Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Megha Parajulee (chair) called the business meeting to order at 1:00PM on 31 October 2006 at the Memphis Marriott East Hotel held in conjunction with the Cotton Incorporated Crop Management Seminar. The minutes of the meeting were recorded by Jeremy Greene (secretary/chair-elect). Twenty-four scientists were in attendance and represented the following organizations: Southern Agricultural Experiment Station Directors, Southern Cooperative Extension Service Directors, Cotton Incorporated, North Carolina State University, Auburn University, Clemson University, University of Tennessee, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State Ag/Extension Center, USDA-ARS (Mississippi, Texas), University of Arkansas, Arkansas State University, Louisiana State University AgCenter, and Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Parajulee began the meeting with an introduction of the projects prior approval and the overall purpose of the meeting. Jim Harper welcomed the group and the discussion to follow. He requested that the minutes be submitted quickly. The website is available for SERA-IEG 23. Ralph Bagwell welcomed the group from the Extension Directors and noted the benefit of this meeting. It is a recognized meeting of the directors. Parjulee distributed the agenda and mentioned that the minutes from the last meeting are available online. The minutes from the last meeting were approved and accepted without change. Parajulee continued discussing the purpose of the group meeting  anything of regional importance with cotton insect pest management. The objectives of the meeting were opened up to the group for discussion. Randy Luttrell talked about the regional research projects of the past and how important they were. Southern regional bulletins were the norm. They served agriculture in the southern region. Others commented on the value of summarizing projects in published form. Roger Leonard discussed the amount of effort involved but agreed that it is certainly worthwhile. John Westbrook commented that many SERA-IEG 23 members have recently contributed to several published or pending books on cotton insects. Megha asked the group for a consensus on what topics should be researched and published. The resistance problem with plant bugs  Jim Robbins. Heliothines (we have far more data on this topic than bugs at this point)  Ralph Bagwell. Luttrell commented on the eradication program  what is life like after eradication? Scott Stewart mentioned that those efforts (publishing research efforts/projects) should be the focus of this group. Randy Luttrell was nominated as chair of an exploratory committee to look into what needs to be done. Leonard suggested that everyone email Luttrell with topics and let the group decide. Luttrell will summarize the comments and suggest a direction. Luttrell mentioned that a survey was done several years back  the consensus then was this meeting might be a waste of time without a change. Luttrell asked about any ongoing southern region publications. Jim Harper mentioned anti-pesticide groups are using cotton as an example of pesticide abuse and environmental damage. It was suggested that someone needs to head a committee to address this problem with an updated statement or information about how things have changed. Apparently they are using old data for the US. BWEP, Bt cotton, etc. have changed our inputs dramatically. Jim Harper mentioned that a group of scientists presenting updated data/information would have more of an impact than any other group. Parajulee read the objectives of the project/group and discussed the format of the current meeting agenda. Structured talks are to be at a minimum with ample time for discussions of the topics. Program Practical comments on design and analysis of field research data  Megha Parjulee (TX) Discussion: Luttrell asked how many statistics courses Parajulees students take. His department does not require statistics as part of a graduate student curriculum. Leonard mentioned that LSU does not require it either. Gene Burris asked about spatial information courses. Sampling and thresholds for bugs: Mid-South perspective  Fred Musser Discussion: Plant bugs - sampler impacts were very apparent/significant. Sampler is real. Sampling and thresholds for bugs: Southeast perspective  Jeremy Greene Discussion: Questions about fiber quality and collaborative work. Impacts on fiber quality are being evaluated. Cotton arthropod sampling at a landscape level  Randy Luttrell Discussion: Will be very important in the future. Students need opportunities to study/learn spatial analysis techniques. Data management will continue to be a problem. Cotton arthropod sampling in relation to insecticide evaluation and IRM strategies  Roger Leonard (Roger had Carlos Blanco, Randy Luttrell, Jeff Gore make comments on IRM techniques and results) Bt Resistance Monitoring Program  Carlos Blanco Discussion: Blanco stated that he has not detected resistance on tobacco budworm or bollworm. Luttrell stated that there is much variability in bollworm to Cry1Ac. Resistance in plant bugs  Jeff Gore Discussion: Traditional insecticides for plant bugs are rapidly loosing effectiveness. End of Program Final Discussion: Jeff Gore suggested that we might consider publications in combination with scientists in other disciplines to address changes in production practices and how those production practices have changed ecology and pest interactions. Luttrell mentioned that might exist as an intended effort in some earlier Heliothis work. Gus Lorenz mentioned that fall armyworms could be the topic of research/publications. New Business: Election of new Secretary/Chair-Elect  Fred Musser is new Secretary/Chair-Elect after nomination by Gus Lorenz. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10PM.