Utilizing Insect and Irrigation Monitoring to Enhance Sustainable Vegetable Production: Extension Educator Training for Arkansas

View the project final report

Commodities

• Vegetables: cucurbits, tomatoes

Practices

• Crop Production: irrigation
• Education and Training: extension, mentoring
• Pest Management: field monitoring/scouting, integrated pest management

To increase the adoption of sustainable pest management and production practices in fresh-market vegetable production, Extension personnel must be properly educated and have access to resources to train growers. The goal of this project is to develop sustainable pest-management and irrigation resources for University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service (UACES) county agents to utilize. Principle investigators (PIs) will use a “train the trainer” model to educate UACES agents and mentor growers on sustainable practices, like insect pest monitoring systems and efficient irrigation management. Hands-on training along with developed resurces will support UACES agents to assist both conventional and organic growers to implement successful integrated pest management (IPM) and irrigation programs in fresh-market vegetable production in Arkansas. Developed training materials consisted of 5 demonstration videos, 3 factsheets, and a vegetable production and IPM webpage. Techniques showcased in these resources were taught at 4 trainings for 58 UACES agents in the three major regions of Arkansas. Over 88% of attendees reported that trainings improved their knowledge of insect scouting and irrigation monitoring in vegetables. In pre-tests over 50% of agents surveyed indicated they were not confident in recommending insect monitoring techniques, while over 89% of those that attended trainings reported they were confident in recommending these techniques. 72% of agents that attended these trainings indicated that they felt confident in recommending sustainable production and irrigation monitoring techniques. We were able to supply agents with 15 insect traps funded through this project and 17 unique locations (15 farms) are now involved in trapping major insect pests of many vegetable crops. All mentor grower farms from 2022 are trapping in 2023 and utilizing irrigation monitoring systems.

1. Develop materials to train UACES agents and 3-4 Arkansas mentor growers to use and recommend pheromone-based insect and irrigation monitoring methodologies to improve the sustainability of production and pest management programs in small-scale organic and conventional vegetable operations across the state and the Southeast.
2. At the end of the two year project a minimum of 45 UACES agents trained in workshops will be able to answer basic questions on sustainable vegetable production, with 80% proficiency, including: trap selection and placement in vegetable production, which pests in tomatoes and cucurbits need to be monitored to reduce pesticide use, how to install and manage basic irrigation management tools and how efficient water management affects crop production and IPM.
3. Agent knowledge of sustainable vegetable production will be improved 50% and result in agent participants planning to increase the number of times insect monitoring for pest management and irrigation monitoring sensors are recommended to fresh-market vegetable growers.
4. The 3-4 mentor growers who are trained to successfully implement pheromone-based insect and irrigation monitoring programs will be highlighted for their successes through 3 recorded video interviews in order to reach a minimum of 1,000 extension agents and growers across the South.
5. Information about insect and irrigation monitoring practices will be made more available to Southeast extension agents and growers via online sources. A webpage will be created that will act as a centralized source of training materials, five demonstration videos, and monitoring maps and data, which will facilitate agent access to sustainable vegetable recommendations. These training materials will also be shared with other regional extension services and SSARE to facilitate adoption across the Southeast and reach a minimum of 1,000 people in the region by the end of the second year.