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34
J
ournal of
the
A
merican
P
omological
S
ociety
Journal of the American Pomological Society 71(1): 34-46 2017
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
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.In1887, 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