Understanding threats to Brassica crops: A case study
Crop selection is an important part of vegetable production, as it impacts which crops are locally available. This selection is normally conducted by understanding the supply and demand for certain crops, crop rotations, and maintanence efforts required for crop upkeep. Taking our results into consideration, it becomes apparent that certain crops are more suceptible to certain threats than others.
For farmers facing large amounts of herbivory within a plot, removing Kohlrabi may prove to be beneficial in lowering the amount of damaged crops. Likewise, farmers that are impacted by a large presence of black rot should remove Gai lan from other Brassica crops. If Gai lan still needs to be produced by the farm, vegetable producers should attempt to seperate it from other crops by either placing it in a solely Gai lan plot or near resistant Brassica crops, such as Daikon Radish.
Management Strategy.
Spencer looks over a section of crops to determine the damage.
Joey and Spencer survey crop types for damage.
The view across from our study site at The Farm at Sunnyside.
Spencer looks over a section of crops to determine the damage.
Developed for vegetable producers in an effort to decrease Brassica crop threats.
Try out our Management Strategies.
Crop Selection.
Management Strategy.
Improved Fences.
Management Strategy.
Action Plan
Most mammal species can navigate around, over, under, or through many types of fences. In an effort to prevent pest species from entering agricultural plots, farmers often place fences around their vegetable crops to reduce the amount of herbivory.
These fences should meet certain requirements in order to minimize herbivory from mammals as much as possible. In the case of deer, fences should be at least six feet high and preferably slanted outwards. This reduces the chances of a larger mammal being able to jump over or dig underneath the fence. For burrowing mammals, such as groundhogs, fences should extend at least ten inches underground to prevent them from burrowing underneath fenced boundaries.
We plan on expanding our research to multiple study sites in the future. This expansion will allow us to create more management strategies that are based on the results found in a variety of areas. These management strategies will be easier to implement on a wider range of vegetable farms, as more than one study site will be taken into consideration. It will also focus on the difference between Brassica crop threats in areas near wildlife habitat and those in traditional agriculture plots.
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Using our results, we were able to create several managment strategies foher vegetable producers to use in their agriculture plots. These strategies were developed with the needs of farmers in mind, as well as potential benefits associated with each strategy. Below is a running list of each developed management strategy. More will be added as the study continues across multiple farms and our research is expanded.