The Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy recognizes researchers who are conducting sustained, exemplary multistate activities. This year, for their efforts in water conservation and improved water quality within the ornamental crops industry, AmericanHort has been selected as the 2017 Experiment Station Section Award for Excellence in Multistate Research recipient.

AmericanHort led a collaboration of 31 researchers and 22 institutions from across the nation. The working group is made up of researchers and extension agents from leading land grant universities and USDA-ARS units throughout the United States. Nineteen members have served as principal investigators on 41 grants totaling more than $21.6 million from USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and other sources. Many of these efforts started with seed grants from the Horticulture Research Institute.

Nearly all greenhouses and three-quarters of nursery crops rely on irrigation. This makes water quality and conservation critical areas of concern in the ornamental plant industry.

"Drought, population changes, competition for water resources and new legislation increase the need to manage water resources more effectively and to investigate alternative sources for irrigation," said Doug Buhler, director of MSU AgBioResearch, who nominated the project for the award. "In the nine years since its inception, this project addresses the interrelated issues regarding water management and water quality within the ornamental crop industries."

The Experiment Station Committee will recognize the national winning project on Organization and Policy during the Association of Public Land-grant Universities Annual Meeting in November in Washington, D.C.

For more information including a list of key accomplishments for this project, visit www.americanhort.org.