Up-to-date tips for and research findings related to key challenges and opportunities in Ohio specialty crop production will be available during the tour on June 24, 2025. Members of the statewide OSU Specialty Crops Team and collaborators will be on hand to address your questions as we view field research plots, see emerging pros and cons of various practices, planting stocks, and materials, link production and marketing, and more. The 9:00 AM-noon tour and Q/A session will feature grape, small and tree fruit, vegetable and marketing research on multiple topics. Join us for a firsthand look at field research coordinated by the OSU people listed below and others, then for lunch and visits to Greenfield Farms Cooperative (https://gffarms.com/) and a nearby farm. Register and see more information by typing go.osu.edu/tour25 in your browser navigation bar.
Scheduled OSU presenters include:
* Frank Becker (OSUE-Wayne County) – OSUE specialty crop scouting and IPM program
* David Francis (tomato breeding/genetics) – resistance as the first tool in combating soilborne disease
* Shoshanah Inwood (community, food, and economic development) – Northeast Ohio Ag Innovation Center
* Melanie Ivey research team (fruit pathology) – a new strawberry disease and biological control of apple scab
* Matt Kleinhenz (vegetable production) – uses for farmer-controlled, on-demand, solar-powered motors
* Ashley Leach (entomology) – best practices in integrated insect pest management in specialty crops
* Diane Miller (pomologist) – new apple varieties in a U-pick orchard system
* Francesca Rotondo (plant pathology/plant and pest diagnostic clinic) – correct diagnoses for successful responses
* Andres Sanabria-Velasquez (vegetable pathology) – best practices in integrated vegetable disease management
* Maria Smith (viticulturist) – grape research in support of the Ohio grape/wine industry
* Ram Yadav (weed science) – multi-pronged approaches to weed management in specialty crops
* Heping Zhu (ag engineering) – smart sprayer for efficient pesticide application