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Funded Project

Funding Program: Enhancement Grants - Special Projects

Project Title: Virginia Pest Management Information Network - Crop Profiles/PMSPs

Project Director (PD): Michael J. Weaver [1]

Lead State: VA Lead Organization: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Undesignated Funding: $30,000

Start Date: Jul-01-2005 End Date: Jun-30-2006

Summary: Since the inception of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) there has been an increased national emphasis to maintain viable pest management strategies for economically important crops. FQPA has affected the availability of many existing pest management tools, especially pesticides. This has potentially disrupted the ability of growers to implement effective integrated pest management strategies, to manage pest resistance, and to compete in the world market. USDA has funded four regional integrated pest management centers to work with the States to focus on enhancing economic benefits, protecting human health, and preserving natural resources. This includes the preservation of viable integrated pest management strategies. Virginia Tech will work with the Southern Region IPM Center, North Carolina State University, and important agricultural stakeholders to create a series of crop pest management profiles and pest management strategic plans (PMSP ) for important crops grown in Virginia and North Carolina. During the next year, Virginia Tech will create new crop profiles for honey, greenhouse tomato, and hay. In addition, it will coordinate and publish PMSPs with North Carolina State University. These include PMSPs for pepper and potato. Crop profiles and pest management strategic plans will communicate stakeholder needs to USDA and EPA to assist with decision-making associated with FQPA implementation. Virginia Tech will support the Southern Region IPM Center through its pest management programs and as a resource center to stakeholders. Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs will serve as the state contact project (SCP) for Virginia. This will involve providing oversight of crop profiles and PMSPs for Virginia. Long-term plans are to continue with crop profile and PMSP maintenance and development for the next three years in support of the regional center objectives and priorities and stakeholder needs. Objectives: Objective 1: To maintain and develop crop profiles for Virginia crops that are either cross-listed on the kids crops list, listed as important crops based on percent of national crop yield data, or are major state crops that will be drastically affected by FQPA. Crops on EPAs priority list for Virginia include: apple, bell pepper, bramble, cucumber, peanut, pumpkin, snap beans, squash, sweet potato, summer potato, tobacco, tomato, turkeys, hay, kale, ginseng. Crop profiles have been developed or are under development for all EPA priority crops but hay and fresh market tomatoes grown in greenhouses (a crop profile has been developed for field grown fresh market tomatoes). Therefore, crop profiles will be developed for these two crops and an additional crop that links into all other crops  honey production. Honey was chosen based on stakeholder feedback including consultation with the Virginia Tech Extension Specialist working with honeybees (see attached letter of support). Based on the willingness of stakeholders to cooperate in the development, additional profiles beyond year two include: swine, greens (collard and turnip), and sweet corn. Objective 2: To develop pest management strategic plans (PMSP) with stakeholders in Virginia and cooperating states. Virginia Tech will organize and host pest management strategic plans for peppers and potato in Virginia and North Carolina. North Carolina will collaborate on these two PMSPs and they have offered to host one of the two in North Carolina. Future plans are to work with North Carolina and other appropriate states on PMSPs in areas such as greenhouse tomato, non-crop rights-of-way, turf, cotton, and other crops of mutual importance to the region. This continues a pattern of cooperation with NCSU and other states from the previous four years.

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