Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Brief Summary of Minutes The WERA-1017 group met in Bozeman July 7-8, 2014. Tom Holtzer, administrative advisior, emphasized the value of reporting outcomes and impacts and shared the feedback from the last report. He explained the history of this committee and feels experiment station directors are underrepresented at regional meetings and we discussed ways to change that. The new structure of the National IPM Committee with 3-year rotating terms for participation from representatives from each region may facilitate those changes. The states were well represented, with only two states (Alaska and Wyoming) not attending this meeting. Holtzer also gave an overview of the ESCOP-ECOP committees and priorities for USDA. Jim Farrar, Western Region IPM Center Director gave an update on the center and their grant program including grant types and available funds. He emphasized the evaluation component and the online IPM Toolkit sponsored by WRIPMC that is available for those needing guidance. Marty Draper, USDA-NIFA, gave an update on the EIP grant process and complemented participants on proposal quality. Bob Nowierski, USDA-NIFA gave an update on the ARDP grant program and encouraged panel participation. Virgil Dupuis, Salish-Kootenai College (MT), discussed a Native American working group to manage invasive weeds and he is trying to broaden this effort to other tribal colleges and universities. Dupuis emphasized the need for education on IPM on tribal lands. The group discussed the need for a WERA meeting next year. It was generally decided to have this meeting in conjunction with the International IPM Symposium in Salt Lake City, UT in March, 2015. Marty Draper has scheduled an additional day for a group meeting and breakout sessions for the regional working groups. Each state gave an update on their IPM program, and distributed marketing materials such as newsletters, calendars, etc. as appropriate. Some of the highlights are captured in the impact and outcome statements of this report. The second day of the meeting was spent on an IPM tour of Yellowstone National Park. We heard from Roy Renkin, Supervisory Vegetation Specialist, Yellowstone Center for Resources About range exclosures and revegetation efforts in the context of IPM. Bruce Maxwell, Professor of Applied Plant Ecology, MSU gave us a tour of research sites and talked about global research on lodgepole pine invasions in the Southern Hemisphere and how we have learned about the behavior of invasions elsewhere from studying the species here in Montana.

[Below is a summary of reported accomplishments Full State Reports are provided in the attachment in the minutes section.] ***Arizona – **Agronomic Crops IPM Team Published Natural Enemies Guide: --Brown L.M., P.C. Ellsworth, G. Hughes, S. Bundy, P. Porter, V. Barlow, S.E. Naranjo, D. Kerns, A.M. Mostafa, A.J. Fournier. 2013. Natural Enemies of the Southwest: A field guide to the arthropod natural enemies of southwestern field crops. Book. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. Publication no. AZ1607 71. Available at: lulu.com, $22.95, ranked 427 in sales, liked by 104 people --Integrating natural enemy counts into whitefly management decisions in cotton. WRIPM & WIPMC grants. Ph.D. student Tim Vandervoet involved in large-scale field confirmations, PCA workshops and statewide outreach campaign. New publications: --Vandervoet, T., P.C. Ellsworth, L.M. Brown, S.E. Naranjo. 2014. Making Whitefly and Natural Enemy Counts. Field Crops IPM Short. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/cotton/files/PredatorToPreyRatios.pdf --Brown L.M., A.M. Mostafa, T.. Vandervoet, A.J. Fournier, P.C. Ellsworth, S.E. Naranjo. 2014. Minute Bug with Enormous Impacts on Insect Pests. Field Crops IPM Short. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/cotton/files/OriusRatio.pdf --45 Field Crops IPM Shorts including 11 in Spanish, 8 videos, since 2011 http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/cotton/agronomic_ipm.html --Continued intensive reduced risk cotton IPM program in Mexicali, Mexico, reaching hundreds of growers and consultants and reducing pesticide risk **Vegetable IPM Team --In the past year, delivered 26 Veg IPM updates accessed by over 450 local end-users and redistributed to 20,000 through farm press and related media http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/vegetables/advisories/advisories.html --Several new vegetable IPM videos http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/vegetables/videos.html --Organized on-farm research demonstrations with grower cooperators --Delivered workshops and trainings, including major contributions to the annual Southwest Ag Summit attended by over 800 growers, PCAs and agriculture industry professionals http://swagsummit.com/ **Community IPM Team --Hired new Assistant in Extension, Shaku Nair, starting July 1 2013 --Continued trans-disciplinary “School IPM Inside and Out” Extension program --Implemented pilot IPM programs in 6 schools (5 districts) in metro Phoenix and Tucson --Engaged with County Agents & conducted workshops to reach outlying school districts --Produced 15 monthly newsletters, Extension publications, videos --EPA School IPM grant: “Stop School Pests” training and certification program; “big check” media event at Metro Tech High School; “IPM Hero” awards --Nair WIPMC grant: Handbook of Pests in Community Environments --Public Health Pests IPM: Assistant in Extension, Shujuan (Lucy) Li **IPM Assessment Team --APMC Pesticide use database: >23 years of data; >595,000 use reports; ~ 1 million applications; >2,000 products >120 different crops --Crop Pest Losses & Impact Assessment Signature Program: IPM impacts in cotton, lettuce and melons (AZ & low desert region of CA); expansion to other crops & locations --ipmPRiME analysis of historical lettuce pesticide use: In collaboration with Jepson & Guzy (OSU, IPPC). Initial analysis complete, detailed work ongoing. **Pesticide Safety Education Program --We recently hired new Assistant in Extension for Pesticide Safety Education, Dr. Mike Wierda who began work in mid-July. Mike’s position is partially supported through a PSEP-IMI grant and a major focus will be to work with a broad group of Arizona stakeholders to develop a business plan for establishing a sustainable and effective Pesticide Safety Education Program for Arizona. ***California – They have 9 full-time IPM advisors and are looking for an urban/structural IPM person. They are recruiting for a person in the fall in LA. They have a director and 4 associate directors and 5 people doing computer work. 1.8 people are dedicated to urban IPM. They also have a pesticide safety group. At Davis, they have a collector of info and development of materials. They will develop a strategic plan for the next 5 years. They have lots of blogs, such as “southern IPM activities” and how to inspect for bed bugs. There are advantages to using electronic applications because you can use google analytics to gauge how long and how they are using it. They are no longer going to produce the IPM compendium books. For their website, they are moving information into databases and adding an evaluation component and surveying users of the website. They want to use technology where a survey will pop up when you go onto the site. People might not attend a meeting unless they get credit or hours for it. ***Colorado The Colorado Center for Sustainable Integrated Pest Management focuses on pests that damage or interfere with desirable plants in agricultural fields, orchards, landscapes and natural areas; damage homes or other structures; or pose an environmental health risk. In cooperation with the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Center has a new website http://ipm.agsci.colostate.edu/. Two-minute videos of CSU IPM faculty are being developed and posted on the website. Other websites include the Plant Diagnostic Clinic Facebook page, YouTube channels for school IPM and the Plant Diagnostic Clinic, Colorado Environmental Pesticide Education Program (CEPEP), the Healthy Communities website, and eXtension Urban IPM. The Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management at Colorado State University conducts two advisory committee meetings annually. **Agriculture Extension/Outreach: -“Onion Health Management and Production”, a capstone resource for the IPM PIPE (pest identification platform for extension and education http://www.ipmpipe.org/) -Four new fact sheets on insects affecting fruit/vegetable crops -Field days, workshops, collaborations with grower organizations, and timely information on new and emerging pests, such as potato/tomato psyllids **Forest and Range -Demonstration plot and workshops on integrated weed management of leafy spurge -Workshops, YouTube videos and fact sheets on Emerald Ash Borer -Invasive Weed Master program -- course curriculum and educational materials **Schools and Homes -4 posters of common arthropods in and around homes -12 new/updated fact sheets used for both school and housing (with Utah State University) -Fact sheets in Spanish (10) -Surveys of household infesting flies -A guide for identifying and managing weeds in schoolyards & landscapes -Quarterly meetings of the Colorado Coalition for School IPM -Workshops to Colorado Pest Control Association, school grounds, retail staff in hardware/garden stores -New videos, on the school IPM and Plant Clinic YouTube channels -Monthly Healthy Schools newsletter (380 recipients) -Presentations on school and housing IPM to more than 1000 individuals --- Audiences included school districts, University of Colorado Hospital Asthma Foundation, Colorado Environmental Health Association, school nurses, City of Fort Collins, Entomology Society of America, and National Healthy Homes Conference. **Gardens, Lawns and Landscapes -Advanced ornamental pest diagnostics workshops -- in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah External evaluations of training courses demonstrate a substantial increase in skills and knowledge. -New educational materials and diagnostic training to address the discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB) in Boulder in September 2013 -Diagnoses of insect and disease problems. In 2013, the clinics (campus and Jefferson County) processed 1,468 samples. -Training and support of Colorado Master Gardeners (CMG). Annually, 1,600 CMG volunteers serving in 36 county/area based programs donate $1.4 million in volunteer time. **Colorado Environmental Pesticide Education Program -Initial certification, through study guide manual sales and precertification workshops, to 1180 private applicators and 1559 commercial applicators -Recertification training to 321 private pesticide applicators through Extension workshops and 1673 commercial applicators through organization meetings and Extension workshops -Assistance to over 125 non-certified individuals (homeowners, parents, etc.) seeking information about pesticides through email and phone calls ***Guam— They have active faculty that work with coral. He feels that we need to look beyond the surface and need to look into the water. He has hosted farmer-based workshops. Bob thinks workshops get a lot more people involved and likes to let the farmers speak. Bob thinks communications needs to be developed. There is a decline of ironwood trees. They have IPM problems multiplied by four, having problems with ganoderma, termites, all related to the environment. They also have problems with funding and new pests coming in. They have a new gall wasp. ***Hawaii **The IPM Coordinator and staff participated in several training sessions for Master Gardeners and provided hands-on displays at community events to bring awareness to IPM in urban environments: -“Alien Invaders of the Worst Kind”, Training for Master Gardeners (Mar. 4, 2014) -“Alien Invaders of the Worst Kind - A Systems Approach to Pest Management” (March 27, 2014, Kamuela, HI) -“Pest Alerts: Little Fire Ants, Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle, Coqui Frogs”, “Sending Pest-free Flowers to the Mainland”, Big Island Association of Nurserymen Annual Plant Sale and Educational Displays (April 26-27, 2014, Hilo, HI) -“Hawaii's Little Fire Ant Crisis”, a community group, (April 13, 2014; Hilo, HI) **Training for 2014 Master Gardeners (14) in Hilo (Hawaii) was completed in April (Andrew Kawabata) with curriculum that also included “Varietal selections to minimize disease and insect problems”, “Insect and disease identification on various edible and ornamental crops”, “Soil fertility and plant nutrition to promote healthy plantings”, “Fruit fly IPM”. **The IPM Coordinator and staff participated in several seminars for growers with insect pest management presentations: ( >400 attendees). Presentations can be viewed at http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/haraa/grower.asp **Several posters were prepared by extension agent Jari Sugano and colleagues for Integrated Pest Management, including “Pest Identification: Common Pests”, “Pest Identification: Common Diseases ”, “Prevention Strategies”, “Control Strategies”, “Chemical Modes of Action”, “Reduced Risk Products”, and “Beneficial Insects and Insectary Plants”. **Hawai?i nurseries shipping ornamental potted plants out-of-state continued to be encouraged to use hot water on plants for disinfestion of coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui), nettle caterpillar (Darna pallivitta), and little fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) as part of a systems approach to quarantine pest management. Hawai?i Department of Agriculture inspectors and staff monitor hot water treatments by nurseries in Hawai?i County. **Extension Agents Jari Sugano (O`ahu County) and Randall Hamasaki (Hawai’i County) planned and implemented workshops, field days, and programs to promote IPM adoption by commercial and home garden growers of vegetables in the state: **In addition to educational sessions on safe use of pesticides, review of common basil pests in Hawaii, pesticides registered for use on basil in Hawaii, Hawaii Department of Agriculture pesticide inspection process, and the Hawaii Department of Health commodity sampling program, basil grower workshops also focused on soliciting ideas on how best to continue servicing and partnering with basil farmers, and establishing buy in to continue participation in future UH educational activities. **Farm visits were coordinated with translators to work with many Chinese growers on a one-on-one or small group basis on issues such as crop production, pesticide education, pesticide comprehension, and personal protection equipment. J. Sugano’s team effectively communicated with new and existing stakeholders on the best management practices in managing new and existing pathogens to vegetable crops. **The Diamondback Moth (DBM, Plutella xylostella) Insecticide Resistance Management Program was developed by UH CTAHR for growers to effectively manage DBM by rotating insecticide chemistries on an areawide basis. Extension agents worked with the crucifer growers in their counties to provide grower education and conduct periodic field sampling for laboratory resistance screening. At workshops, crucifer growers learned how to identify the various stages of the DBM life cycle, its distribution, host plants, and damage symptoms. Growers also learned about host-plant resistance, factors that affect insecticide resistance, including spray concentration and coverage, and effective pesticides available. Based on resistance screening in October 2013, adjustments were made to the DBM insecticide rotation. **Educational workshops were conducted to stress the importance of properly applying chemicals to edible and non edible crops. Worker protection standards and personal protection equipment were discussed to ensure farm employees are knowledgeable about a safe working environment. **J Sugano developed publications that simplified spray equipment calibration using the 1/128th spray calibration method for both booms and hand-held spray guns for better pesticide spray coverage and accuracy. Lay terms and photos were used to communicate the concepts and step procedures to farm employees with varying levels of English proficiency. A video “Calibrating a Mist Blower Using the 1/128th Method” is available on-line at http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/SustainAg/news/index.html#video (Hana`ai newsletter, Sustainable and Organic Agriculture Program). **Feedback from vegetable farmers in Hawai`i county indicated an emerging weed problem. Extension agent R Hamasaki submitted samples that were identified as yellow nutsedge, then proceeded with a workshop and demonstration for affected farms. Information on the weed’s biology and chemical and cultural management strategies were covered by the Weed Specialist. A video of the workshop was posted on-line for accessiblity by others encountering this weed. **Since 2005, macadamia felted coccid (MFC) has been plaguing the macadamia nut industry in Hawaii. R. Hamasaki and a UH Entomology Specialist provided information to growers on using horticultural oils in combination with existing biological controls. Some of the oils are compatible with certified organic production and are mild on natural enemies that help to reduce MFC populations. **The “Easy as 1-2-3” Fruit Fly Suppression in Hawaii program promotes an environmentally friendly, cost effective technology that, when used in an “area-wide” approach, can increase economic benefits to growers, the community and the state of Hawaii through expanded opportunities in diversified agriculture. Participants signed on as cooperators and were trained in using the program’s three-pronged approach (field sanitation, an effective protein bait, and trapping) to manage fruit flies in apples, avocado, banana, cantaloupe, cherry, coffee, cucumber, eggplant, fig, grape, grapefruit, gourd, jaboticaba, lemon, lychee, mango, mountain apple, nectarine, orange, papaya, peach, pepper, persimmon, pomegranate, plum, pumpkin, sapote, starfruit, sour sop, squash, tangelo, tangerine, and tomato. ***Idaho **EMPHASIS #1: IPM TRAINING FOR CONSUMERS/URBAN ENVIRONMENTS Our desired outcome is improved pest management practices in home yards and gardens among Idahoans statewide. Results from our 2011-2012 statewide homeowner surveys provide the necessary baseline data for 5-year follow-up surveys during 2016-2017 to quantify changes in IPM adoption. Programming during 2014 involved four activities with emphasis on enhancing the IPM knowledge and skills of our statewide Extension County educators and their county Master Gardeners. -Idaho Green Thumbs How-To’s Home Landscape Fact Sheets Project The University of Idaho Extension Faculty Team in Commercial and Consumer Horticulture identified 50 topics as priorities for delivery as single-page, on-line and printed fact sheets. We created a new standardized publication series format -- the Idaho Green Thumbs How-To’s fact sheets -- and have written and posted on-line 6 titles, four of which deal with management of diseases, insects or weeds. We anticipate two more Green-Thumbs during summer 2014. We have contracted with University of Idaho Educational Communications to translate these into Spanish. Experience suggests we will reach thousands of homeowners in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest; two of our on-line Homeowner IPM Guides bulletin series (funded through our FY09 and FY10 NIFA E-IPM awards) are the #1 and #4 most-accessed publications in the Extension catalog with 85,000 unique IP downloads annually. -In-Service IPM Workshops for Extension Faculty and Master Gardeners Thirty-two County Extension Educators from Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming participated in our 26-27 June 2014 In-Service Workshop. Speakers included Extension and Research faculty in Entomology, Plant Pathology and Pest Diagnostics from Colorado State University and Montana State University as well as from the University of Idaho who delivered 90-minute workshops supplemented with a field trip. Pre:post tests to quantify short-term Logic Model outcomes showed that whereas >50% participants ranked their pre-workshop knowledge of pest identification, biology and management as “some-to-poor” (with <3% ranking their knowledge as “excellent”), 75% self-ranked their post-workshop knowledge as “excellent-to-good.” Participants received an IPM “tool-kit” of reference texts, specimen curation supplies, and a Mini-Digital Microscope. One hundred thirty-five Master Gardeners and affiliated staff and students from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming participated in our 27-28 June 2014 Master Gardener State Convention convened at the Horticulture Gardens and adjoining greenhouses and orchards of Brigham Young University – Idaho. Faculty from the University of Idaho, Montana State University and Colorado State University offered fifteen concurrent 50-minute hands-on small-group workshops; IPM subject-matter included plant disease diagnosis, IPM for landscape insects, and insect biocontrol. -IPM Curriculum for Master Gardeners Bechinski is developing a peer-reviewed IPM curriculum for Master Gardeners that will consist of twelve 1-hour subject-matter modules allocated as four-units Safe and Effective Pesticide Use in Yards and Gardens, four-units Entomology, and four-units Managing Insects Frequently Encountered in Yards and Gardens. Training will be available in two formats: (1) on-line, independent-study lessons using Adobe Captivate and posted to the national eXtension site, and (2) PowerPoint pptx file format for live delivery by a local presenter. We completed elements of this work (SEE Idaho Master Gardener Pesticide Policy at eXtension Campus Courses http://campus.extension.org/enrol/index.php?id=926). To date, 145 Master Gardeners across Idaho have completed this initial on-line training module. Bechinski delivered during 2014 36 contact-hours of on-site IPM workshops attended by 303 Idaho Master Gardeners volunteers and County Extension educators. Subject-matter focus was pest identification, biology and management options, with an emphasis on biological control and “least-toxic” biorational pesticides. Workshops combined PowerPoint shows supplemented by hands-on examination of specimens. We are equipped with 25 portable, battery-powered stereoscopes through our FY12 NIFA E-IPM award to support these workshops -Videos for Master Gardener Education Work is in progress on a 1-hour video to supplement live on-site Master Gardener IPM education. Subject-matter is “How to succeed at biological control” so as to accompany the 2014 in-press extension handbook Pacific Northwest Natural Enemies Manual funded with our FY12 NIFA E-IPM award. **EMPHASIS #2: IPM IMPLEMENTATION FOR SPECIALTY CROPS Our desired outcomes are two-fold: (1) to increase farmer profitability via pest alerts and interactive IPM decision tools that identify economically optimal aphid:virus management strategies for dry peas in the Palouse agronomic region of northern Idaho and adjoining eastern Washington state, and (2) mitigate adverse environmental impacts of current aphid:virus control practices (esp. impacts on natural enemies) by replacing dimethoate insecticide applied as three seasonal foliar sprays with reduced-hazard seed-treatments of imidacloprid or thiamethoxam. We are operating a network of aphid pan-traps strategically located at 20 commercial dry pea fields in a three-county area and are using ELISA and PCR to determine the virus status (pea enation mosaic virus and bean leaf roll virus) of colonizing pea aphids and dry pea crops. We deliver to growers and their advisors on-line pest forecasts, real-time status reports, and IPM decision tools at our Aphid Tracker website (www.ag.uidaho.edu/aphidtracker). IPM decision tools take the format of interactive crop enterprise budgets that allow growers to use values from their own farms to estimate the cost-effectiveness of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam insecticidal seed-treatments and foliar insecticides (dimethoate and alternatives to dimethoate) when virulent or non-virulent aphids occur. EMPHASIS #3: IPM EDUCATION FOR IDAHO PESTICIDE APPLICATORS Our desired outcome is improved pest management practices among state-certified commercial agricultural and horticultural pesticide applicators, especially practices that minimize potential harm to groundwater and surface waters. We are working with Mr. Sherm Takatori, Program Manager for Pesticide Licensing and Certification at our state lead agency, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, to revise and update a study manual widely used by Idahoans preparing for initial pesticide applicator certification exams -- Agricultural Weed Management Principles (published 1993). This manual is a Washington State University publication and so justifiably has a Washington-centric focus that sometimes is inappropriate for Idaho. Topics now considered critical to pest management -- such as pesticide resistance management, environmental fate and stewardship (including use of risk assessment tools) – are not covered in the detail they warrant in this 20-year old manual. We emphasized these topics at four regional Pre-Licensing Training Workshops organized by Hirnyck and Takatori during 2014. These 3-day workshops delivered IPM training to approximately 200 pre-license private and commercial pesticide applicators. ADDITIONAL IPM WORK PROJECTS AT UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO: -Water Quality and Nutrient Management Topic Team: -Potato Topic Team: -Sugar Beets and Minor Crops Topic Team: ***Montana -The former IPM Coordinator, Barry Jacobsen, has been replaced by Mary Burrows. Dr. Burrows accepted the nomination to vice chair for WERA-1017 in 2013-2014, and will serve as chair in 2014-2015. -New staff include Dr. Laurie Kerzicnik (Oct 2013), insect diagnostician and Dr. Eva Grimme, plant disease diagnostician (May 2014). Both work in the Schutter Diagnostic Laboratory -The Schutter Diagnostic Laboratory received state funding for the first time in its history during the 2013-2014 legislative biennium. This funding has been added to the Extension base budget. -A team has been hired to help provide external evaluation of the MSU IPM program. Their work will begin in September, 2014 -The plant identification diagnostician identified 547 plants in 2013, and more than 280 samples and counting in 2014. More than thirty of the submissions were state-listed noxious weeds. All clients are sent reports on how to manage weeds using IPM strategies. In addition to plant identification, the diagnostician assesses plants for herbicide injury, averaging more than 60 per year. Assessments include a consultation with client on whether they followed the herbicide label, advice on how to do so, or a recommendation for a different herbicide or different control method. Of increasing concern is vegetables submitted to the lab that are injured due to plant growth regulators herbicides from contaminated compost. The diagnostician is collaborating with the herbicide Compliance and Enforcement Officer at the Montana Department of Agriculture who has observed a sharp increase in 2014 in the prevalence of plant growth regulator contaminated compost. Discussions are underway to develop an educational campaign in 2015 to have gardeners conduct bioassays on new soil or compost before adding it to their garden. -IPM specialists Fabian Menalled, Mary Burrows, Jane Mangold, Hilary Parkinson and Health and Human Services Specialist Selena Ahmed are developing a mental model to assess the communication gap between researchers, consultants and producers. Research in ecological weed management is extensive, but researchers struggle to convince producers to use this information when they make decisions. The group has collected more than 200 surveys from organic and conventional producers and researchers and consultants across the state and will continue to do so into the fall. The mental model will dissect and cluster the language obtained in the surveys to elucidate differences in what researchers and producers value and how they make decisions, thereby improving research, and methods and strategies to improve communication between researchers and producers to further implementation of integrated pest management practices. ***Nevada They do community IPM and two people handle most of it. It is in high demand and has been reprinted three times in 1 year. They work closely with Master Gardeners, and they are the first line of defense. They recently updated a pesticide manual and put it in their IPM programs for the 1st time. They are printing and giving it out for free. They work with hoophouse growers for use in Reno and Vegas markets. Agriculture is a small percentage of total state’s income, but a huge percentage of certain counties. They just updated a 15-yr. biocontrol manual. They are pushing for weed management. Honeybee IPM-considered a small operation if it is less than 50 hives and the hives stay in NV and large if it goes from CA-NV without much regulation. The varroa mite has been a problem in hives and they are now having major bee issues. They have four experimental bee hives. ***New Mexica New Mexico is doing an organic pest management program. Organic conferences are the largest in the state. They increased baseline knowledge of IPM. They have diagnostic programs for 100 insect and pathogen IDs and weeds. For invasives, they found SWD in 2013 near Albuquerque. They have a good monitoring system in place. Blackberries and raspberries are major crops. They developed a small farm IPM working group in 2010 with 2014 being the last year. For pesticides, Jane Pierce is working on Trypanosoma cruzi. 61% of the insects she is catching have a high infection of Chagas disease, which used to be 3% in the 30’s and 50’s. They have had three consecutive years of drought. They have Diarapta beetles attacking saltcedar (4 different species). They also have 2 stink bugs. They lay eggs on rangelands around Albuquerque. They had a grasshopper swarm that registered as a “storm” on the radar. They have been doing lots of outreach and extension. They have a recommended list of plants for native pollinators. They have a contract for school IPM programs, as regular spraying has gone on. They have been looking at the onset of tillage and irrigation and its effect on weeds. Bob Wood “ask the bugman” is antipesticide. ***Oregon They have a state law for IPM implementation. They will have a state IPM coordinator. They have developed remote sensing for conservation biocontrol-pests.org. Len discussed signature area funds that are available. If you have a nice solid need, you can come to Len for help. Len showed pest event maps for the SWD, gypsy moth, and said they have 102 models in the system. From the AFRI grant, he has developed hourly-driven models and is continuing to support underserved needs with different forecasts. Paul Jepson reports that all of the growers allow data of pheromone traps to be broadcasted. The entire growing community is showing and sharing pest data. This has resulted in OP use, probably due to mating disruption. ***Utah The overarching goal of the Utah IPM Program at Utah State University is to increase the use of sustainable pest management practices in schools and on agricultural, and urban lands in a way that provides economic benefit and human and environmental protection. In 2013, the Program’s education and applied research activities have resulted in changed human practices that reflect good stewardship and economic sustainability. Combined survey results from subscribers of the IPM Pest Advisories, commercial fruit growers, and IPM workshop attendees show improvements, as compared to 2008, in IPM implementation, including increased pest monitoring (134%), increased use of non-chemical control options (34%), increased adoption of safe pesticides and biocontrol options (1,400%), and decreased use of toxic pesticides (45%). These changes in behaviors will result in reduced pesticide impacts on humans, pollinators, soil and water. SPECIALTY CROP IPM The IPM Pest Advisory service consists of newsletters and an online decision aid tool called Utah TRAPs (Timing Resource and Alert for Pests, climate.usurf.usu.edu/traps). During 2013, we delivered 15 fruit and vegetable newsletters to a subscriber base of 14,400 (up 17% from 2012). The information provided in the newsletters comes from statewide weather station data and weekly insect trapping and pest monitoring in up to 20 locations. We developed several new additions for the TRAPs website, including a redesigned interface; faster processing; a login-based pest alert text/email message system; an interactive map; addition of 2 orchard weather stations; 3 new pest models; a “one-stop” pest summary page; and video tutorials. Subscribers of the advisory service are surveyed every other year, with the next survey scheduled for fall 2014. Surveys from 2008, 2010, and 2012 have shown that the advisories have been very beneficial to growers and homeowners in the state and have advanced the use of IPM. We have seen the following improvements since 2008: -pest monitoring has increased by 134% -the use of pheromone traps has increased by 16% -avoidance of spraying during bloom has increased by 41% -adoption of reduced risk and biocontrol products has increased by 1,400% -use of organophosphate and pyrethroid products has decreased by 45% Most subscribers (86%) use the advisories as their sole source of pest management information, and 99% reported that they would retain their subscription. The IPM Program coordinated and conducted 4 applied research projects in 2013. Results of applied research have led to increases in IPM practices, cost savings, and/or reductions in pesticide use, and results include: -peach twig borer mating disruption dispensers (Checkmate, Suterra) hung in mid-June provided the same protection and lower cost than when hung at biofix, saving growers up to $70/acre -four common perennial and biennial weeds in onion agricultural landscapes have been identified as key overwintering hosts for onion thrips and iris yellow spot virus; targeted weed removal can save onion growers an average of 15% crop loss, a savings of $1010 per acre -positioning a systemic insecticide as the first cover spray in an insecticide program for western cherry fruit fly prevented 5-10% crop loss, a savings of $300-600 per acre for tart cherries and $185-370 per acre for sweet cherries in Utah -use of birdsfoot trefoil as a cover crop in peach orchards provided an average of 35% of the crop’s nitrogen requirements and enhanced arthropod biodiversity for a value of more than $100 per acre The Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide was updated for the 2013 season, with authors from USU, Colorado State University, and University of Idaho. The guide is unique in that it presents reduced risk/organic products separate from conventional, and focuses on monitoring, cultural practices and using thresholds. We surveyed recipients of the tree fruit production guide and found that 60% increased their level of monitoring, 48% used the “organic/reduced risk” recommendations, 73% learned more about pest biology, and 72% said they are more likely to adopt recommended IPM practices. A 2011 survey of Utah vegetable growers revealed that a comprehensive guide was one of the most needed tools for them to be successful. In spring 2014, a comprehensive vegetable guide was published, written by 8 USU authors representing 4 disciplines. It contains 7 chapters and focuses on onion, sweet corn, and solanaceous crops (utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/htm/vegetables). The guide will be evaluated via a pre-stamped written survey included with each copy. Over the next several years, it will be expanded to include additional crops and input from neighboring states. SCHOOL IPM As a result of the hard work by the Utah School IPM Coalition (comprised of representatives from various district school boards, pesticide applicators, and USU), the Utah Legislature passed the “School Rule” in August 2013, mandating IPM in all Utah schools. As a result, the focus of the Utah IPM Program is to help schools quickly transition to IPM to meet this new mandate. The Program held over 30 training sessions for 18 school districts, and additional training sessions for Utah Health Department employees who will be enforcing the new law. In addition, 10 schools were assessed to determine pest levels and areas where improvements could be made. A school IPM website (utahpests.usu.edu/schoolIPM) was developed, and includes 20 fact sheets in English and Spanish. The Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Lab arthropod diagnostician spends 10% of his time on School IPM activities. CONSUMBER/URBAN IPM In 2013, the IPM Program produced 7 IPM advisories in turf and ornamentals to a subscriber base of 10,600. The Program gave 40 talks and produced 4 how-to videos and 8 fact sheets. Twelve existing fact sheets were translated into Spanish. The IPM website was updated, and the commodity content (fruit, vegetable, landscape, field crops IPM) was expanded to include easy to understand information on pest management with thumbnails of diagnostic digital images. Optimal distribution of pest management information such as this has resulted in increased knowledge of our clientele, seen by the decreased number of inquiries on when/what to spray and general pest identification. ***Washington – Deficit irrigation is used to concentrate flavors in wine grapes. They are researching deficit irrigation on the pest complex. They are developing a hop pest management strategic plan. They are also doing spotted wing drosophila monitoring and outreach with sweet cherries. They published rangeland beef cattle results. They talked about doing a field ID guide that is photo driven. Carrie Foss is doing education about IPM and bed bugs. University of Washington did a video and assessed their program. They are doing a curriculum project, carrying on a lot of efforts. It is an IPM curriculum for 3-5 grade students and has a lot of potential.

Please see attached file.