Recipient Organization
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
WEST LAFAYETTE,IN 47907
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Overview of Indiana's IPM ProgramAs the emphasis upon themes including sustainability, environmental resilience, and safeguarding of endangered species becomes increasingly intertwined with all aspects of pest management, Indiana stakeholders require up-to-date, science-based knowledge grounded in the core principles of IPM more than ever before. Our multi-disciplinary Purdue Pest Management Program (PPMP) team has a long history of engaging closely with our stakeholders in delivering this information. In this proposal, we aim to continue to leverage our strong partnerships within the state and beyond and add additional dimensions to our team. Although our previous (2021) EIPM proposal submission was well-received and ranked, we are taking previous reviewer feedback to heart to improve this 2024 iteration.A key point of feedback in our 2021 previous submission was the recommendation that we partner with a social scientist to assist with program evaluation and improvement. We have acted upon this recommendation by adding Dr. Anne Lutomia to our team. She is a social scientist with expertise in evaluating pest management programs in the US and abroad. We also complement our existing team by adding Dr. Barry Pittendrigh, the Director of the Center for Urban and Industrial Pest Management, to oversee and expand our reach into urban pest management, including homeowners. Program delivery going forward will include our established and traditional in-person and virtual opportunities to learn and receive certification and address accessibility issues rooted in inequitable economic circumstances. Our expanded use of virtual meeting technology was initially spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and, while we are mostly "back to normal" with in-person activities, we plan to continue to use online/remote approaches to increase access and training opportunities for diverse audiences.Indiana's economy is largely based upon agriculture, and a key element of our pest management programs will be working with our respective stakeholders in the implementation of more stringent regulations surrounding the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act (ESA); the 2024 growing season will present the initial test of these new guidelines. The Office of the Indiana State Chemist (OISC) is the lead agency in our state for disseminating the new ESA guidelines, and PDs Krupke and Johnson (both members of the Indiana pesticide review board) will work closely with the OISC and Purdue Pesticide Programs on disseminating key information (see attached letters of support from both). This coordination goes beyond Indiana, and PD Krupke serves as the primary point of contact with other state IPM coordinators as we plan to share and disseminate information on this, and other, urgent and cross-cutting issues over the life of this proposal (see attached letters of support from NCIPM Center and corn entomologists working group). We describe how we address fundamental aspects of the National IPM Roadmap in the details for programs that address three EIP priorities. Our education programs will steward pest management tools in a manner that slows the evolution of pesticide resistance in insects, pathogens and weeds, improve the health and welfare of homeowners, conserve pollinators, and protect the public and natural resources from invasive species. Finally, we will train the next generation of IPM specialists by supporting students who help develop, deliver and assess IPM tools, including new digital technologies.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
90%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
IPM Implementation for Agronomic Crops (50%) and Specialty Crops (20%)1) educating pest managers to not become overly reliant, or complacent, in using the prophylactic approaches rooted in an insurance mindset, but rather consider the many benefits of the IPM "toolbox" as a whole2) communicating the impact of enforcement of the Endangered Species Act restrictions on pesticide use near sensitive areas and providing guidance on alternative management strategies in these buffer areasIPM in Communities (20%)Deploy pest diagnostic tools. Pest diagnosis and management were identified in 2021 as the most important information needs by Purdue Landscape Report subscribers (89%) and Green Industry Expo attendees (3 of top 5 needs). In addition to workshops and extension bulletins, we have met this need through in-person and virtual education programs, timely newsletters, and mobile apps. With this proposal we are aiming to convert the TurfDoctor mobile app to the same web-based format that has already proven successful.Disseminate Digital IPM Education Modules. Our current digital IPM education footprint includes a series of nine courses that provide basic and advanced IPM knowledge and continuing certification hours (CCH's) in a broad range of systems. Because the green industry remains one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture21, we propose to expand our growing series of modules that support workforce development for the turfgrass industry. The CCH's provided by each module will vary, depending on the material and time requirements, but we expect each module to provide approximately 1 of the 20 CCH's required every five years by the Indiana State Chemist in order for professionals to maintain their pesticide applicator license (category 3b). These efforts will be led by our turf team (Richmond and Miller) and as modules become available, stakeholders will be made aware of these new training opportunities via advertising, and directly during all of our ongoing education events (Indiana Green Expo, MRTF Field Day, Turf & Landscape Seminar, Herbicide Workshop).Urban Pest Management: Dr. Pittendrigh will be working with the Indiana Pest Management Association to identify and build educational urban pest management industry modules for incorporation into the CUIPM's annual conference and correspondence courses. Dr. Pittendrigh will also work with Richmond and Miller (see above) around the build out of new turgrass IPM modules.We will evaluate our outputs by collecting data throughout the project period to quantify: 1) attendees at extension and outreach events. 2) Numbers of newsletters/articles/video views. 3) BMPs developed and circulated. We will evaluate outcomes via written and Qualtrics online surveys as appropriate at extension and other outreach events to determine if we have achieved milestones of success by increasing adoption of critical BMPs including: 1) Rotation of technologies to protect crops and reduce reliance on Bt corn hybrids, 2) Weed management practices change to reduce herbicide injury and selection pressure for weed resistance, 3) Disease management practices that are timely and effective in controlling new and emerging diseases while minimizing risks to the development of fungicide resistance.Pollinator Health (10%)Breeding Bees in the 21st Century: Core to a beekeeper's IPM strategy is the use of honey bee breeds that are resistant to disease. This reduces the use of chemicals within the colony and the chance of the colony spreading diseases to wild pollinators. The Purdue Bee Lab, along with Senior Apicultural Specialist Krispn Given, work closely with beekeeping and bee breeding organizations and governmental bodies dedicated to breeding disease-resistant and productive bees. The team will work to develop and introduce new technologies to make beekeeping more profitable. This includes developing Best Practices for phenotyping, selecting breeder stocks, insemination, and handling. Working with Harpur, Mr. Given is currently developing a 'virtual-plus' version of the courses. It will allow students (bee breeders) to learn the information in an asynchronous virtual classroom. The 'plus' option allows them to learn hands-on at our training apiary. We anticipate this will allow for at least 150 students to annually take the courses, nearly tripling our training output.
Project Methods
1. Implement IPM in Agronomic and Specialty Crops• Methods. We will deliver targeted research-based extension education and training through specialized programs andelectronic and print media for commercial pesticide applicators, certified crop advisors, independent crop consultants, countyextension Educators, and farmers. needs cross many boundaries, as such, the Purdue Pesticide Programs has recently begunconverting to eLearning training courses. We will also contribute to a multi-state effort, coordinated by Iowa State University,providing field scouts/company interns online IPM education to better their pest identification and scouting techniques.• Evaluation: Our emphasis is on "train the trainer" efforts, development of publications and online resources, and keepingagribusiness personnel updated on rapidly evolving IPM techniques, technologies, control strategies, and changing pestpopulations. Most survey methodology and instruments have been developed already, and will be further refined in consultationwith the help of Julie Huetteman, Purdue extension's evaluation specialist and approval of Purdue's Institutional Review Board.Historically, PPMP programs have used rates of adopting IPM tactics as indicators of program success. For example, a surveyof the 1,002 attendees of the 2020 Crop Management Workshop indicated that: 47% of the participants indicated that they makeor influence pest management decisions on 10,000 or more acres and that 85% of the attendees monitored customer fields atleast once per month. 96% indicated they would apply the meeting's information on pest identification and treatment decisions tonext season's crops while 91% have already implemented crop production/IPM strategies into their operation from ideas thatoriginated at past CMWs.• We will evaluate our outputs by collecting data throughout the project period to quantify: 1) Attendees at extension andoutreach events. 2) Numbers of newsletters/articles/video views. 3) BMPs developed and circulated. We will evaluateoutcomes via repeated survey questions using clicker technology (when/where possible), and Qualtrics online surveys asappropriate at extension and other outreach events to determine if we have achieved milestones of success by increasingadoption of critical BMPs including: 1) Rotation of technologies to protect crops and reduce reliance on Bt corn hybrids, 2)Weedmanagement practices change to reduce herbicide injury and selection pressure for weed resistance, 3) Disease managementpractices are timely and effective in controlling new and emerging diseases while minimizing risks to the development offungicide resistance.The Specialty Crops Team will meet regularly to plan and conduct Extension programs for fruit and vegetablegrowers throughout the state. Purdue is the production site for multi-state publications. Specialist serve as subject editors for allpest categories of the Midwest Vegetable Production Guide for Commercial Growers (8 states, >46,000 annual views) and theMidwest Fruit Pest Management Guide (Beckerman is Editor in Chief) (13 states >50,000 annual views), that provide pestmanagement recommendations for specialty crop growers. In addition, 641 vegetable growers subscribe to the "VegetableCrops Hotline" newsletter (>196,000 views in 2020) and 610 fruit growers subscribe to the "Facts for Fancy Fruit" newsletter(>24,000 views in 2020). Long, Ingwell, Meyers and Egel are members of the Great Lakes Vegetable Working Group. Long andBeckerman are members of the Midwest Fruit Working Group.• Evaluation: We will measure indicators of IPM program success through surveys of newsletter subscribers, website usersand conference attendees measuring adoption of recommendations and pest monitoring. We will track outputs (a) throughtracking attendance to all our events, and (b) website analytics to track engagement with newsletter, websites, e-seriespublications and social media interactions. Outcomes will be tracked by targeted surveys of clientele to measure knowledgegained, and economic benefit.Implement IPM in Communities• Methods: The Urban Ag team will contribute to the certificate-based Signature Program for UA, which 131 participantshave completed since 2016, and a monthly UA newsletter with 695 subscribers that provide a vehicle for dissemination.Information is transferred during annual meeting of the Small Farms and Hort Conferences. The green industry tram willcontinue to contribute to the Purdue Landscape Report and Turf Tips newsletters with 395K and 297K unique views in 2020.Annual meetings of state-wide and local clientele groups such as the Indiana Green Industry Expo reach over 10,000participants annually. Extension Specialists work with the director of the PPDL to diagnose 1,700 home horticulture cases eachyear.• Evaluation: We will measure indicators of IPM program success through surveys of newsletters, app and website usersthat measure improvement of IPM skills. For example we found increased confidence in pest identification and management byApp users (55%), and Landscape Report subscribers (89%). We will track outputs (a) through tracking attendees to all ourconferences, enrolment in our digital IPM education modules, course evaluation tools built into the digital learning environment,and (b) the use of Google Analytics tools that track engagement with newsletters, websites, and social media. Outcomes will betracked by targeted surveys of clientele to measure knowledge gained, and economic benefit (please see Outcomes section for further examples).Improve Pollinator Health• Methods: The pollinator team will work closely with a team of Purdue Extension Educators to develop accessible digitalbeekeeping content. They regularly present their work to beekeepers at the American Bee Research Conference (~3000members), The Indiana Bee School (1300 members), and the Heartland Apicultural Society (~500 members). Through theHHBBC we are able to connect with local chapters in 10 US states representing thousands of individual beekeepers. Alleducational activities and informational outputs will be publicized via the updated Purdue Bee Hive website, the lab's e-newsletter, and social media outlets targeting youth and all aspects of the green industry.• Evaluation: We will measure indicators of IPM program success through surveys of newsletter subscribers, bee labwebsite users, Field Day and webinar attendees measuring adoption of recommendations and pest monitoring. We will trackoutput (a) through tracking attendance to all our events, and (b) website analytics to track engagement with newsletter,websites, app use, e-series publications and social media interactions. Outcomes will be tracked by targeted surveys ofclientele to measure knowledge gained, and economic benefit, as well as by working with Anne Lutomia a social scientist as outlined in Outcomes section of this document.