Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NCERA222 Meeting Notes 3/1/2023

Welcome, introductions, Beauzay appointed as recorder

Fun introductions

Discussion on annual report - due next Wednesday - 1/1/2022 through 12/31/2022

                Objective 1:  Discussion  on what ‘capacity’ means, we do need to demonstrate linkages (per Hannah) in context of participation, information exchange, attendance at this meeting, how our activities align with our activities and accomplishments

                Objective 2:  Condense/distill broad priorities (e.g. underserved audiences, pesticide resistance) from state/local priorities. Will help inform NCIPM Center, USDA-NIFA, etc.

                More discussion on 3/2

Hannah will send an email to Basecamp

9:00 - Vijay Nadula, USDA-NIFA

                Links in Zoom chat box, Jim J. saved links.

                EIP - meet and greet with grants office/IPM coordinators (two weeks ago), EIP renewal letters/email forthcoming

                Participated in a meeting with 13 federal agencies; survey from WSSA (manuscript abstract posted in the chat box), results categorized what the needs/priorities are. Priorities that are funded by private industry and commodity groups vs. programs that need long-term funding from federal granting agencies (e.g. USDA-NIFA). Precision ag can be promoted through groups such as NCERA-222 because of our group linkage/infrastructure with county agents in our respective states. Genomics is an emerging field in weed science. Vijay and Emmanuel managing IPM programs. Discussion about RFAs that are ‘scalable’ and can serve smaller farming operations, underserved audiences.

9:20 - IPM Center Discussion (Laura, Lynnae)

                IPM Survey Update:  Initial focus on 1862s. Let’s come back to this due to time constraint right now. Discussion resumed at 2:45.

9:30 - Spotted Lanternfly - Ashley Leach, The OSU

10:10 - Break

!0:30 - 3D Printing - Andy Michel.  Using 3D printed products in Extension education

                Stink bugs, WBCW, SLF, cereal egg masses, percent defoliation (soybean leaves)

                Printers only $1,500

email Andy for details, files, etc.

11:10 - EPA Update, Seth Dibblee

                Slides will be in Basecamp

                Support registration review comments with data if you can

                Seth will post review compilation tips on Basecamp

11:30 - IPM Turns 50 Podcast discussion

                Should we do more podcasts in this vein, other topics? Do more to promote this program? Should we pull in other podcasts from all NC states into a common ‘feed’? What are we teaching, and who are our audience(s)? Can farmers who are practicing IPM be interviewed and/or participate in podcast production? How to reach as wide an audience as possible, especially new audiences outside of IPM practitioner/specialized disciplines? Define your audience for special topics. Quality control, branding, appropriate hashtags, etc. because there are so many podcasts out there on Spotify, etc.

12:05 - Lunch

1:00 - One Big Thing

Discussion on pulling together individual state’s pollinator programming into a common group, possibly applying for a working group through the NCIPM Center.

Digital badges - certificate of completing training (cranberry course, Jed C.)

2:45 - Open Discussion

                Resumed NCIPM Center IPM Survey discussion

3:20 - Break

Tour

Adjourn for the day

3/2/2023

8:00 - Regional Climate Interactions with IPM (Aaron Wilson)

                Climate Change Indicators - USDA publication

                Slides available

                Climate impacts on existing ag infrastructure (land ownership, wells, tiling, etc.)

                Climate smart IPM, emerging pests and their management, changing pest fauna/flora

9:15 - NC IPM Center Updates (Laura Iles)

                Lynnae retiring, will stay on part-time as working group liaison

                The NC IPM does a lot for us, but what can we do for NC IPM Center? Keep center abreast of state/regional issues, utilize working groups

9:30 - Open Discussion

                Should we have some kind of ‘onboarding’ for new state IPM coordinators?

                Should we have an EIP Grant workshop for the next 3-year cycle?

                Human infrastructure

                On-line facilitated workshop (NCIPM Center facilitates) where we meet, discuss state priorities, find common themes for collaboration, work through the ‘nitty gritty’ of writing the EIP grant, breakout rooms for common themes? Structured writing time?

                Conduct workshop sometime this fall (late November/early December)

                We’ll need to identify what our workshop goals are, some ‘homework’ done before the meeting

                Can we have Vijay, Emmanuel and/or Rubella join us or provide input? Getting good, consistent reviewers is an issue. Will NIFA have a reviewer training? We can provide input on past reviewer problems that we’ve encountered. Need consistency and understanding among reviewers

10:00 - Group Project Discussion

                Podcasts (ISU), IPM video library (concatenate each state’s videos, send to Jacqueline at NC IPM Center)

                Group report

                Next year’s meeting - tentatively 2/27-2/29 2024, Kansas City? Pat and Frannie will work out hotel/meeting room details, coordinate with NC IPM Center, Pat develop agenda, get logistics nailed down within the next month

                New chair election - Diane Plewa, University of Illinois, is our chair-elect!

Add Adam and Ed (ISU) to Basecamp, did some maintenance on Basecamp

Group Report Discussion - Objectives

                Jim doing some editing in meeting, will get a final Objectives out on Basecamp

App Development Discussion - have a working group activity?

                Bring in Joe L. for a ‘lunch and learn’ to discuss web-friendly mobile interfaces, session held online (Jim J. will contact Joe)

                Regional ideas? Weather (mesonets), crop ‘dashboards’, etc.

11:20 - Adjourn

OBJ. 1: Increase the capacity of members to implement Extension based programs.

Activity: Members from each state will share at least one innovative project or program that is currently being implemented.

Accomplishments: Over-arching multi-state activities were highlight by Michigan State University leading an effort to create a regional NCERA222 resourced podcast titled, “The IPM Central Podcast.” In 2022, the series kicked off with a special series celebrating the 50th anniversary of IPM with 7 episodes highlighting IPM programs from 6 states and the North Central IPM Center. The series was launched late in 2022 and the group is working to build listenership and expand the episode catalogue in 2023.

Another unique multi-state activity called PhytoPoetry began in 2022. The goal of the PhytoPoetry project was to draw attention to some of the IPM work being done through Extension by using social media such as Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. There were 3,700 YouTube views, 420 Twitter followers, and 71 Instagram followers in the first year.

Multiple states participated in the “I see dead plants” podcast which created 19 episodes based on interviews with a plant pathologist from the region on various topics.

Nebraska co-led the Great Plains Master Beekeeping Program.

North and South Dakota are working collaboratively to solve the red sunflower seed weevil pyrethroid resistance issue through jointly organized workshop. Other state centric projects included MO working with their state PSEP to focus on youth and pesticide safety through programs like Diquat Dan and Ag Pest Detectives to over 5,000 youth. Michigan State University is now offering a Pollinator Stewardship for Pesticide Applicators online course which covers pollinator appreciation, pesticide toxicity, pollinator risks, pesticide labels and how to support pollinator health.

OBJ. 2: Review, prioritize and disseminate IPM research and Extension needs.

Activity: Review key IPM research and Extension needs that would be useful in conducting Extension programs, informing research activities, enhancing grant applications and assisting with state, regional, national and international agendas.

Accomplishments: As a group we briefly discussed the importance of collaborating and communicating with NC peers and the IPM Center to distribute EPA pesticide-related notifications to relevant agricultural stakeholders including field faculty who can provide expert input into current field practices, product efficacy and use, and regulatory processes.  In the past year, these multi-state communications have been particularly critical in the upcoming potential Endangered Species Act pesticide labeling changes.

We discussed at length the National IPM survey issued late in 2022 which most of the NC states participated in and contributed data toward. While the committee discussed some positive aspects of the survey, broad concern was expressed about the vague wording and potential for misinterpretation on several of the questions. Additional discussion centered on the need of a NC centric survey as the national survey may not describe the needs or accomplishments of our region very well.

We did not have time in our annual meeting to officially review or discuss the NCERA 222 priorities but the most recent list (2018/19) has been recently circulated to all committee members for review and modernization as needed. This list is intended to help identify areas of concern that may need to be addressed by granting agencies active in the North Central region. The list will be published on the Center’s website.

Some state centric research and extension needs include prioritizing tree health in the wake of recent destructive weather patterns, reaching out and educating youth who will be the next generation professionals, managing aphids in alfalfa due to spreading pyrethroid resistance, climate change impacts on IPM, sustainable and resilient agriculture, and outreach and training activities for Spotted Lanternfly invasion.

OBJ. 3: Increase collaboration and coordination between state IPM programs, NCIPMC related working groups and relevant NC multistate committees.

Activity: Focus on communicating and interacting with relevant NCIPMC-funded working groups and other NC multistate committees in an effort to reduce redundancy and create efficient streams of information exchange and proactive future activities.

Accomplishments: Connections across these various regional committees and program levels help ensure timely communication and information flow between states, research and extension faculty. Several members of the 222 committee and multiple faculty/specialists from each state contribute and participate in regional technical committees such as NC246: Ecology and management of arthropods in corn, Project S1080: Biology, impact, and management of soybean insect pests in soybean production systems, NCERA137: Soybean Diseases, NCERA184: Management of Small Grain Diseases, etc.

Members of 222 and specialists/faculty from each state also share expertise in multi-state collaborations by helping to populate over a dozen NC IPM Center Working Groups such as Right of Ways, various Pollinator efforts, Urban Agriculture, Fruit and Vegetable, Hops, Hemp, Ticks, etc.

Lastly, is the broad participation of several states in the Crop Protection Network which produces scouting videos, crop specific presentations/webinars, podcasts, publications and articles that impact growers and educators across the region.

OBJ. 4: Facilitate multistate programming to share curriculum and educational materials

Activity: Provide publications, workshops and concepts that might have regional interest, enrich the knowledge base of members and positively impact end users in other states.

Accomplishments: There were many excellent and unique state-based programs reported at the meeting which can be consolidated into the following categories:

Pollinators in landscape / Pollinator health / Gardening (OH, ND, KS, IL, NB, MI)

Crop specific (WI, MN, MO)

Pesticide education (MN, MO)

Multimedia / Social Media (IA, MI)

If we focus on multistate programs and sharing, there was a collaboration developed between two NC IPM Center working groups that resulted in a grant submission to USDA NIFA; despite the grant not being funded this outcome was reported as a positive interaction.

As reported earlier, the ISU based Crop Protection Network spurred numerous interstate collaborations (NB, OH, ND, KS, MN, IA) through its virtual crop scouting school, video production capability, two podcast series and crop specific presentation series.

Ohio was the host state for this meeting and shared local expertise on creating and utilizing 3D printed objects successfully in extension and training activities ranging from Spotted Lanternfly egg masses to soybean leaf defoliation cards. Multiple states seemed extremely keen to learn more about this technology and expressed interested in attending a regional workshop where Dr. Andy Michel and others would teach a short course on building and printing 3D models. The NC IPM Center was interested to support and help coordinate this workshop.  

What are the 3 most important research/extension needs in your state in 2023?

While there was certainly a range of responses to this question, the top three responses were funding, pesticide resistance and exotic invasive pests. Perhaps surprisingly climate impacts did not appear as a top concern on most lists.

-Funding needs to be increased across the board to retain or add IPM oriented personnel, infrastructure and the ability to offer relevant programs to clientele (10+ mentions).

-Pesticide Resistance Management remains high on the radar with herbicide resistant weeds, fungicide and insecticide resistance issues mentioned often (6+ mentions).

-Non-native and exotic pests are a concern as they require human capital for monitoring, cause significant economic disruption and upset current IPM programs (4+ mentions).

List Extension publications (focused on multi-state and regional activities)

-Weed Control Guide for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.

-Midwest Vegetable Production Guide

-Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide, third edition

-Reisig, D., Kesheimer, K., Bateman, N., Studebaker, G., Meyer, R., Reay-Janes, F., Shields, E., Owens, D. Buntin, G.D., Seiter, N., Hodgson, E., Sisson, A., Zukoff, A., Villanueva, R., Towels, T., Hamby, K., DiFonzo, C., Hutchison, B., Potter, B., Catchot, A., Cook, D., Bradshaw, J., Peterson, J., Beauzay, P., Knodel, J., Tilmon, K., Baute, T., Varenhorst, A., Brown, S., Kerns, D., Porter, P., Taylor, S., Jensen, B. 2022. Corn Invertebrate Loss Estimates from the United States and Ontario, Canada- 2021. Crop Protection Network. CPN 2019-21. doi.org/10.31274/cpn-20220722-0

-Webster, R. W., Roth, M. G., Mueller, B., Mueller, D. S., Chilvers, M. I., Telenko, D. E. P., Willbur, J. F., Mourtzinis, S., Conley, S., and Smith, D. 2022. Modern Integrated Management Practices for Controlling White Mold in Soybean. Crop Protection Network. CPN 5009. doi.org/10.31274/cpn-20220314-1

-The new MSU / OSU Insect Guide. 

List Webinars (focused on multi-state and regional activities)

-Emerald Ash Borer University

-North Central IPM Pest & Progress Webinar: Region-wide Surveys and Pest Forecasting for Advancing Minnesota IPM Midwest Soybean Gall Midge Research Update webinars

- 2022 Soybean gall midge regional webinars; http://soybeangallmidge.org

List YouTube videos / other media (focused on multi-state and regional activities)

-Podcast series with MSU hosting: IPM Turns 50

-Podcast Series with ISU hosting: War Against Weeds  https://waragainstweeds.libsyn.com/

-Podcast series with ISU hosting: I see Dead Plants

List Journal articles (focused on multi-state and regional activities)

- Broders, K., Iriarte-Broders, G., Bergstrom, G. C., Byamukama, E., Chlivers, M., Cruz, C., Dalla-Lana, F., Duray, Z., Malvick, D., Mueller, D., Paul, P., Plewa, D., Raid, R., Robertson, A., Salgado-Salazar, C., Smith, D., Telenko, D., VanEtten, K., and Kleczewski, N. 2022. Phyllachora species infecting maize and other grass species in the Americas represents a complex of closely related species. Ecology and Evolution. 12:4.  https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8832

List Book chapters

None