Invasives Disrupting Established IPM Strategies around the West

by Jim Farrar

Western IPM Center

As different as the Western states are, many face similar challenges of invasive pest species disrupting effective IPM programs.

That was a key point shared by the Western state IPM coordinators when they met last month at Montana State University in Bozeman to discuss regional IPM research and extension activities.

Most states reported on the challenges invasive pests pose to existing IPM programs and the related threats to agricultural production and natural landscapes. Several states noted new and expanding infestations to spotted winged Drosophila, emerald ash borer, and Bagrada bug.

Colorado reported recent problems with crucifer flea beetle, wheat stem sawfly and apple maggot, while Guam noted recent finds of eggplant mealybug, a gall-inducing wasp on ironwood trees, and a species of cucumber beetle. Hawaii reported recent finds of macadamia felted cocid and ongoing issues with coqui frogs on the big island.

In forest and natural areas, several states have invasive plants species and introduced insect pests transported in firewood. The Pacific Northwest states have flowering rush in some river and lake systems, New Mexico has several Diorhabda beetle species on salt cedar, and Guam has ironwood decline.

On the positive side, New Mexico has not had a pink bollworm reported since 2009 and Hawaii is having success with areawide insecticide rotations for diamondback moth.

Each state reported on progress in IPM programs in agriculture. The diversity of agriculture in the West was evident in the individual state reports. Continuing progress in IPM research and extension programs was reported for cotton and lettuce in Arizona, onion and dry bean in Colorado, basil in Hawaii, pulse crops and sugarbeets in Idaho, wheat in Montana, small vegetable farms in New Mexico, tree fruit in Oregon, and winegrapes and hops in Washington.

Interesting new agriculture topics included herbicide resistance in Colorado, diagnostic lab support in Montana, hoop house vegetable production in Nevada, grasshopper swarms large enough to be seen on weather radar in New Mexico, and reduced organophosphate use in tree fruit in Oregon. Perhaps most interesting is use of hot showers to rid potted ornamental plants of coqui frogs before shipment in Hawaii.

In urban IPM, the states of Washington, Utah, New Mexico, and Oregon reported on school IPM programs.   This effort is part of the EPA’s School Integrated Pest Management Plan.  Currently, three percent of school districts in Washington have achieved the IPM STAR certification.  In Utah, school IPM will be mandated in the future.  New Mexico reported that when specific school districts dropped their IPM programs and hired the services of a pest management professionals, regular pesticide treatments resumed. 

Oregon reported an increase in adoption of school IPM programs.  The state recently passed new IPM legislation, and the Oregon State Vector Control Board is now using climate-based models to predict spread of West Nile Virus.   Montana is reinvigorating its urban IPM program. Several states are using their Master Gardeners programs to reach homeowners with lawn and garden IPM information.

Some states mentioned moving IPM outreach materials into the social media realm, including YouTube videos. Social media can also be used to track impact as the number of views of a video or hits on a websites. 

Water Quality Slide Sets Being Used on a Wide Scale

Back in 2012, the Western IPM Center supported a Signature Program to develop educational material to prevent pesticides from entering surface and groundwater. The authors, from four Western states, developed PowerPoint slides sets for trainers to use in presentations to the agricultural industry, to landscape professionals, or to homeowners. The slides were posted on-line in January 2013, for free, but we asked for name, email, employer, city and state to gather evaluation information.

There were 106 total downloads and several individuals downloaded more than one slide set. People from 20 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and one Canadian providence downloaded slides with the top states being 41 downloads in California, nine in Oregon, five in Idaho, and four each in Hawaii, Iowa, North Dakota and New York. People from universities, extension, or county agriculture commissioners offices downloaded slide sets 39 times; agricultural and landscape industries 28 times; city, county, state or federal government agencies 18 times; and water quality control boards or waterkeeper groups eight times.

Survey and results

In April 2014, a survey was sent to 89 individuals who had downloaded at least one of the three slide sets. Six emails were returned undeliverable. There were 12 responses for a response rate of 14.5%. The questions and responses are summarized below.

1. Why did you download the Water Quality Protection Slide set from the Western IPM Center? (multiple answers allowed)

50% (6/12)      to prepare for a presentation

25% (3/12)      to share with colleagues

17% (2/12)      for my own personal education  

42% (5/12)      curious to see what information was covered in the slides

0%                   other

2. Which Water Quality Protection Slide set(s) did you download? (multiple answers allowed)

75% (9/12)      Water Quality Protection Measures for Agriculture

66.7 % (8/12)  Water Quality Protection Measures for Landscape Professionals

66.7% (8/12)   Water Quality Protection Measures for Homeowners

  

3. Did you increase your knowledge on the use of pesticide handling best management practices to protect water quality?

75% (9/12) Yes                        17% (2/12) No             8% (1/12) Did not answer

4. Did you change your pesticide handling practices as a result of the information presented in the Water Quality Protection Slides?

0% Yes                         33.3% (4/12) No                     66.7% (8/12) Not applicable

  

5. If yes, how did you change your pesticide handling practices?

One person who answered “No” explained that he/she was using the slides to make sure he/she was doing everything possible to keep pesticides out of water resources.

6. Did you give a presentation using the slide set?

25% (3/12)      Yes, gave a presentation using all or most of the slide set

25% (3/12)      Yes, gave a presentation using some of the slides in the set

50% (6/12)      No

7. Which Water Quality Protection Slide set(s) did you use for the presentation? (multiple answers allowed)

50% (3/6)        Water Quality Protection Measures for Agriculture

66.7% (4/6)     Water Quality Protection Measures for Landscape Professionals

16.7% (1/6)     Water Quality Protection Measures for Homeowners

  

8. If you used all or parts of the slide set for presentation(s), to whom did you give the presentation(s) and how many people attended?

Commercial applicators - about 250

Presentation to Pest Control Businesses - 52

Undergraduate students - 30

Iowa Certified Handlers – 200

Iowa Seed Treatment Continuing Instructional Course - 800

To a group of about 100 municipal staffers.  Mostly parks and rec maintenance workers

Landscape and turf management professionals

9. If you gave a presentation, did the audience members increase their knowledge of pesticide handling best management practices to protect water quality?

66.7% (4/6) Yes                       33.3% (2/6) of presenters No

  

10. If yes, how did the audience members say they increased their knowledge of pesticide handling practices?

‘Yes’ answers based on anecdotal evidence.

‘No’ answers based on acknowledging a lack of evaluation data.

11. If you gave a presentation, did the audience members indicate plans to change their pesticide handling practices in order to protect water quality?

50% (3/6)        Yes

33% (2/6)        No

17 % (1/6)       No answer

  

12. If yes, how did the audience members say they planned to change their pesticide handling practices?

‘Yes’ answers based on anecdotal evidence.

13. Did the slide set meet your needs?

100% (12/12)  Yes

14. If no, how could they be improved to meet your needs?

 There were no answers to this question

  

15. Is there any additional feedback you would like to give the Western IPM Center regarding the Water Quality Protection Slide Sets?

 “Very nice quality. I would suggest doing a color commentary audio narrated version video clip of the presentations. Use Camtasia or Adobe Presenter. This would be targeted at the presenter and not necessarily towards the end user.”

“Thanks for putting together those slide sets. They were helpful for self-study for our grounds maintenance crew at the County.”

“Didn't like the red banners in the Ag slide set.”

“Thank you for sharing!”

“The slides are a good educational resource, I didn't end up using them because they were a little too basic for my purposes. I work for the water quality regulatory agency, so I am glad these presentations are available for others because these are the basic principles we are trying to educate about to prevent water quality problems.”

  

Summary

The response rate was 14.5%, which may have been influenced by the time between the release of the slide sets and the survey. The survey was planned to give people sufficient time to have given a presentation prior to the survey. However, 15 months may have been too long. Most of the survey responses (10/12) were from people who downloaded more than one slide set. While this is not representative of the whole group, it does capture data from those most interested in the water quality protection topic.

Most of the respondents increased their knowledge of water quality protection during pesticide application but were not responsible for applying pesticides. This is not surprising since the slides sets were intended to “train-the-trainers.” Half of the respondents gave a presentation using “most” or “some” of the slide sets. Two-thirds gave presentations to landscape professionals and half gave presentations to agricultural groups. Presentations on protecting water quality from pesticides reached more than 1,400 audience members. Presenters responded that audience members increased their knowledge of water quality protection measures and would change their pesticide handling practices, however all responses were based on anecdotal evidence.

In conclusion, the water quality slide sets were downloaded by a large number of people across the United States. Based on self-evaluation, the slide sets increased the knowledge of the majority of people who downloaded them. Those who gave presentations based on the slide sets did not have evaluation data to demonstrate the audience members either increased their knowledge or would change practices, but did have anecdotal evidence to suggest this was the case. All of the survey respondents stated the slide set met their needs.

New Applied Research & Development Grants Stress Regional Priorities and Collaboration

The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture's new Crop Protection and Pest Management request for proposals has several important changes that affect IPM researchers in the West.

For one, Regional IPM grants have been replaced by a new Applied Research and Development Program designed to support projects from single or multiple investigators for the development of new IPM tactics, technologies, practices and strategies. Unlike the RIPM grants, proposals submitted under the new program are evaluated by a single review panel in  Washington, D.C. and are not evaluated by panels convened by the Regional IPM Centers.

Part of the reason is simple efficiency.

“From a work point-of-view, the RIPM grants were extremely difficult to administer,” explained Herb Bolton, a national program leader with NIFA. “If a project had both a research and extension component, money came from two different funding lines. RIPM required four RFAs, four panels and had separate funding sources. The new program has one RFA, one panel and one funding source.”

But that doesn’t mean regional priorities are now less important.  

“It’s really important to emphasize that these awards are still based on regional priorities,” Bolton said. “Applicants have to give specific stakeholder input that shows these priorities. Those could be through priority statements of the IPM Centers, or WERA-type groups and their committees. This requirement has been strengthened in the new RFA, and if somebody doesn’t come in with a strong regional focus and letters of support, they probably won’t do well.”  

The take-home message for applicants is to be more conscious then ever of documenting the stakeholder demand for their projects, particularly since some reviewers on a national panel won’t have knowledge of regional pest issues. The RFA provides links and sources for stakeholder-identified IPM needs.

An Expectation of Cooperation
Another new aspect of the Applied Research and Development grants is a much greater emphasis on regional cooperation.

“We’re expecting recipients to be active in participating in activities in their region,” Bolton said. “It’s a new emphasis, an expectation of increased coordination and cooperation, so we can leverage the few dollars we have for pest management more effectively.”

The Regional IPM Centers will play an important role in that part of the program. Each Center will organize a meeting for the Applied Research and Development project directors in their regions, and the project directors are required, as part of their grants, to attend.

“We’ve never told an award recipient that they are required to participate in a WERA or IPM Center meeting before for the goal of increased communication, coordination and collaboration,” Bolton said. “We’re giving the Centers the authority to be a little more active with some folks. It’s a chance for greater cooperation and input from the Centers.”

(The Crop Protection and Pest Management request for proposals also contains grants for an Extension Implementation Program Area, and a Regional Coordination Program Area. The latter funds the four Regional IPM Centers, and the Western IPM Center is preparing its application for that grant to continue to serve the West.) 

For the Applied Research and Development grants, request maximums are $125,000 for a project with a project director or directors from one state, and $250,000 for projects with directors in multiple states. Bolton stressed those are maximums, not suggested amounts.

 “If someone wants to come in with a smaller project, they can,” he said. “We encourage applications of all budget sizes.”

NIFA anticipates making up to 30 awards, and proposals are due June 19. You can download the request for applications here. 

Pest Management Strategic Plan Pays Off Quickly for Northwest Pears

If anybody doubts the power of grower input or a new Pest Management Strategic Plan to influence research, look no further than the “Pear Psylla Summit” being planned this summer at Washington State University.

The summit is a direct result of the new PMSP for pears on Oregon and Washington, and the needs for Northwest growers to better manage the pear psylla. Entomologist Elizabeth Beers from WSU is organizing the summit, which is tentatively scheduled for July.

“It’ll be just entomologists and focused really on just this one pest, with the understanding that management of one pest relates to others,” Beers said. “The idea is to develop a research agenda and identify specifically where we need to go with our research, then talk about which labs want to take which part of the plan.”

Controlling pear psylla while also preserving pollinators and other beneficial insects emerged as one key pest-management challenges for growers in the five pear-growing regions of Washington and Oregon. (Other pests highlighted in the report were coddling moth, mites and fire blight, and the report also stressed the need to develop dwarf pear rootstocks.)

To prepare the PMSP, Joe DeFrancesco and Katie Murray of the Oregon State Integrated Plant Protection Center conducted grower workshops in each of the areas.

“In each region, people showed up and shared their concerns,” Murray said. “They were interested in the process and seemed grateful someone was hearing their needs and concerns.”

The result of those meetings was a 99-page document that established critical needs industry-wide, and region-specific needs for each of the five growing areas, which range from the Okanogan area in north-central Washington to the Medford area of southern Oregon.

Jim McFerson, manager of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission which provided initial funding for the plan, said growers saw the benefits of the meetings.

“Sometimes it’s off-putting for a lot of our producers to go to one more meeting, one more strategic planning session,” he said. “But I think this process was beneficial for everybody and growers saw that strategic planning really does contribute and is not just blah-blah-blah.”

The PMSP, which the Western IPM Center also helped fund, was completed in earlier this year. McFerson said it hasn’t generated new Commission-funded research projects yet – but it will.

“I’m looking forward to the other projects that come out of this one,” he said. “We sure intend to use it, and hopefully solve a few problems.”

You can view the full plan here. 

Welcome New Associate Director Matt Baur

We are happy to announce that Dr. Matt Baur is our new associate director for the Western IPM Center. Matt is an entomologist with diverse IPM experience, including as a research scientist for DuPont / Pioneer in Delaware, a private IPM consultant for growers in Massachusetts, and a research assistant professor in extension in Louisiana.

 

Although he has been east of the Mississippi River the last 20 years, Matt is familiar with the West. As a post-doctoral scholar he worked on IPM for diamondback moth in California and Hawaii and his bachelor’s degree is from University of California San Diego.

 

Matt will manage the Center’s grant program, facilitate the work of the grant awardees, and manage the Center’s budget. We are looking forward to capitalizing on Matt’s skills and experience to improve the Western IPM Center.

 

You can reach Matt at mebaur@ucanr.edu, or (530) 750-1270.

New Video Shows How to Manage Bed Bugs without Harmful Pesticides

The Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides recently released a very informative 12-minute video on how to manage bed bugs without using harmful (and often ineffective) pesticide foggers or sprays.

Produced with funding from the Western IPM Center, the video shows how to identify bed bugs, treat infestations, and - best yet - prevent getting bed bugs in the first place.
Watch it here.

An earlier video by the Northwest Center shows how to make a bed bug trap. Check that one out here.

A Roundup of Interesting Ag News on National Beer Day

Several interesting stories passed across our desks here this morning, and instead of picking one to share, we decided to do a sampler pack.

Cracking in the Delta Mendota Canal as a result of groundwater pumping.

First, and closest to the Western IPM Center's office in Davis, is a long story in the Sacramento Bee about unregulated groundwater pumping in California's San Joaquin Valley, and the subsidence it's causing. (Near the town of El Nido, the ground is sinking at a rate of nearly a foot a year.) Read the story here.

The Bagrada bug

More directly IPM related is a story out of New Mexico about the Bagrada hilaris, a stink bug from southern Africa that's made its way to the United States and enjoys Brassica crops such as bok choy, cabbage and broccoli. Unfortunately, there aren't good ways for small organic growers to manage the pest, but IPM researchers in New Mexico are actively working on it. Read the story in the Albuquerque Journal here.



In the Belfast Telegraph there's a story about a threat to global banana production from a strain of the fungus know as Panama disease tropical race 4. According to a United Nation's Food and Agriculture organization report quoted in the story, the fungus is spreading among the world's top banana-producing regions, has no effective treatment and can potentially threaten a large portion of worldwide banana production. An industry official quoted in the story, however, seemed less alarmed. Check it out for yourself here.

There was also more press recently about corn rootworm and increasing numbers of examples of its growing resistance to Bt corn, which is genetically modified to be pest-resistant. Iowa Farmer Today wrote about it here. On the Western IPM Center website, there's a link to a recent webinar about corn rootworm resistance that was held by our sister center in the North Central Region. Catch up on the webinar here.

Finally - and yes, the tease in the headline was deliberate - April 7 is National Beer Day in the United States. It was on this day in 1933 that the Budweiser Clydesdales delivered beer to the White House to celebrate the end of prohibition in America.