Citrus Production Model [CPM] Initiative
Now Called DISC

{updated somewhat on 21 May 1999}

DISC  = Decision Information System for Citrus.  The new name developed in  the latter part of a meeting held in Gainesville on February 19-20, 1996.  In that meeting knowledge engineering tools were displayed and domain experts declared their commitment to support the development of a citrus production, harvesting, and marketing tool.  Peter D. Spyke was retained as the Chairman of a Board or Committee made up of Bob Peart, John Schueller, Chet Townsend, Norman Todd, David Martsolf, Jim Ferguson and Gene Albrigo.  Chet put up a DISC homepage before he went to bed on February 20, 1996, and it has been updated periodically since then.

Two lists of investigators follow.  One declares those as they were recorded in a preproposal in late 1998.   The second lists additional investigators that are affiliated with the DISC movement in one way or another.

Some of the history of how the effort got started is contained in a draft of a paper written for the Proceeding of the Florida State Horticultural Society [and since published].  Chet Townsend edited the paper to made available on the net.  But it must be admitted here that the progress that has been made and those involved in one way or another has "spiraled up" {as Bill Gates is fond of saying} to the extent that it is now difficult to credit everyone who has played a part.  E-mail has played a major role in the development of the concept.  The history of how the project got started seems to result from the collaboration of thrusts from two directions.  Dr. Robert Peart was involved early in the
development of the concept here on the campus.  Independently Peter Spyke described to a meeting  of the advisory committee his recognition that the weather drove a lot of decisions in citrus beyond simply the freeze warnings, the subject of that particular meeting in Ruskin.  The Federal-State Frost Warning Service would cease to exist on
April Fools Day 1996.  Pete Spyke's DISC concept seems to have outlived the program that it was originally expected to aid.  In a simplistic view DISC represents the bringing together of the Industry in the form of Spyke and the University represented initially primarily by Dr. Robert Peart.  This worker can only claim to have fanned the flame with
email.  A more recent paper has been converted to html or is in the process of being converted

The weather and climate front end for the models involves both current and past weather information as inputs to the various weather sensitive models.  History of the Initiative: Meeting at Ruskin. Peter Spyke's description of who should run the models early on: the agricultural meteorologists at Ruskin, who found the idea attractive. A proposal to the FCPRAC [Florida Citrus Production Research Advisory Council] claimed only two votes in '95.  The defense was a blood bath!  One of the three defenders sided with the attackers.  There was a lot of emotion regarding the use of computers in the production decision making process in citrus.

A complete rewrite of the proposal in which deliverables in the form of modules of the integrated
system were the focus and the proposal was funded in '96 and again in '97.  That funding will run out in mid-summer of '99.  A special appeal was made to the to continue enough funding for the graduate student,
Mr. Juan Valiente, to complete his doctorate work and it was granted.  The preproposal made in late '98 was
denied but with an indication that when some additional evidence of the availability of some of the modules
exists any updated preproposal will be welcomed.

List of Investigators as declared in the DISC Proposal to the Florida Citrus Production Research Advisory Council in late 1998:

A. Principal Investigators:

Albrigo, L. Gene, UF/IFAS, Citrus REC

Beck, Howard W., UF/IFAS, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

 Martsolf, J. David, UF/IFAS, Horticultural Sciences B. Names of Other Investigators:

                   Castle, William S., UF/IFAS, Citrus REC

                   Ferguson, James J., UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences

                   Jones, Jim W., UF/IFAS, Agricultural Engineering

                   Muraro, Ronald P., UF/IFAS, Citrus REC

                   Peart, Robert M., UF/IFAS, Agricultural Engineering

                   Schueller, John K., UF, College of Engineering

                   Wheaton, T. Adair, UF/IFAS, Citrus REC

Zazueta, Fedro S, UF/IFAS Information Technologies C. Industry Coordinators:

                    Peter D. Spyke, Arapaho Citrus Mngt, Inc., Ft. Pierce

Norman Todd, Grove Crafters, Inc., La Belle

Chet Townsend, Corkscrew Fruit Co., Alva

Maurice Gebhardt, DLGSystems, Ft. Myers

Ben Albritton, Benny Albritton Citrus, Wauchula

  List of Additional  Workers who have in one way or another indicated interest in supporting the DISC activity
 
Allen, Jon. UF/IFAS, Entomology , Gainesville

Blokland, P. J. van. UF/IFAS, Economics, Gainesville

Browning, Harold. UF/IFAS, Entomology, CREC, Lake Alfred

Chan, Chee Wan. UF/IFAS, Yield Monitoring, Gainesville

Cantliffe, Dan. UF/IFAS, Horticulture, Gainesville

Frasier, Marshall, Terra, Weather stations, Palm City

Futch, Steve, UF/IFAS, Extension, CREC, Lake Alfred

Hornsby, Art. UF/IFAS, GIS/Soils, Gainesville

Jackson, Larry. Consultant, Weather, Lakeland

Jackson, John. UF/IFAS, Citrus Agent, Weather, Tavares

Jones, Pierce. UF/IFAS, Agricultural Engineering, Gainesville

Kender, Walt UF/IFAS, FL-108 Extension, CREC, Lake Alfred

Lee, Richard. UF/IFAS, Research Teams, Gainesville

Lin, Nan. UF/IFAS, Information Technology, Gainesville

Miller, Bill. UF/IFAS, Yield Monitoring, CREC, Lake Alfred

Obreza, Tom. UF/IFAS, Hydrology, AREC, Immokalee

Oswalt, Tom. UF/IFAS, Citrus Agent, Weather, Bartow

Parsons, Larry. UF/IFAS, Water Relations, CREC, Lake Alfred

Roka, Fritz, UF/IFAS, Economics, SFREC, Immokalee

Roberts, Mike. Terra, Weather Stations and PA, Lake Alfred

Rogers, Steven. EOSTAT, Lakeland

Rouse, Bob. UF/IFAS, Citrus, AREC, Immokalee

Semer, Chuck. UF/IFAS, Pathology, Gainesville

Shinn, Charles. grower, copper deposition team, Ft. Pierce

Stover, Ed. UF/IFAS, Indian River REC, Teaching, Ft. Pierce

Syvertsen, Jim. UF/IFAS, Stress Modeling, CREC, Lake Alfred

Timmer, Pete. UF/IFAS, Disease Modelling, CREC, Lake Alfred

Vavrina, Charles UF/IFAS PA and Frost Protection, SFREC, Immokalee

Valiente, Juan. UF/IFAS, Horticulture, Gainesville

Whitney, Jody. UF/IFAS, Yield Monitoring, CREC, Lake Alfred