APS-Journal Jan 2017

J ournal of the A merican P omological S ociety

34

Journal of the American Pomological Society 71(1): 34-46 2017

NC-140 Multi-State Research Project: Improving Economic and Environmental Sustainability in Tree-Fruit Production Through Changes in Rootstock Use W infred P. C owgill , J r . 1 , W esley R. A utio 2 , E mily E. H oover 3 , R ichard P. M arini 4 , and P aul A. D omoto 5

Additional index words: regional research, orchard

Abstract  The North Central Project 140 (NC-140) was established in the mid-1960s to facilitate evaluation of apple rootstocks and interstem trees in the north central region of the U.S. over the years, the project has grown to in- clude cooperators from more than 20 states, four Canadian provinces and one Mexican state. The project played a major role in the rapid adoption of intensive orchard systems by the North American apple industry. This paper summarizes the history, accomplishments, participants, and potential future of the project.

 History U.S. Rootstock Research Related to NC-140. The Morrill Act of 1862 estab- lished land grant universities to teach ag- riculture, mechanics, military science and classical studies.In 1887, the Hatch Act pro- vided funds to the land grant institutions to establish agricultural experiment stations. The Research and Marketing Act of 1946 was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Truman. The Act ear- marked 25% of Federal Hatch funds to state experiment stations specifically for regional research. Effectively, this act resulted in the organization of the four regional experiment station associations: South (SAAED – 1946), Northeast (NERA – 1947), North-Central (NCRA – 1947), and Western (WAAESD – 1948). All Regional (now Multi-State) Projects are proposed, approved, and admin- istered by one of the regional associations cooperatively with the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CS- REES, formerly CSRS).

 The North Central Project 140 (NC-140) is one of many Multi-State projects authorized by CSREES. This project began in the mid 1960’s when several scientists formed NC- 78, a North-Central Region study to evalu- ate rootstocks for horticultural plants. NC-78 was approved for two cycles. However in 1970, the experiment station directors were concerned about approving projects knowing the proposed cooperative trials would extend well beyond the project period. Those re- searchers interested in rootstocks continued to meet under the structure of a North-Cen- tral Region coordinating committee, NCR- 82, Stock/Scion Relations in Horticultural Plants, while working on a new project pro- posal. For six years, scientists from Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- souri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin continued to meet annually. They also worked with the International Dwarf Fruit Tree Associa- tion (IDFTA) to further rootstock research

1 New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NU 08901 2 Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 3 Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108 4 Department of Plant Science, the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 5 Department of Horticulture, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011