Internal newsletter of the Northeastern Pest Management Center.
Issue 3, September 2001
Information Network Projects updates:
Web Pages:
Pest Management Centers web page http://www.ipmcenters.org/ will be changing the 'look' soon. I have seen a test version that looks cleaner, has fewer navigation buttons, and does not use frames. This should help with navigation and bookmarking.
A priority for improving the NE PMC site http://nepmc.org is to include links to sites managed by our partners. With that in mind, I'll be starting with the state information network projects. Here are some links for our information network projects.
Delaware Pesticide Information: http://www.udel.edu/pesticide/
Maryland Pesticide Assessment and Education Program: http://www.pesticide.umd.edu/
New Jersey: Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office of Pest Management: http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~hamilton/
New York: Cornell's Pesticide Management Education Program: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/
Pennsylvania: Pest Management Information Center http://www.pested.psu.edu/infocenter/
ProNewEngland (information network for 6 CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) will be ready soon.
NE PMC sponsored a meeting August 16-17 in Providence to develop a national Pest Management Strategic Plan for cranberry. The project, led by the Cranberry Institute of North America, included participants from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. We had growers (including an organic grower), consultants, marketers, entomologists, plant pathologists, weed scientists. We had folks from the Cranberry Institute, URI, U Mass, Michigan St., University of Wisconsin, Oregon State, Washington State, Oceanspray, EPA, IR-4, and NE PMC. We slogged through hours of tedious but important decisions in a process that was educational for all involved. Matt Pitts of the Cranberry Institute is organizing meeting notes into a PMSP draft that should be available online to participants and others by Sept 21. We hope to complete and submit the final PMSP by November 1.
This was an especially interesting and educational experience for NE PMC staff John Ayers, Jim VanKirk, and Liz Thomas. NE PMC will be involved in developing many PMSPs in the next couple of years, so this experience will certainly prove valuable.
(provided by Glen Koehler)
The New England states will use the name ProNewEngland for their project. A web site is in the works, but not quite ready for prime time. Peach and pear pesticide use surveys are just about to go out, with a tomato survey to follow. A standardized format has been developed to use with all pesticide use surveys.
(provided by George Good)
Meetings have been held to determine the best course of action for creating an Ornamentals/Nursery Crop Profile. The development of a constructive strategy for this profile is prompted by the hundreds of plant species, and thus, the myriad of plant insects and diseases that can be troublesome in nurseries. Doing profiles for each individual plant species would not be practical because of this diversity of species and pests. Rather, plants will be considered in larger plant categories as per the American Standards for Nursery Stock published by the American Nursery/Landscape Association headquartered in Washington D.C. These categories are:
Shade and Flowering Trees
Deciduous Shrubs
Evergreen Shrubs
Narrowleaved Evergreens
Broadleaved Evergreens
Ground Covers and Vines
Herbaceous Perennials
Examples of plant species within each group will be identified as will specific diseases, insects and the appropriate "crop profile" information associated with these pests. Weed and vertebrate management information will be handled in a more collective sense since management recommendations for these tend to be broader in scope as compared to insect and disease management approaches. Meetings are being scheduled with ornamental/nursery crop extension and research specialists and stakeholders in the primary production regions of New York state. These meetings will solicit the input of these individuals relative to the profile, in particular, pesticide use data. Ultimately, what evolves will be sent to all states in the NE for review and comment to insure that the document is regional in content.
(provided by Bill Hoffmann)
The Pennsylvania Pest Management Information Center reports the following accomplishments since August 1st, 2001:
topThe Center finalized arrangements with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistics Service (PASS) to provide core pesticide re-certification credits to participants in 2001 chemical use surveys. The state’s corn growers who participate in the Agricultural Resources Management Study and apple growers who participate in the Fruit Chemical Use Survey will each receive 1 core pesticide re-certification credit. It is hoped that this will foster grower survey cooperation and ultimately result in more accurate pesticide data gathering. These activities were modeled after a similar successful program conducted in Washington State.
Center personnel worked with Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Information Office personnel to produce a press release regarding the upcoming Pennsylvania apple and corn chemical use surveys. The release can be viewed on the World Wide Web at: http://aginfo.psu.edu/news/august01/pesticide.html.
Center personnel contributed two articles (Recent EPA and Pesticide Registrant Actions & Introducing the Pest Management Information Center) to the publication: "Pennsylvania Pesticide Highlights For Public/Commercial Pesticide Applicators." This is an annual publication that is received by over 13,000 of the Commonwealth's pesticide applicators. The publication can be viewed on the World Wide Web at: http://www.pested.psu.edu/npc801.pdf.
The Center posted four new EPA tolerances on its website. These include bifenazate on pears, sulfentrazone (time limited) on strawberries, azoxystrobin (time limited) on peppers, and tepraloxydim on soybeans and canola. In addition to these postings, the center sent out three pesticide regulatory updates through its e-mail system. · Center personnel responded to inquiries by the Office of Pest Management Policy regarding thiophanate- methyl (Topsin) use on the Pennsylvania Peach Crop. Information provided included a five-year breakdown of the states fungicide use on peaches and in depth information for the 1999 PA peach crop.
contributed by Sandy Sardanelli
14th Annual Advanced Landscape Plant IPM PHC Short Course January 7-11, 2002 Course emphasis will be on the principles and practices of integrated pest management in landscape plantings based on sound pest identification and life history information. Lectures topics include: IPM and PHC Principles and Practices Program Implementation Monitoring Technology Soil Program Diagnosis Biological Control Biorational Pesticides Adult Insect Identification Immature insect Identification Disease Management Business Aspects of IPM Laboratory work will include microscopic examination of key landscape insect pests and beneficials. Each student will receive a general pest collection, scale insect pest collection, plant damage collection and nine publications included in the registration fee. **Detailed information and Registration Form available online http://www.entm.umd.edu/events/events.html
On-Farm Research Short Course September 11, 12, 13, 2001 FOR WHOM? Extension educators, pest management scouts, crop advisors, and other professionals involved in field research trials through out the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region Do you: Want to learn how to conduct on-farm/nursery research trials? Want to have more confidence in your current trials? Want to expand your trials to examine other management practices or systems? But not sure how? Still wonder what the results of your on-farm/nursery research trials are telling you? **Detailed information and Registration Form available online http://www.entm.umd.edu/events/events.html
Maryland Home and Garden Information Center Plant Diagnostic Web Site www.agnr.umd.edu/users/hgic/diagn/home.html Now offers an electronic question and answer service for Northeast gardeners with plant and pest problems. Just click on the "e-mail questions" button on the HGIC home page. And check out our "plant problem solving" section by clicking on the "Plant Diagnostics" button. Free fact sheets can also be viewed or ordered from the publications section of the web site.
Although a couple of the IPM Commodity Working Group leaders have indicated they are thinking about staffing the committee, to date no CWG leaders have reported membership lists. If these groups hope to define research, extension and regulatory priorities to be considered in the coming funding cylce, they must get out of the planning phase soon.
Western Region PMC Meeting
NE PMC Coordinator Jim VanKirk attended the Western Region PMC in Reno Aug. 28 and 29, followed by a workshop on developing PMSPs on the 30th. This annual meeting followed an useful agenda that we in the Northeast may use for our next annual meeting this winter. Roughly, it proceeded as follows:
- Steering Committee, afternoon or evening of day 1. Review progress reports and review grant renewals
- Advisory Council, day 2. Review progress to date, discuss future priorities, etc.
- State Information Network Project leaders: evening session. Report on Steering Committee advice, trade progress reports, discuss successes and mutual needs, etc.
- PMSP workshop: how to do a PMSP
National Centers Meeting to Combine With National IPM Meeting
Pest Management Center Directors will meet concurrently with the National IPM Committee (which includes NEREAP-IPM chair Dick Ashley and chair-elect Ed Rajotte) in Washington, D.C. during the week of Sept. 22
Update on the farm bill from Philip Schwab, CSREES/OA/USDA
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 12:07 PM
Subject: farm Bill Update
Dear Colleagues:
Well the dust has settled on the August recess and Congress will soon be back in swing with a busy Fall schedule. A hefty legislative agenda related to agriculture, including appropriations, trade promotion authority, energy and the Farm Bill are all waiting for action on the House and Senate floors. Floor time will be scarce this season, especially in the Senate, where presidential appointments, and appropriations bills must compete with other legislation. The Congress may, however, stay in session until Thanksgiving, or later, in order to finish the FY2002 budget - leading to opportunities for other debates, such as the Farm Bill. For those of you who were here, you may remember the 1994 Reorganization Act was passed just before the Christmas holiday....so hang on!
Just before the beginning of the August recess, the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the Farm Bill (HR 2646) after a marathon markup session which saw a good deal of discussion with several amendments accepted and many defeated. Comments from Rep. Stenholm over the recess suggest that the bill may see the House floor sometime in the early Fall. You can access the bill at the following URL. http://www.house.gov/agriculture/farmbill.htm I have also attached a section by section of the research title of the bill below. The House acted on many of the requests that were brought by the NASULGC Board on Agriculture. Notably, IFAFS was reauthorized for a total of $1.16 billion through fiscal year 2011.
When we last left the Senate, they had just had a bitter debate over the FY2001 agriculture supplemental spending bill. Reports are, however, that this has not affected the relationship related to the Farm Bill. Both Senators Lugar and Harkin have been quoted as saying they would like to see a farm bill marked up in the Agriculture Committee sometime this Fall. So far there has been no timeline set, and little policy described save for Senator Harkin's Conservation Security Act. I would, however, expect his approach to be a significant departure from the House bill - setting up a difficult conference.
The real 800 pound gorilla in this fight is the declining surplus levels. It is unclear right now what the impact of the lower surplus projections will be on the ability of the Agriculture Committee to spend more money on the Farm Bill over and above the current-law baseline. One possibility is that the two chambers will move quickly to finalize the bill before the surplus projections dip further. Another scenario is that farm programs could get caught up in the competing education, prescription drug, defense spending priorities and progress on the farm bill bogs down. It is anyone's guess at this point.
Despite the uncertain process, university-based research, education and extension programs are making good progress and generating significant support on the Hill. This is a reflection of the importance of the work we support to the food production system and the good job we do managing our programs. Our stakeholder sessions in Fresno, and New Orleans and the upcoming Animal Agriculture Stakeholder Session, and Insect Genomics Workshop are excellent examples of our efforts to build support for our programs. These kinds of activities make a great deal of difference.
Insider is sent to NE PMC Advisory Council members; NE PMC Information Network project leaders; NE PMC IPM Commodity Working Group members; IPM Coordinators in the Northeast; subscribers to PMC-L. Email Jim or Liz to suggest changes.
Jim VanKirk, Coordinator 315-787-2378 jrv1@cornell.edu
topJohn Ayers, Director 814-865-7776 (voice) email
Liz Thomas, Information Specialist 315-787-2626 egt3@cornell.edu
This page created September 6, 2001
Centers for Pest Management are sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture
This page developed and managed by Jim VanKirk, NE PMC Coordinator
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