about the southwest Purdue ag program
Mission
The mission of the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Program is to maintain a safe, quality food supply and a healthy environment while supporting families and communities associated with the agricultural industry.
Southwest Purdue Agricultural Program
The Southwest Purdue Agricultural Program is based in Vincennes, IN at the Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center and was established in 1990 to provide extension support for growers in the southern region of the state. The team is comprised of two individuals: a vegetable pathologist, César Escalante and Wenjing Guan, vegetable specialist. Vegetable production, specifically cantaloupe and watermelon, is the major focus of the SWPAP team. Combined, watermelons and cantaloupes are grown on nearly 10,000 acres in the state, with the majority of the acreage in southwest Indiana. Annually watermelon and cantaloupe are valued at nearly $50 million. The creation of the program continues to allow for research based extension information to be developed and delivered to vegetable and agronomic crop farmers in this region with similar environmental conditions and soil types. A recent addition to the program is the high tunnel project focused on developing practical information for this type of production system which is rapidly expanding in the state and the U.S. as a whole. Some recent projects are vegetable variety evaluation, fungicide trials for cucurbit and solanaceous vegetables, rootstock evaluation for vegetable grafting, fertility management of vegetables, variety disease resistance evaluation, and canola trials.
Specialist
Dr. Wenjing Guan's research and extension programs focus on developing and delivering sustainable vegetable and melon production practice that can increase efficiency and profitability of specialty crop production in Indiana. Her research projects include:
- Watermelon and cantaloupe variety evaluation
- Vegetable fertility management and fertilizer stimulant product evaluation
- Vegetable grafting
- Season extension with high tunnels
More information about Dr. Guan
Specialist
Dr. Cesar Escalante serves as a liaison to the vegetable industry in Indiana. As part of his extension program, he interacts with both large- and small-scale vegetable farmers across the state to help identify plant pathogens and manage plant health issues. Dr. Escalante’s research program focuses on developing scientifically-based information that can be promptly applied to provide solutions for growers facing plant disease problems. Some of his research efforts include:
- Vegetable disease diagnosis and management
- Pathogen discovery
- Plant-pathogen interactions
- Fungicide trials