Federal funding priorities are focused on major issues of national concern, including climate change, food safety, food security, biofuels, and obesity. We will only be able to meet these challenges through a one health approach where we recognize that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. Entomologists play a key and vital role in helping to solve many of these national concerns by evaluating the potential impact of climate change on arthropod populations and how these changes can threaten the health and well-being of humans and animals, ultimately compromising a safe and secure food supply for the nation.

External parasites and flies are among the most important pests in animal agriculture which includes (but is not limited to) beef, cervid, dairy, equine, poultry, and swine systems. These organisms include ticks, mites, fleas, lice, and both biting and nuisance flies. Ectoparasites can cause a range of damage including blood loss, skin inflammation and pruritus, toxic and allergic responses, disturbance, self-wounding, and may transmit pathogens causing disease. These can affect production, and social relationships, and cause animal welfare concerns (Machtinger et al. 2021). Flies, in particular, are responsible for damage and control costs in excess of a billion dollars per year in the United States (e.g., see Machtinger et al. 2021; https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmab026). In addition to the direct damage these flies inflict upon livestock, their presence as a byproduct of confined livestock and poultry operations has been repeatedly cited as a nuisance, especially when flies

enter the vicinity of human habitations and urban environments. Lawsuits, zoning limitations and animosity between farmers and homeowners have resulted (Thomas and Skoda 1993). In spite of the importance of these pests, knowledge of the biology of these groups of pests is seriously wanting and available control technologies remain inadequate. The recent sequencing of the genomes of several of these common pest species, taken together with new molecular tools, integration of technology, and other novel methodologies offer great potential for the identification of novel opportunities for managing these pests.

 The Southern Region Information Exchange Group for IPM (SERA3) listed several identified priorities in 2021 including improving linkages and partnerships, enhancing federal, state, and territory support for IPM, flies on agricultural animals, ticks affecting animals, arthropod-borne diseases, pesticide resistance, and invasive arthropods, among others as priority areas based on the selection criteria
of strong stakeholder identified need, addressing economic, environmental, and human health issues, as well as regional relevance
(https://bugwoodcloud.org/CMS/mura/sipmc/assets/File/SERA%20Priorities%202021.pdf). The Western IPM Center has listed identification and management of invasive pests, addressing climate change impacts on pests, and improving animal health by minimizing arthropod impacts as priorities. Finally, the North Central IPM Centers have listed invasive species, new technologies for managing pests, IPM and ecosystem services, and biological control of pests as areas of investment. All of these priorities from the respective centers and others from related working groups are addressed with the strengths of this collaborative multi-state group.

In 2001, Research and Extension Needs for Integrated Pest Management for Arthropods of Veterinary Importance that were identified as part of a USDA sponsored workshop in Lincoln, Nebraska (Geden and Hogsette 1999) were reevaluated (http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=10139). This document describes the IPM needs of eight animal commodity groups including poultry, dairy, beef cattle, and swine. This document was revised again into a special collection IPM of Pest Flies in Agriculture in the Journal of IPM (https://academic.oup.com/jipm/pages/ipm-of-fly-pests-in-animal-agriculture) that highlighted current research and Extension needs for five species of pest flies as well as economic considerations. The working groups developing these recommendations noted the direct, indirect, and peripheral impacts arthropod pests have on agricultural animals and made strong recommendations for increased research and Extension efforts to reduce the considerable losses resulting from pest activities. This workgroup also noted the decline to critical levels of
Extension personnel nationally, particularly related to domestic animal production. For years, we have noted a need for increasing coordination, collaboration, and education among veterinary entomologists to more efficiently disseminate research findings and management recommendations (Mullens et al. 2018).

Successful completion of this revised multistate project will provide a better understanding of the interactions among animals, animal agriculture production systems, and the biology of pest arthropods. Exploitation of these interactions will provide economically feasible and environmentally friendly technology for reducing the impact of pest arthropods on animal agriculture and human health. Results from the project will provide quantitative data to analyze vector-borne spread of pathogens within and from animal production systems into residential areas. Outcomes from the project will include the development and assessment of new control technologies for pest arthropods that will assist with monitoring pest resistance to insecticides that are currently available or under development. New technological innovations and comprehensive pest management information will be disseminated to stakeholders through a multistate coordinated effort to provide the broadest reach for project outcomes thereby increasing the health and quality of animals and reducing the economic impact of these pests.

The expertise to accomplish the objectives of this project exists within the university and USDA-ARS systems; however, expertise is widely dispersed with few states having more than one veterinary entomologist and many having none (Mullens et al. 2018). A revised Multistate Project will serve to coordinate this research effort, maximizing synergy and minimizing duplicated effort.

This project “Arthropod Management in Animal Agriculture Systems and Impacts on Animal Health and Food Safety” project will replace the existing Multistate Project S-1076: Fly Management in Animal Agriculture Systems and Impacts on Animal Health and Food Safety (2018-2023).