• Benefits and barriers to the international horticulture trade
• Developing new fruit and vegetables with consumer preference in mind
• Invasive, non-native plants and their impacts on the U.S. horticulture industry
• Systems biology: what it is and how to integrate it with traditional horticultural research

These four topics will be addressed during colloquia sessions presented at the 2008 ASHS Annual Conference.

Thank yous go to each of the sponsoring ASHS Working Groups, as well as to the selection committee members, individual speakers, and coordinators for each of these colloquia.

Join your colleagues for in-depth presentations on these issues of importance to all disciplines in today’s horticultural profession:

(content subject to change)

Barriers to Increased Horticultural Trade & Market Integration

Sponsor: Marketing and Economics (MKEC) Working Group

Objectives:

• Provide information on the economic benefits of free trade agreements in the Western Hemisphere for fruit, vegetable, flower, and nursery producers, as well as consumers who have a much broader range of horticultural products from which to choose.
• Address specific regulatory barriers in international horticultural production and marketing.

Abstract:

Increased trade flows in horticultural products is beneficial to both producers and consumers. Producers benefit from selling products in a much larger market, and consumers benefit from having a broader range of product to choose from. Market integration has allowed the U.S. and Canadian producers of greenhouse campari tomatoes, for example, to significantly reduce their resources to market the product. Similarly, potato farmers of both countries are working together to address the excess potato supply in the North American market to ensure that potato growers on both sides of the border obtain a fair price. Increased economic integration between countries in the Western Hemisphere, such as between the U.S. and Canada, has resulted in an enormous expansion in cross border activity and enhanced trading relationships between these countries.

Since the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was implemented in 1994, the growth in horticultural trade has been explosive. In 2004, it reached $5.1 billion—the United States exported $2.9 billion in horticultural crops to Canada, while $2.2 billion worth of Canadian horticultural products were exported to the U.S. market.

This colloquium addresses the economic and societal benefits of having free trade agreements between countries in the Western Hemisphere for fruit, vegetable, flower, and nursery producers. Moreover, the colloquium addresses specific barriers that work against free trade in horticultural commodities, including inadequate funding for research and development work that is needed to help horticultural producers comply with cross-border phytosanitary and pesticide regulations.

Case studies will be presented to illustrate how increased funding for collaborative research between several countries and the United States has led to dramatic increases in horticultural trade, including trade in mangoes.

Enhancing Quality of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables:
Key to Consumer Demand

Sponsor: Postharvest (PH) Working Group

Objective:

• Bring together leaders in the fields postharvest physiology, fruit quality, plant breeding, and molecular genetics to address the need for genetically enhancing produce quality, the state of the art in efforts toward that end, and how novel varieties are commercialized.

Abstract:

Fresh fruits and vegetables available in the market place are increasingly perceived as lacking quality characteristics, especially flavor and texture. In addition, consumers are presented with a tremendous array of novel manufactured food products that compete with fresh produce. Manufactured food products have the advantage of being able to rapidly change in response to consumer demands in contrast with creating new cultivars by traditional breeding.

To sustain consumer demand and remain competitive, it is essential that greater emphasis be placed on developing improved varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables that not only meet, but ideally exceed consumer’s expectations. Plant breeders have long focused on resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses with little emphasis on improving the flavor, texture, health benefits, or convenience of fresh produce.

However, plant breeders and molecular geneticists have recently begun to make quality the focus of their efforts. Coupled with this priority for enhancing quality is an increased awareness of the importance of incorporating sensory analysis for better understanding what constitutes quality.

By understanding consumer expectations, making these factors priorities in plant improvement programs, and developing new varieties with consumer preferences in mind, it will be possible to develop fresh fruits and vegetables that consumers not only demand, but for which they are willing to pay a premium.

Impacts of Invasive Plants on the Horticulture Industry in the Biosecurity Age

Sponsors: Ornamentals/Landscape and Turf (O/LT) and Nursery Crop (NUR) Working Groups

Objectives:

Cover issues related to the current status of invasive plants in the U.S., including:

• regulations and rules governing the importation and introduction of non-native species;
• prediction and risk assessment methods used to determine the invasiveness of a species; and
• management practices and technologies used either to eliminate invasive traits or control the spread of an invasive species.

Abstract:

The spread of invasive plants ha had a negative impact on managed landscapes, natural areas, and even our national economy. There was obviously no intent for ecological or economic damage, but the traits that make certain species ornamentally appealing may also enable them to become invasive (e.g., large and attractive flowers; ease of propagation; high fecundity, etc.). More than 50% of all invasive plants were introduced originally for horticulture or ornamental purposes.

Many non-native plants are commercially important and widely utilized for various purposes, so completely prohibiting both their use and import is impractical. Therefore, specific regulations to prevent the introduction of invasive plants and effective methods and technology to control the spread of these non-native species are needed.

In the past decade, impressive models and systems have been developed to screen plants for invasiveness. Both Australia and New Zealand have implemented risk-assessment systems that are fairly successful.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is also considering changes to their current system, which is presently based on a prohibited-list approach.

Systems Biology for Horticultural Sciences and How to Participate

Sponsor: Biotechnology Working Group (BTCH)

Objectives

• Introduce the concept of Systems Biology (integration of all fields of biological research from genomics, bioinformations to phenomics), which has been recently adapted in other biological research area, to horticultural plant research
• Discuss how “conventional” horticultural researchers can participate in Systems Biology research or integrate genomics and functional genomics research with traditional horticultural research.

Abstract:

Since the Arabidopsis genome was sequenced in the late 1990s, two additional plants (rice and poplar tree) have now been completely sequenced, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institutes are currently undertaking projects to complete sequences for many other organisms including several plants. In addition, specific sequencing projects are also underway for ESTs and gene-rich regions of the genomes of several other taxa. As genomic data explodes, new research fields are embraced, such as genomics, bioinformatics, functional genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phonemics. Scientists now integrate all of these into systems biology to elucidate fundamental biological mechanisms.

However, much of the research in systems biology (genomics and bioinformatics in particular) has been focused on non-horticultural crops, which leaves many horticulturists having to retool in order to be competitive for funding opportunities.This can be daunting when faced with the enormity of sequencing or microarray data sets.

This colloquium will introduce systems biology—particularly how to vertically ingrate genomics and functional genomics with traditional physiology, genetic, and field-based research. Horticulturists have much to offer in these new fields, and increasing ASHS member participation in such exciting research will advance horticultural research. Seasoned and fresh horticulturists alike will share their experiences in systems biology-based research.

The colloquium will be divided into three sections.

• Section one: an overview of current plant genome sequencing projects at the DOE Joint Genome Institute and introduce systems biology.
• Section two: update on horticultural crops systems biology, one in fruits and another one in vegetable (tomato) or ornamentals (petunia).
• Section three: speakers will share their experiences how conventional horticulturists convert their research focus to, or include/integrate genomics, to systems biology, and what is needed to retool and become competitive in this area