Regional Integrated Pest Management Program

Providing competitive grants for research and extension activities related to integrated pest management (IPM) administered through regional networks

A competitive grants program for research and extension activities related to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) administered through four regional networks, the IPM Special Grants research program has been funded at about $2.7 million annually. The corresponding extension program has been funded at about $11 million per year, administered through land grants in each of the four regions.

Projects may span the spectrum from development of new IPM tactics to combined research-extension implementation projects to extension education and training. Because production systems and specific pest management problems vary significantly across the country, each of the four regions is given maximum flexibility in setting research and education priorities. Each region runs its own competition, establishing regional priorities for funding of projects.

Some priorities are crop-specific; others are based on various approaches to problem solving through IPM. Collaborators are encouraged in both programs. However, CSREES can only award funds to land grant universities as per funding legislation.

Project Examples

The University of Illinois at Champaign was awarded $79,460 to assess the potential for wheat, or wheat double-cropped with soybeans, to reduce western corn rootworm (WCR) injury to corn rotated with these crops by comparing movement and physiological characteristics of insects that enter crops rotated with corn. The project has three objectives: measure western corn rootworm movement between corn and rotated crops using a novel insect marking technique; measure the characteristics of adult WCR moving between corn and rotated crops; and relate WCR abundance in rotated fields to numbers of eggs deposited in the soil of each field and root injury ratings in corn the following year.
A grant of $110,884 was awarded to North Carolina State University at Raleigh, NC, to improve scouting and decision-making tools for weed management in field crops. Making weed management decisions that are environmentally and economically sound is a complex task. Most fields are infested with many different weed species, which vary greatly in their ability to cause crop losses and harvest difficulties and in their susceptibility to various herbicides. Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed three decision aids to assist weed managers in determining if enough weeds are in a particular field to justify treatment, and, if so, the appropriate herbicides and rates to apply: HADSS for desktop computers, Pocket HERB for handheld computers that can be used to give recommendations in the field, and WebHADSS that is accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a Web browser. In this project, these decision aids will be modified to better meet the needs of extension agents, growers, and consultants.
A project focusing on the electronic delivery of IPM information and decision support tools for field use was awarded a grant of $29,526. Pest management decisions require integration of complex data and information that changes dynamically throughout the season and from year to year. Electronic decision aids dramatically improve pest management decisions, but require portable palmtop technologies and improved results by factors of ten rather than simply delivering written information. Project goals include:
- Design and deliver state-of-the-art navigational and decision support tools designed to click on the pest followed by automatic lists of options, environmental cautions, and reminders of long-term consequences of practices selected or sequenced
- Involve stakeholders in assessing and evaluating these features of educational delivery via web technologies to improve IPM decisions in agriculture

Eligibility, Uses, and Restrictions
Staff of land grant universities in the U.S. may apply for this competition. Other organizations and individuals may work only as collaborators or as subcontractors. This is highly encouraged by CSREES.

In each of the four regions, research and extension staff appointed by their respective agricultural experiment station and cooperative extension directors, work together to develop requests for proposals that ensure that available resources address priority pest management problems in the region.

Application and Financial Information
Requests for proposals are available through the Internet and by more conventional means in each of the four regions. Your regional contact person can suggest the best means to obtain information on funding opportunities, priorities for research and extension projects, and application deadlines.

Proposals are evaluated through a peer review process and ranked according to the goals and objectives of the program, scientific merit and appropriateness of budget. Funding recommendations are then submitted to CSREES by each region's administrative advisers.

Contact
James VanKirk, Director
Northeast Region
630 W. North St.
Geneva NY 14456
Voice: (315) 787-2378
Fax: (315) 787-2360

Larry Olsen, Co-Director
North Central Region
Michigan State University
(517) 355-3459 (voice)
olsenl@msu.edu

Michael E. Gray
University of Illinois
Voice: (217) 333-6652

Norm Nesheim, Co-Director
Russ Mizell, Co-Director
Southern Region Pesticide Information Office
University of Florida
Building 847; P.O. Box 110710
Gainesville, FL 32611-0710
Voice: (352) 392-4721

Rick Melnicoe, Director
Western Region
Meyer Hall University of California, Davis
Voice: (530) 754-8378; Fax: (530) 754-8379

National Program Office
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mail Stop 2220
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20250-2220
Phone: (202) 401-4939; Fax: (202) 401-4888

Internet

www.csrees.usda.gov/integratedpestmanage ment
www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/integratedpestmgtnorthcentral.html
www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/integratedpestmgtnortheast.html
www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/integratedpestmgtsouth.html
www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/integratedpestmgtwest.html

Last Updated March 21, 2006