Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Specialty crop growers, distributors, and consumers; crop protection researchers professionals, and businesses. Changes/Problems:The cost of research increased by 8-10% in 2022 due to high inflation. Hurricanes and floods in summer negatively affected many field trials. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Southern Region hosted an in-person training workshop on March 8th-9th 2022 in Gainesville, FL at the University of Florida. New field research directors and IR-4 Southern Region personnel received training on IR-4 methods and procedures, good lab practice, proper documentation and SOPs, and in-field demonstrations at the IR-4 Research Station in Citra, FL. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated to the general audience through the IR-4 website, IR-4 monthly newsletters, IR-4 booklets, and IR-4 annual reports. Results were also disseminated by university researchers, state liaison representatives, and commodity liaison representatives to specialty crop growers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to do research as outlined for the year 2022-2023.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The majority of 2020 field trial data books (112/114) and about half of 2021 field trial data books (40/93) were received at the regional office. These books were reviewed for quality control. Ten intergraded solution projects and six environmental horticulture trials were completed, and reports were received. Nine analytical summary reports (ASR) were submitted. Seven reports were for projects listed as backlogged in 2021. The QA united conducted 113 field data book audits, 11 analytical summary report audits, and 40 field critical point audits.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Specialty crop growers, distributors, and consumers; crop protection researchers professionals, and businesses. Changes/Problems:Covid created a lot of difficulties for regional field coordinators and QA to field sites. The cost of research increased by 8-10% in 2022 due to high inflation. Hurricanes and floods in summer and snap freezes in winter caused damage to field sites and crops. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Southern Region Field Coordinator collaborated with National IR-4 Project management and personnel to organize and provide training at the National Education Conference in February 2020. This event is every three years and offers Good Laboratory Practice training and professional development opportunities to the field and laboratory researchers working with the IR-4 Project. The Southern Region hosted an in-person training workshop on March 8th-9th 2022 in Gainesville, FL at the University of Florida. New field research directors and IR-4 Southern Region personnel received training on IR-4 methods and procedures, GLP, proper documentation and SOPs, and in-field demonstrations at the IR-4 Research Station in Citra, FL. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated to the general audience through the IR-4 website, IR-4 monthly newsletters, IR-4 booklets, and IR-4 annual reports. Results were also disseminated by university researchers, state liaison representatives, and commodity liaison representatives to specialty crop growers. The Regional Field Coordinator attended several professional meetings and Extension workshops to present and exchange information related to pest management solutions for specialty crops. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to do research as outlined for the year 2022-2023.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Southern Region of the National IR-4 Project directed and coordinated 339 Food, Ornamental and Biopesticide field trials in 13 states and Puerto Rico. More than 60 research scientists carried out ornamental or food-use trials according to Good Laboratory Practices and provided field performance data (efficacy and crop safety) and/or residue samples for analysis at specified laboratories. The University of Florida Analytical Laboratory analyzed pesticide residue samples from 131 field trials during this period. The Southern Region IR-4 participated in Quality Assurance (QA) for the national program. The QA coordinator for this region reviewed 329 field data books (including raw data), 171 field inspections (including the laboratory), 17 facility inspections and completed 36 final reports.
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Major target audiences are the farmers who grow minor crops (crops with low acreage) orspecialty crops. Other audience include researchers and businesses in the areas of crop production andcrop protection. Changes/Problems:Suspected and confirmed covid cases has kept several chemists and field researchers in quarintine for period of time. This caused disruption and delay ofresearch projects. Our 14-year old HPLC-MS/MS quit from time to time and needed to be replaced. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several researchers from the Southern Region attended a three-day GLP training organized by the Northeast Region. This training for new researchers included an overview of FRD's responsibilities, becoming GLP compliant, pre-trial planning, trial conducts, documentation & FDB, QC reviews, QA audits, and eQA training. This was valuable training for new FRDs at IR-4 Research Centers, new contract researchers, and new IR-4 personnel. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The community is kept informed through IR-4 newsletters which anyone can subscribe to. It currently reaches 243 foreign and 2743 domestic participants. Almost all states have a "State Report Card" that is kept up to date by the IR-4 Headquarters on the progress of work in that particular state. There is a national listserv that is available to anyone interested in keeping up with the accomplishments of the IR-4 and any pending projects or meetings. This listserv currently reaches 1921 participants. Dessemination is also done through the IR4 national website https://www.ir4project.org/. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Southern Region staff and state liaison representatives will continue to work with scientists and stakeholders to investigate new chemistries and to assure old and current projects are being completed for EPA registrations and labels. Labels allow chemical companies to get products out to the growers who can then use them as well as provide them additional tools for their pest management needs.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Southern Region of the National IR-4 Project directed and coordinated 113 Food crop trials, 24 ornamental crop trials, and 13 biopesticide trialsin 14 states. The University of Florida Analytical Laboratory analyzed pesticide residuein crops from 66field trials during this period. The Southern Region IR-4 Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) conducted the following audits: 89 Field Data Books (FDB), 40 field critical point audits, 12 lab critical point audits, 10 final petition audit, 8 laboratory Analytical Summary Reportaudits.
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Managements of insects, diseases, and weeds in the field are essential for agriculture. Any pesticides use on crops must be pre-approved and registered by EPA to ensure its residue levels is safe for consumers. American farmers grower several hundred types of specialty crops, which include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, forestry, landscape and floral crops. These crops are valued nationally at $50 billion; however, annual losses from pests, diseases and weeds are estimated at 15%-30% of total production. Specialty crop farmers frequently find that no pesticide was registered to control an insect or a disease on their crop. The objective of IR-4 is to solve this issue. Each year, pest control needs are collected and prioritized. Field and lab tests are conducted to assess the efficacy and residue levels. These data are compiled into petitions and submitted to EPA. Approval of petitions gives farmers safe and effective pest management solutions for specialty crop. The objective of IR-4 Program is to provide pest management solutions for specialty crops which include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, forestry, landscape and floral crops. IR-4 program protects specialty crops through obtaining specialty pesticide clearances, furthering the development and registration of microbial and biochemical materials, and advancing new and reduced risk pesticides. Changes/Problems:Major delays that we run across yearly are because the funding start dates are usually around July to September and in the southern region planting starts as early as February (sometimes the previous year) and funds are not available to our researchers whostruggle to get the work completed. This year due to COVID 19 pandemic the University of Florida along with several other universities and businesses have experiencedshutdowns. Our laboratory on the University of Florida campus was basically shut down and all residue analyses were suspended. Field personnel were not able to conduct field trial activities for several weeks and travel has completely been put on hold. This along with other complications will undoubtedly cause some delays, but the total impact is rather uncertain at this time. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project sponsors a National Education Conference every three years that provides GLP training for field and lab personnel. This year we had a very good showing of field and lab personnel from the Southern Region (SOR) who were able to attended the two day confernce in San Diego, CA at the end of February 2020. In addition, every other year, the Southern Region (SOR) hosts a face to face regional meeting for priority setting and in between those years, the priority setting meetings are conducted through conference calls and webinars. This year the meeting was to take place in person and was planned for early June. Unfortunately due to the COVID 19 situation and the travel restrictions, the in person meeting was cancelled. The meeting will be conducted virtually June 2020 in order to plan for the next set of crops. The face to face meeting is planned June 2021 in Atlanta GA. The SOR field and lab personnel are also encouraged to participate in any webinars that come available, such as the one that the Western Region offers.Several of the field and lab personnel were able to attend this years webinar in May 2020. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The community is kept informed through IR-4 newsletters which anyone can subscribe to. It currently reaches 243 foreign and 2743 domestic participants. Almost all states have a "State Report Card" that is kept up to date by the IR-4 Headquarters on the progress of work in that particular state. There is a national listserv that is available to anyone interested in keeping up with the accomplishments of the IR-4 and any pending projects or meetings. This listserv currently reaches 1921 participants. Dessemination is also done through the IR4 national website https://www.ir4project.org/. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Southern Region staff and state liaison representatives will continue to work withscientists and stakeholders to investigatenew chemistries and to assure old and current projects are being completed for EPAregistrations and labels. Labels allowchemical companies to get products out to the growers who can then use them as well as provide them additional tools fortheir pest management needs.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Southern Region of the National IR-4 Project directed and coordinated 158 Food, Ornamental and Biopesticide field trials in 14 states. More than 40 research scientists carried out ornamental or food-use trials according to Good Laboratory Practices and provided field performance data and/or residue samples for analysis at specified laboratories. The University of Florida Analytical Laboratory analyzed pesticide residue samples from 104 field trials during this period. The Southern Region IR-4 Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) conducted the following audits: 76 Field Data Books (FDB), 59 field critical point audits, 34 lab critical point audits, 2 field facility audits, 18 laboratory Analytical Summary Report (ASR) audits.
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