Duration: 10/01/2026 to 09/30/2031

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Integrated pest management (IPM) remains critical to addressing the diverse needs of citizens across the North Central United States, including those engaged in various aspects of the agri-food system, natural resource management and human health. IPM emphasizes correct pest identification, thresholds and knowledge of the economic value and potential risks of pest management decisions on human, environmental and economic health. The integrated and science-based system of IPM remains critical to addressing the complex pest issues facing stakeholders today including pesticide resistance, regulatory changes, challenging weather events, invasive pests and more. This proposal seeks to optimize IPM research and education in the North Central United States by bringing together IPM Coordinators in the region to: (1) support regional collaboration and coordinated knowledge exchange between state IPM programs, NCIPMC working groups, USDA NIFA, and other NC and ERA committees; (2) identify and prioritize regional IPM needs and opportunities; (3) develop and disseminate IPM education and outreach resources including curricula, educational materials and communication tools of regional or national interest; and (4) Strengthen IPM communication and visibility. This will be accomplished via an annual committee reporting and networking meeting, engagement with the North Central IPM Center, EPA and USDA-NIFA, as well as regular communication via the online forum Basecamp. This project aligns with USDA science priorities 1: Increasing Profitability of Farmers and Ranchers and 3: Protecting the Integrity of American Agriculture from Invasive Species.

Statement of Issues and Justification

Integrated pest management (IPM) remains critical to addressing the diverse needs of citizens across the North Central United States, including those engaged in various aspects of the agri-food system, natural resource management, and human health. IPM emphasizes correct pest identification, thresholds, and knowledge of the economic value and potential risks of pest management decisions on human, environmental, and economic health.

The need for IPM continues to grow. The rapid development and adoption of transgenic crops, coupled with the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds, insect resistance to crop traits and insecticides, and fungicide-resistant pathogens, has fundamentally altered pest management. Additional challenges include the rise of tick-borne diseases affecting human and animal health, along with environmental stresses such as drought and flooding complicate crop production and pest management. IPM programs also face the complex challenge of managing established pests, invasive pests (e.g., spotted wing drosophila) and reemergent pests (e.g., corn rootworm). These issues highlight the continued importance of IPM research, Extension programming, and effective communication strategies to foster adoption across audiences. This project especially aligns with USDA science Priority 1: Increasing Profitability of Farmers and Ranchers as IPM primarily focuses on reducing economic impact of both pests and the costs of pest management tools and Priority 3: Protecting the Integrity of American Agriculture from Invasive Species as IPM programs are developed for preventing the damage or spread of new invasive species.

Emerging Opportunities

• Pest resistance: Herbicide-resistant weeds, soybean cyst nematode resistance to certain varieties, insect resistance to traits, and fungicide resistance threaten long-term sustainability.
• Changing regulatory landscape: herbicide-related injury, pollinator and endangered species protections, and other EPA-driven considerations influence pest management decisions.
• Environmental stress: Weather patterns alter pest pressure, overwintering success, and pesticide efficacy.
• Invasive and reemerging pests: New pest introductions and resurgence of historic pests demand coordinated monitoring and management approaches.
• Education and communication shifts: Digital platforms, remote learning, and social media outreach create new opportunities for engaging clientele and expanding programming reach.

Research and Extension Needs

• Refined thresholds and decision-support tools to minimize risks while maintaining profits.
• Improved strategies for resistance management across weeds, insects, and pathogens.
• Risk communication tools for pollinator health, non-target impacts, and regulatory changes.
• Multistate monitoring systems for early detection and rapid response to invasive pests.
• Evaluation of educational delivery methods to enhance IPM adoption.
• Capture IPM activities at state, regional, and national levels to demonstrate year-to-year IPM impacts, strengthen policy advocacy and support agriculture and risk reduction.

This proposal focuses on integrating regional and national IPM Extension and research activities building on the committee’s legacy of working closely with the North Central IPM Center (NCIPMC) to ensure that regional needs are identified, prioritized, and addressed. This two-way exchange connects state IPM programs with NCIPMC resources, while also funneling stakeholder needs from local to regional and national scales. Committee members (CMs) contribute expertise to EPA, USDA-OPMP, and other federal and state agencies, ensuring stakeholder needs inform policy and funding priorities. NCERA 222 also coordinates with NCIPMC-funded working groups, NC, and ERA committees to reduce redundancy, improve efficiency, and promote synergistic programming. Because NCERA 222 is focused broadly on IPM as a whole rather than only individual crop or pest disciplines, it has the advantage of added capacity and flexibility to bridge topics other ERAs may not be able to easily address individually while still being able to easily connect with those groups and disciplines. Participation in this committee allows CMs to focus on these broader and often cross-disciplinary needs and bring recommendations or collaborations to a variety of researchers and educators in their individual state programs.

Regular committee meetings and use of the project management platform Basecamp, provide the needed structure for state IPM Coordinators and Extension professionals to exchange reports, highlight innovative programming, and build multistate collaborations. The Basecamp group is managed by all members of the committee where members can access message boards, provide materials, engage in topic update discussions, and invite new members. The committee also supports national dialogue via representation at the annual National IPM Coordinating Committee in Washington, DC.

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

Objective 1. CMs will identify and engage in opportunities for multistate collaboration and knowledge transfer. These activities will be supported via member engagement in Basecamp and presentations at an annual meeting. These activities will be supported externally through engagement with the NCIPM Center, other ERA committees, US EPA and USDA NIFA. Areas of focus include programming across areas of need or programmatic gaps, facilitating involvement with other multi-state or regional organizations, regional impact reporting or multistate grant development.

Objective 2. Once annually, CMs will review and prioritize emerging IPM research and Extension needs to guide regional and state-level programming, grant development and national initiatives. The committee chair will report these needs and efforts annually during the meeting of the National IPM Coordinating Committee and share the results with the NCIPMC. Results will be archived on Basecamp for CMs to share with other IPM deployers (e.g., educators or researchers) in their states or regional collaborations. This strategy creates a two-way flow of information where CMs can represent priorities brought to them by researchers and other Extension specialists within their state to the committee while also relaying validated region-wide needs back to their individual states to encourage more attention on those topics. This coordination will benefit activities such as directing grant-writing or research priorities as well as advising university administrations on program and stakeholder needs that should be prioritized.

Objective 3. CMs will share curricula, outreach materials, and communication tools with regional applicability that serve to integrate education and research on a particular topic via Basecamp and at the annual meeting as part of the CM presentations. CMs may form teams to develop outreach materials in response to priorities identified during objective 2 activities. Outreach materials will be shared through individual state programs, but also through regional outreach sources that NCERA 222 partners with such as the North Central IPM Center and Crop Protection Network to better showcase region-wide efforts by the committee.

Objective 4. CMs will publicize regional IPM accomplishments and impacts and represent regional IPM interests to federal and state agencies, NC and ERA committees, and national IPM entities. This will be accomplished by aligning objectives across the ERA regions and completing an annual regional survey of IPM outputs and impacts. Results will be distributed via a national online dashboard and nationally by the committee chair at the annual National IPM Coordinating Committee in Washington, DC.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Participation Form/Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

As many CMs serve as Extension IPM Coordinators, a robust network already exists to disseminate information and develop joint educational products to serve stakeholders. The committee leverages this network to distribute resources broadly across the region, primarily through existing Extension infrastructure. This infrastructure includes existing newsletters, email lists, in-person events, and pest-related news articles and webpages within each state as well as regional engagement through organizations like the North Central IPM Center and Crop Protection Network. Many coordinators are also involved in pesticide safety education where materials from NCERA 222 can be used to develop curricula that is relayed from CMs to other educators throughout their states, such as updates on navigating pesticide-related regulation. This effort would have a compounding effect on educational programming in cases where educators directly interacting with farmers or other stakeholders across states or regions are receiving information from CMs. Engagement on the National IPM Coordinating Committee ensures further visibility and incorporation into the national IPM agenda.

Organization/Governance

The committee has a chair and chair-elect at all times to ensure leadership continuity.  A chair-elect is selected at the annual meeting each year. The chair-elect advances to chair at the next annual meeting to serve for a full year in that role. The chair also acts as the secretary and organizes the annual meeting. Administrative guidance is provided by the designated AA and USDA NIFA representative. All decisions are made in an open and democratic process.

Literature Cited

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions