Northeast IPM Funds Five Projects in 2002
In 2002, the Northeast Regional IPM Grants program funded five proposals for projects that focus on extension, research, or a combination of both. Funds for this program originate at the USDA. All of the 2002 projects are multistate collaborations.
The extension project Regional Monitoring for Northeastern IPM is a partnership between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, led by S. J. Fleischer of Penn State. The project will establish a regional human and information technology infrastructure for organizing and delivering agricultural pest monitoring information in the region, using sweet corn as the model system.
Infection Biology of Key Cranberry Fruit Rot Pathogens is a research project led by F. L. Caruso at UMass. Investigators from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Washington, and Canada are working to identify critical periods of susceptibility to fruit rot during which fungicide applications might be especially effective, so applications at other times could be reduced or eliminated.
Three research/extension projects were funded in 2002. Cornell’s D. A. Rutz leads a study called Development of Alternative Darkling Beetle Management Strategies for Poultry Producers in the Northeast. This partnership between New York and Maine will deliver critically needed management solutions for beetles that pose a threat to the poultry industry.
Feasibility
of Implementing “Least Toxic” Alternatives as Components of an IPM
Approach for Public Schools in the Northeast is led by P. Shrewsbury
of the Univ. of Maryland working with colleagues from Maryland and New York.
Investigators are trying to determine the efficacy and cost effectiveness of
“least toxic” control tactics and strategies for managing turf, landscape,
and public health pests in public school systems.
Multistate
Evaluation of
Trichogramma ostriniae in Vegetable Production, led by Cornell’s
M. P. Hoffman, brings together investigators from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
Maine, and Virginia. They will test, over a wide range of environments, the
use of a small wasp that parasitizes European corn borer eggs, thereby reducing
pest populations, preventing damage to crops, and providing an alternative to
reliance on insecticides.
The grants program has released the FY 2003 Request for Applications (RFA).
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