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Funded Project

Funding Program: IPM Partnership Grants

Project Title: Northeast Small Fruit IPM Working Group and Pest Issues Tour

Project Director (PD): Ann Hazelrigg [1]

Lead State: VT Lead Organization: University of Vermont

Cooperating State(s): Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island

Undesignated Funding: $10,000

Start Date: Mar-01-2011 End Date: Jun-30-2012

Pests Involved: Small fruit pests, diseases and weeds

Site/Commodity: Small Fruits

Area of Emphasis: Small Fruit IPM

Summary: Small fruits are an economically important and rapidly expanding crop for the Northeast. Pest identification and knowledge of successful IPM strategies are crucial for the successful small fruit farm. A Northeast Small Fruit IPM Working Group that develops and directs IPM priorities for small fruit stakeholders in New York and New England is an important resource for the small fruit industry. We propose a three day meeting with small fruit and/or pest management specialists from NY and New England universities, organic farming associations and NRCS. The first day of the meeting will be spent sharing slides/examples of pest issues encountered in our states and sharing information about our agencies' websites, diagnostic tools and IPM programs. The second day will be spent in the field. One focus for this tour will be on propagation of clean nursery stock for small fruits. We will incorporate a tour of Nourse Farms, a large facility with a new Micro Propagation facility for producing plants for the small fruit commercial and home garden market. We will visit additional small fruit farms in the area including small fruit farms doing Farm to Table or School and high tunnel production. The third half day will be spent discussing pest management strategies with an emphasis towards choosing reduced risk pesticides and non-pesticide strategies that lead to sustainable solutions. The group will also identify and prioritize specific research, extension and education needs for small fruit stakeholders in New England. Objectives: Objective 1. To gather IPM stakeholders from multi-disciplines (plant pathologists, entomologists, weed specialists, small fruit specialists) and multi-states (New England and NY) and different agencies (Extension, Organic Farming Associations and NRCS) to share information and expertise in the field and conference room on small fruit pest identification and integrated pest management strategies for both organic and conventional systems. Impact: Increased ability by IPM stakeholders to identify small fruit pests and increased knowledge of pest management strategies using IPM principles. This knowledge will be passed on to small fruit stakeholders through meetings, websites, on site farm visits, newsletters, pest management strategic plan meetings and crop and field guides. Objective 2. To continue to address priorities for research, education and extension for small fruit IPM (in both organic and conventional systems) through the Northeast Small Fruit IPM Working Group made up of representatives from Extension, organic associations and NRCS. Impact: Increased educational opportunities for small fruit stakeholders and increased adoption of IPM practices among all small fruit stakeholders. Objective 3. To increase awareness of the different agencies' (Extension, NOFAVT, NOFA-NY, MOFGA, NRCS) programs and initiatives for IPM strategies. Impact: This will increase collaboration and communication among agencies and will increase understanding of the various programs offered by the agencies ultimately helping small fruit stakeholders with their pest management strategies. Objective 4. To identify future IPM education opportunities and topics for workshops, conferences, websites and newsletters for all Northeast small fruit growers. Impact: Increased adoption of IPM practices among all small fruit stakeholders. Objective 5. To evaluate the impacts of the NE Small Fruit IPM Working Group meeting by surveying participants. Impact: Increase knowledge of pest identification in small fruits and assess impacts and outcomes of the knowledge gained. (see Evaluation section.) Proposal Working Group Web Site

Final Report:

Impacts Our meeting was rated very successful by all the attendees. We increased our ability to identify small fruit pests and increased our knowledge of management strategies for those pests using IPM principles. Dr. Marvin Pritts, Cornell, indicated the working group and tour was one of the better professional development experiences because 1) knowledge was gained about how to manage some of the more difficult pests 2) information about new and emerging pests was introduced and 3) collaborations were established with individuals who do not interact regularly and 4) first hand observations were in the field with a cadre of experts. Dr. Pritts included most of what we saw and learned last year in the New York Berry News, a newsletter for NY growers. He also indicated the information helped him improve the Berry Diagnostic Tool. http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berrytool/. The tour of Nourse farms was excellent, giving the attendees an in depth look at propagation of small fruits and the disease issues associated with propagation. We also saw many new innovative trellising systems at Nourse farm fields that will improve recommendations to our farmers in our states. The 4 growers we worked with on this tour were impacted by the group attending their farm. They learned of potential new diseases and the impacts of nematodes and fungal leaf spots on strawberries and cane diseases of raspberries. Scouting fields was continually encouraged and supported by the growers and researchers. The growers met experts in other states and followed up field discussions with several emails to the appropriate pest/crop specialists in other states. The growers and researchers were all dedicated to the goals of IPM and decreasing the use of pesticides and when choosing a pesticide, using the least impactful one to the environment and non target organisms. Proper identification of pest problems was the most impactful outcome of the tour, for both the growers and the specialists. Having several trained eyes looking at the same problem was invaluable for the correct identification, leading to the best use of IPM for management. This correct identification of the pest saves the farmer money by applying the right controls at the right time, saving money, and extra use of pesticides. The information learned at our tour and workshop by the researchers and famers was greatly amplified by being taken back to our respective states and programs with the resulting information added to the specialists websites, grower newsletters, web diagnostic tools, grower meetings and one on one conversations with farmers. It is difficult to assess the overall impact of the tour and workshop but the researchers expressed the value of the 3 day workshop by taking time out of their busy schedules during the growing season to meet with their fellow researchers and specialists to share information and management strategies. Following our meeting, Working Group attendees were polled and asked how specifically they had used the information learned at our meeting. Members listed the introduction of the Cornell Berry Diagnostic Tool website http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berrytool/ to growers through newsletters and meetings as having a big IPM impact for growers. Also, information from new and old newsletters from our various universities was shared across universities and organic grower associations for the benefit of their members. Working group members said a lot of the pest information learned and shared at our meeting was carried forward in their home states through on site farm visits, newsletters, and crop and field recommendations. We discussed the importance of clean propagation of small fruit nursery stock and the lack of standardization and regulation in the production of small fruits leading to the spread of virus and other disease problems. The newly emerging pest, spotted wing drosophila, was discussed in depth, with future meetings planned just on this pest. Our goal for the next workshop was to address small fruit pest issues in high tunnels since many growers are trying these for strawberry and raspberry production. Our meeting increased our collaboration and communication among agencies and increased our understanding of the various programs offered by the agencies. This awareness helps increase sharing across state borders, ultimately helping small fruit stakeholders with their pest management strategies. Safeguarding human health and the environment: Learning and sharing new pests and diseases and discussing current and experimental management strategies based on IPM principles, helps reduce the overall use of pesticides and increases the choice of softer pesticides to manage a pest. This translates to safer pesticide use by the grower and less impact on the environment. Economic benefits: Several of the growers visited in the tour will directly benefit from our advice and may employ new techniques for trellising, disease and pest management that will increase their farms bottom line. The information learned and shared among the participants of the Small Fruit IPM Working Group gets amplified as we go back to our respective states and disseminate the information through our listserves, websites, on farm visits and meetings. This helps the farmer to make more informed choices in pest management and helps increase production and income generation. Implementation of IPM: Educational materials are updated with new information after each of our meetings. This is passed on to growers through websites, each of the states fruit/veg newsletters and discussed at on farm meetings and annual workshops. An exact count of growers impacted has not been measured, but could measure in the thousands across NY, NJ, RI and the rest of New England.

Outcomes The Small Fruit Working Group held their 3 day meeting in Northampton, MA, on June 25, 26 and 27, 2011. Our priority (determined at last year's meeting) was to address issues in small fruit propagation, in addition to pest issues on small fruit farms. Thirteen pest management and small fruit specialists from the NE, NJ, RI and NY extension, Organic Grower Associations, and the IR 4 program attended. The first afternoon of the meeting was spent sharing pest problems we encountered over the past year, new and old insect and disease problems in small fruits, new pesticides, new IPM management tools and our individual educational programs. The second day was spent at Nourse Farms, Inc, one of the largest propagators of small fruit in the Northeast and in grower's fields looking at pest and disease problems. The final day of our meeting was spent discussing what we encountered in the field and also sharing approaches to management. We also discussed future directions for the group and our next year's priority of looking at small fruit issues in high tunnels. Our tour was very informative, touring the propagation facility and fields plus looking at problems in blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and other minor small fruits and interacting with the farmers growing the crops. There was substantial interaction among the researchers looking at the various crops and pest issues. Since we had a varied group of expertise, looking at various pests/complexes was very beneficial for increasing all our knowledge.

Report Appendices Attendee List [PDF]

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