4.What were the most significant accomplishments this past year?
This report serves to document activities conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and the Ohio State University under the Azores Cooperative Initiatives Program (ACIP), as mandated in the 1995 U.S.-Portugal Agreement on Cooperation and Defense and further defined in the Final Minute (95 ACD-FM) to that agreement and funded by Department of Defense. The Ohio State University made a technical mission to meet with the Azorean Regional Service for Plant Production and Protection (DSPC) and observe a broad spectrum of the horticultural crops and production activities on the isle of São Miguel.

Discussions were focused on several crops that are currently grown and seem to have strong potential for local and export markets if certain obstacles could be overcome. Although development of export markets for various crops is important, the importance of supplying local markets with products that are currently imported needs to be explored as well. Two basic areas discussed were small fruits including blackberry, raspberry, currant and strawberry, and fruits that may have potential for local as well as export markets such as Annona, Passion fruit, and Banana. Although these crops all have potential, each has specific pest-related problems that need to be addressed through research.

The next planned visit under this project will be by a representative of the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository. Two other possible visits were discussed involving citrus leaf miner and the Mediterranean fruit fly.