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2020 Program Year

RFA: IPM Applied Research

Early Detection of Potato Leafhopper Damage Using Unmanned Aerial Systems

Project Director: Chandi Witharana
Funding Amount: $49,783

Early detection of disease and insect infestation within crops is essential to lower production losses, reduce environmental risk, and promote environmentally conscious management practices. Innovative pest detection and monitoring methods that are inexpensive while being highly efficient can increase pest management decision-making based on estimates of pest population size. There is a growing interest in adaptation of remote scouting methods that are centered on remote sensing (RS) technologies, to produce low-cost, real-time/quasi real-time, repeatable, and spatially-explicit analytics for IPM applications. Unprecedented advances in unmanned aerial system (UAS) technology and the development of robust, autonomous and lightweight sensors present a unique opportunity for enabling RS technologies for IPM use. UASs are rapidly evolving into standalone RS systems that deliver information of high spatial and temporal resolution in a non-invasive manner. UAS platforms can rapidly survey areas and can be deployed where and when needed. Both the cost and complexity of the UASs have been reduced to the point where an individual can afford a drone and use it in the field with minimal technical expertise. In spite of the potential benefit, very few studies have been conducted to exploit the potentials of UAS for early detection of pest infestation. This reflects a clear knowledge and methodological gap between IPM science and UAS technology. Without a concerted cross-disciplinary effort - remote sensing science, computer science, and IPM science - to build bridges between the IPM community and this new UAS-enabled future, we will never fully capitalize on the plethora of possibilities afforded by centimeter-scale imagery. The proposed research will investigate the practicality of off-the-shelf UAS outfitted with lightweight multispectral and hyperspectral sensors - as remote scouting instruments- in early detection and discrimination of crop infestation by potato leafhopper Empoasca fabae in potato. We propose a two-year project, deploying UAS remote sensing coupled with proximal remote sensing to develop and validate models for assessing and distinguishing early damage by potato leafhopper using UAS spectral reflectance data.

Necessity is the mother of invention: innovative approaches to Northeastern hemp disease management.

Project Director: Heather Darby
Funding Amount: $49,565

With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, and the removal of industrial hemp from the list of controlled substances, hemp is now considered a legal agricultural crop. As a result, the hemp industry is growing rapidly and scientifically based research and education is critical to Northeastern farmers succeeding with this new crop. Hemp could be a significant economic driver and could help create new farming and business opportunities and potentially provide social and environmental benefits that complement current agricultural production systems in the Northeast. However, since industrial hemp production has only recently been reintroduced to the Northeast, much of the agronomic information that is currently available to Northeastern growers is either outdated or not relevant to the growing conditions of the region. The proposed project aims to provide this much-needed information to the Northeastern hemp industry through a program that integrates field-based disease management trials and a comprehensive outreach program.

Identifying pest problems and educating producers and service providers about hemp IPM will strengthen the viability of industrial hemp in the region. This project seeks to discover and deliver region-specific disease management practices to support the growth of the hemp industry in the Northeast. The objectives of this project are to expand the existing IPM toolbox for disease management available to Northeastern hemp growers, and enhance technical assistance through farmer friendly research-based outreach programs and materials, and opportunities for farmer-to-farmer learning exchanges in the Northeast. The distribution of hemp diseases in the Northeast, varietal selection, planting date, plant spacing, harvest timing, and post-harvest handling strategies will be validated as a means to manage disease pressure in industrial hemp. Our outreach and research will reach countless stakeholders through printed material and online resources and will add to the body of knowledge on regionally appropriate IPM strategies for industrial hemp.

Slug and Natural Enemy Phenology in mid-Atlantic Field Crops

Project Director: David Owens
Funding Amount: $27,830

Slugs are important pests of field crops in the mid-Atlantic, especially when crops are grown using reduced or no-tillage practices and with cover crops. Slug activity is heavily dependent on weather conditions, but when slug-favorable weather conditions occur during the crops most sensitive stages (germination to V3/V4), severe stand reductions can result requiring a field or portions of a field be replanted. Slug management recommendations include tillage (a highly disruptive tactic that impacts soil health and water quality) or application of expensive molluscicidal bait. There are two primary species of slugs present in mid-Atlantic corn and soybean fields: grey garden slugs and marsh slugs. These slugs overwinter either as eggs or as adults. Plant damage is most severe when germination coincides with slug egg hatch, and there is some evidence that a bait application is most effective when applied at slug egg hatch. This project seeks to develop a model that will predict slug egg hatch based on accumulated heat units. Fields across the mid-Atlantic will be sampled weekly for slug eggs and juveniles. Temperature and moisture sensors will be deployed in the same fields. In addition, not much is known regarding slug-pathogenic nematode distribution or activity in fields. Mobile stage slugs will be sampled and held for nematode emergence. It is anticipated that this line of research will help farmers identify time periods in which a slug bait might be most effective or a planting window that could be avoided.

RFA: IPM Communications

Developing multimedia materials to educate health care providers on bed bug IPM

Project Director: Changlu Wang
Funding Amount: $19,757

The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, emerged as a major urban pest in the U.S. since the late 1990s. Today, bed bug infestations are most commonly found in low-income, senior citizen homes where bed bug management is most challenging. A study shows an average of 12.3% of the senior citizen homes in low-income communities were infested with bed bugs in New Jersey. The resurgence of bed bugs has significant health, economic, and social impact. Health care providers are particularly affected by bed bug infestations. There are 84,000 health care providers in the northeastern U.S. They spend most of the day in clients’ homes and many clients are low-income seniors. They are at high risk of getting bed bugs or spreading bed bugs as they visit different homes. Most health care providers are unprepared for dealing with bed bugs. Educating them on the identification, prevention, early detection, and use of simple non-chemical methods to get rid of bed bugs is extremely important both for protecting themselves and for helping the clients in getting rid of early bed bug infestations. Yet, available educational materials on bed bugs for health care providers is scarce. User-friendly videos demonstrating how to recognize bed bugs and simple and effective methods to prevent and eliminate bed bugs is especially in urgent need. The objectives of this project are to: 1) develop an English and a Spanish short video demonstrating the bed bug biology, prevention, inspection, proper use of non-chemical control tools, 2) develop English and Spanish brochures on bed bug prevention and control for health care providers; and 3) partner with health care industry to educate health care providers on bed bug prevention and control using the new videos and brochures. Potential outcomes are increased knowledge on bed bugs and practice of IPM by health care providers and residents. Use of multimedia materials to educate health care workers will have the following immediate impact: reduced control cost, economic loss, pesticide use, and human health risks associated with improper bed bug control practices.

Knowing is half the battle: Increasing awareness of biocontrol as part of IPM through digital outreach

Project Director: Amara Dunn
Funding Amount: $19,997

The retirement of its creator necessitates the migration of the website “Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in North America” to a new domain where it can be maintained and continue to serve as an important resource to a range of audiences, including farmers, extension staff, and the general public. This migration also creates the opportunity to re-design and update the website so that it is more useful and usable to target audiences. Updates will include reducing text, adding pictures, adding additional biocontrol agents, creating and linking short videos, and creating a database of biocontrol agents. This database will make it easier to search for information about specific biocontrol agents, or biocontrol options in specific crops or settings. It will also enable the generation of on-demand fact sheets on biocontrol. These fact sheets will be easier to update and easier to distribute to stakeholders, including those who do not have access to the internet. Updates to the website will be planned using input from focus groups representing stakeholders around the Northeast. The updated Biological Control website will be a great resource for extension agents and stakeholders across all agricultural commodities and among the general public. By improving the usefulness and usability of biocontrol information, this website will increase knowledge and awareness of biocontrol as an important IPM strategy. This increase in knowledge and awareness has the potential to increase the successful use of biocontrol for pest management, decrease the use of chemical pesticides, and decrease risks to human health and the environment, while increasing effective and economical pest management in a variety of settings across the Northeast.

RFA: IPM Working Group

A Working Group on Tarping and Soil Solarization

Project Director: Sonja Birthisel
Funding Amount: $19,350

Tarping and soil solarization are affordable technologies suitable to vegetable production in the Northeast, with particular applicability to organic systems. These practices have demonstrable utility for weed management, and may have additional IPM applications and benefits to farming systems. However, the mechanisms of action and long-term ramifications of these practices are poorly understood. Researchers at multiple universities in the Northeast are conducting disparate investigations of tarping and solarization, and no platform currently exists to facilitate sharing research results or building larger collaborations on these topics. We propose to form a working group on tarping and solarization that will improve coordination of research and extension efforts in the region.

The working group will include members affiliated with at least six land grant universities. The group will include members with research and extension expertise in weed, insect, and soil microbial ecology, as well as farmers with practical experience in the application of tarping and solarization for IPM. The working group will meet quarterly via Zoom video conference calls, and once in person over the course of one calendar year. We will develop several outreach presentations, and engage in collaborative preliminary data collection over this period.

We expect that the proposed working group will facilitate knowledge-sharing and aid us in prioritizing new outreach efforts and research questions that can be leveraged in developing larger multi-state proposals. Near term outcomes expected from this project include more farmers learning about and utilizing tarping and solarization. Long term outcomes could include: reductions in pesticide use through increased adoption of these effective non-chemical practices; increased yields and profits on organic farms due to improved pest management; and potentially climate resilience benefits through increased use of organic no-till and reduced-tillage systems.