators of land degradation or improvement. Moreover, they appreciated the vital role soil health plays in mitigating climate change. This collaborative approach demonstrates the effectiveness of experiential learning in teaching sustainability. By integrating real-world challenges and fostering interdisciplinary connections, higher education institutions can empower students to become informed stewards of our planet’s future.

Concepts of plant water use, photosynthesis, and respiration have historically been challenging for undergraduates in introductory horticulture courses. To increase student understanding of these concepts, we conducted a study in a principles of horticultural science course with two lab sections and a total enrollment of 51 students. After traditional lectures of these plant physiological processes concluded, we used a flipped classroom approach with the learners as teachers to increase student learning. Each lab section was divided into six groups, with 12 groups in total. Groups were assigned one of the three topics and presented their topic to two other groups of students. Five knowledge-based questions on each physiological process, 15 questions total, were included on a pre-test prior to hearing lectures. The same 15 questions were given on a post-test following the lectures, but prior to the student presentations. Those 15 questions were also included on the unit exam following the presentations. No significant differences were found between pre-test and exam scores when evaluated for specific topics students presented. However, an 80% overall score increase from the pre-test to the unit exam was reported. This correlates with student responses to a post-survey in which 80% of the students indicated they understood the other physiological processes better after hearing the group presentations. Our results show that a flipped classroom approach of students teaching students can be effective at increasing student understanding of difficult horticultural concepts.

The undergraduate core curriculum is an opportunity introduce students from diverse majors to topics in agriculture. Agricultural Biotechnology is an interdisciplinary undergraduate course at Delaware Valley University which combines the disciplines of Plant and Animal Science. It has run every spring semester since 2020, with enrollment made up of students from different majors. The course was recently approved as a core capstone course, an upper-level course intended to assess the university’s core curriculum, and it and was run as a core capstone course for the first time in 2024. The objectives of this project were to: 1) create two final course projects including a poster and case study designed to assess the core curriculum outcomes and 2) to provide students with the opportunity to develop their skills in public education and outreach. A final poster project was incorporated into the course in which students were instructed to develop a new Biotech trait in any plant or animal species. The poster project needed to address core curriculum outcomes such as global contexts, using relevant information, quantitative methods, appropriate technology, and required professional communication. The second case study project was used to assess multicultural competency. The posters were on display at events for both the campus community and the outside public. Student feedback was collected via pre-and post-tests and surveys.