The mission of the specialty crops program is to develop alternative agricultural crops that can be economically grown and marketed from southern Ohio and beyond to enhance the income of Ohio farms through applied research and education.
Since it opened in 1991, the South Centers has focused on new specialty crops, such as strawberries, pawpaw, blueberries, brambles, wine grapes, hops, malting barley, tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins. More recently, we have expanded our programs to include other specialty crops, such as currants, gooseberries, elderberries, hardy figs, hops, and malting barley.
Our strong team of Extension and research members bring combined over 50 years of specialty crop research and teaching to the South Centers. Drs. Logan Minter and Gary Gao are the co-leaders of the Center for Specialty Crops. Dr. Gary Gao's primary research projects currently include blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, raspberries, and wine grapes while Dr. Minter's research emphasis includes strawberries, hops, high tunnel production, pumpkins, culinary mushrooms, aquaponics, and pawpaw orchards.
The Specialty Crops program provides Extension education, outreach programming, and technical assistance to growers. While based at Piketon, we offer our education and consulting programs statewide. Dr. Minter is the statewide Field Specialist for Specialty Crops and is an Associate Professor in Extension with a coutersy appointment in Horticulture and Crop Sciences. He also leads the Ohio Integrated Pest Management Program as state coordinator. Dr. Gao leads small fruit programming and is a Professor in Extension and with a courtesy appointment in Horticulture and Crop Science
Please contact our team if you have a need for technical assistance, questions or suggestions for our extension programs and research projects. Check back often for news, events, and current research results.
Specialty Crops Leadership
Dr. Gary Gao, Professor and Extension specialist for small fruit crops, primarily conducts applied research and extension programs in the areas of blackberries and raspberries, blueberries, currants and gooseberries, and winegrapes.
Dr. Logan Minter is the statewide Field Specialist for Specialty Crops and is an Associate Professor in Extension focusing on strawberries, hops, high tunnel production, pumpkins, culinary mushrooms, aquaponics, and pawpaw orchards.
For additional Horticulture staff, please see the directory.
Please visit our individual pages for more information. You are also welcome to contact Bradford Sherman to be placed on our many email lists for upcoming programs and newsletters.