Delmarva IPM Report, 2023

The Delmarva Lower Eastern Shore IPM Program Report 2022 UMES Extension

UMES Extension program serves farmers in Southern Maryland and all along the Delmarva Peninsula with educational programs and training, technical assistance, and other outreach activities. One of the main focuses of UMES Extension is the Small Farm Program (SFP). The primary mission of the SFP is to deliver educational programs, training, and outreach that helps limited-resource and socially disadvantaged farmers own and operate farms successfully. Though most end-users are in MD, the SFP extends it support throughout Delmarva and is not constrained to small farms. MD is an agriculturally diverse state interfacing an ecologically sensitive and economically vital the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is the second most important economic resource. This situation makes creating eco-friendly IPM programs in MD essential. UMES IPM program provides farmers with information that allows them to farm sustainably.

Funding

The UMES IPM Program is funded by USDA (Evan Allen, NIFA CPPM-EIP, IR4, SARE, 1890 Extension), the State of Maryland Extension Program, and the USAID (IPM Innovation lab, and Emergency Transboundary Outbreak Pest (ETOP)).

IPM Team Members

  • Behnam Khatabi – Plant Pathologist
  • Naveen Kumar Dixit – Horticulture Extension Specialist
  • Jennifer Timmons – Poultry Production
  • Sadanand Dhekney – Plant Breeder
  • Simon Zebelo – Entomologist
  • Berran Rogers – Extension Specialist
  • Nadine Burton – Extension Specialist

Partners/Collaborators

  • University of Maryland College Park
    • Cerruti Hooks, Kurt Vollmer, Dwayne Joseph, Kelly Hamby, Anahi Espindola
  • The IR-4 Project
    • Marylee Ross and Megan James
  • University of Maryland Extension (UME)
    • Jonathan Moyle, Jennifer Rhodes, Alan Leslie

Significance of the UMES IPM Program

UMES IPM program clientele consists mainly of conventional growers of large and medium-sized farms. However, agriculture census data indicates that small-scale and organic farms are ascending in MD. Organic, small acreage and underserved farmers such as those along MD Eastern Shore and the Delmarva Peninsula face many challenges such as high input costs, insufficient market outlets, rising farmland costs, finite production skills, lower annual sales, and quality of life. Their ability to remain viable in the face of these challenges has become progressively difficult. Consequently, there is a dire need to develop more educational programs to provide the skills required to thrive under economically trying times. UMES IPM program is tasked with directing educational programs that improve the economic condition of small-scale, limited-resource and/or socially disadvantaged farmers and allow them to overcome their challenges. Much of this work is done via UMES’s Small Farm Program (SFP). UMES IPM Program objectives include maintaining the economic viability of the small farmers, providing farmers information that allows them to farm sustainably by conserving environmental quality and natural resources, educating pesticide users about the safe use and handling of pesticide products, and the effective use of biological control agents. Moreover, the program participates on international programs to mitigate pest problems in the developing world. The program activity is mainly supported by the 1890 extension, Evan Allen Project, the IR-4 Project, SARE, USDA-CBG and the USDA CPPM EIP project.

Extension Implementation Project (EIP)

  • IPM Implementation in Specialty Crops (50%) (cucurbits, sweet corn, eggplant, strawberries, and grapes)
  • IPM Implementation in Agronomic Crops (23%) (hemp and soybeans)
  • IPM Implementation in Animal Agriculture (17%) focusing on poultry

Work in Progress

  • Hiring IPM coordinator

Outcomes

  • UMES IPM website launched. wwwcp.umes.edu/sans/aes/cipm/
  • On May 4, 2022, Extension Lunch and Learn presentation on fly management in poultry facility and residences. Attendance 36.
  • Spring-seeded cover crops for weed management in row middles. BARC Pesticide Applicator Recertification Training. Online course. Attendance 87.
  • Herbicides and Integrated Weed Management. Lower Eastern Shore Agronomy Day, Pocomoke City, MD. Attendance 122.
  • AgDiscovery Horticulture Workshop III: Use of nanotechnology in plant pathogen management. (6/17/2022). UMES, Princess Anne, MD. Attendance 20.
  • Efficacy of biosolarization and living mulch for weed control in vegetables. Central Maryland Vegetable Grower’s Meeting, Monkton, MD. Attendance 82.
  • Update on noxious weed law and right-of-way management. BARC Pesticide Applicator Recertification Training. Online course. March 2, 2023. Attendance 87.
  • In the 19th annual UMES small farm conference, a symposium on reducing cross-contamination between animals and produce was delivered to over 31 vegetable growers.
  • As part of the UMES small farm conference, around 32 people visited the on-farm research trial on sweet corn as a trap crop in the hemp field.
  • We hosted a farm club meeting last August attended by around 17 farmers and delivered information on the use of trap crops in watermelon production.
  • Eight video series developed in Integrated Weed Management (IWM) and published UMES IPM website.
  • Cultivation of Bitter Gourd, training, fertigation, and diseases management. (6/10/2022) Therapeutic Alternatives of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. Attendance 8.
  • Using a living mulch as part of an IWM program in a sweet corn crop rotation system. University of Maryland Eastern Shore 19th Annual Small Farm Conference. November 4–5. Princess Anne, MD. Attendance 20.