1. Great Lakes Vegetable Working Group History and Direction

2. Tri-State Meetings In the beginning… Annual meetings began ca. 1960 Discuss current research, field studies, trends, etc. within the industry University specialists –15-20 people each year Industry representatives –5-10 people each year Early focus on processing crops (tomatoes, pickling cucumber, asparagus, snap beans, peppers, cauliflower)

3. Tri-State Meetings Began to include Ontario ca. 1970. Decline / Shift in processing industry (Midwest) late 90s Belt tightening in industry and University environments Increased responsibilities forced reprioritizing of specialists time and commitments Slow decline in TSM attendance, only university personnel At March 2004 TSM, vowed to invigorate group or disband

4. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Pursue funding? Rotate the meeting site? Liz Maynard, Purdue, Hannah Stevens, MSU, Janice LeBeouf, OMAF, Jim Jasinski, OSU Oct. 2004, NCR IPMC WG Grant Funded 1 year grant, with two possible 1 year renewals TSM became the GLVWG Currently 11 States and 1 Province

5. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Mission : To form a communication network for specialists with responsibilities to the vegetable industry throughout the North Central and Great Lakes region.

6. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Objectives Formation of a listserv (146 specialists) Creation of GLVWG Website Support Annual Meeting (rotate site) Form Steering / Working Committee to assess IPM adoption in vegetable crops –Create and distribute IPM survey Collect and analyze IPM survey –States will have adoption rate benchmarks for certain crops Form focus groups convened by commodity –Get impressions survey, validate/challenge survey data

7. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Steering / Working Committee members so far…

8. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Incentive… Inside track on future NCR IPM Center grants utilizing Working Group objectives or survey results.(?) Work to be Done… Need to complete the IPM surveys to see what issues / areas need to be addressed.

9. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Discussion points: Purpose or reason for GLVWG to exist Why attend this meeting? What was the attraction? What do you expect to get out of this meeting? Should Industry/NGO/Commodity groups be included in listserv and invited to annual conference? How do we make this meeting different (important / special / unique) from other vegetable meetings?

10. Great Lakes Vegetable WG Discussion points: Purpose or reason for GLVWG to exist Does this group focus on larger, broad issues spanning states and provinces? GLVWG set up to service all veg. crops, or only processing or fresh market? Focused on IPM or general horticulture topics? What is the benefit of belonging to this group ?