Welcome to SPARC SCRI!

Project Summary

Extreme heat and cold events that deviate from seasonal norms are increasing. These unpredictable changes increase the risk of devastating crop losses, such as those experienced in apple and pear crops over the last two decades.

To prevent crop loss, apple and pear growers require information and tools that will equip them to face extreme temperature events now and in the future. To address these issues, SPARC is working to better understand physiological responses of apple and pear trees under extreme temperatures and identify the genetic control of those responses. A better understanding of these processes can help growers choose the best varieties to grow. We will also model historical and future risk of extreme temperature events and assess the economic impacts of changing climate on apple and pear production. Models developed here can be used to assess shifting risk for growers and help inform capital investment and regional cultivar choices.

Through the research and extension efforts of the SPARC project, we intend to provide growers with actionable management strategies to mitigate crop losses, better risk analysis models, models to show current and future impacts of changing climate on apple and pear production, and a better understanding of the physiological and genetic controls of temperature resilience that will allow for identification of key traits that can be used in breed varieties that will be more resilient to temperature extremes.