By Sarah Cato, Program Tech-Horticulture, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture


In 2021 the University of Arkansas extension horticulture team hosted the 2021 Southeastern Plasticulture Strawberry School, with funding from the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium. The Strawberry School was a six-part webinar series that started in February of and ended in October 2021. In the series, Drs. Amanda McWhirt and Aaron Cato, in conjunction with over 15 specialists from across the region, followed the strawberry crop through the year and featured webinars on topics relevant to strawberry production for that season. Program staff Lizzy Herrera and Sarah Cato were key to developing the webinars into YouTube videos and coordinating with participants.

During the course of the webinar 659 people were registered and a total of 587 participants attended the live webinars from 33 states in the U.S. and 32 countries outside of the U.S. All of the presentations for the series were recorded and uploaded to the Strawberry School page on the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium website. In total, the recordings have over 6,500 views. Through live attendees and later-viewed recordings, the 2021 Southeastern Plasticulture Strawberry School has reached over 7,000 views.

This webinar series was made possible by funding from the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium.

Dr. Aaron Cato (left), Horticulture IPM Extension Specialist and Dr. Amanda McWhirt (right), Horticulture Production Extension Specialist, filming for the 2021 Southeastern Strawberry School.
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