Project Overview
Annual Reports
Information Products
Commodities
Practices
- Crop Production: agroforestry, cover crops, intercropping
- Education and Training: extension, workshop
- Farm Business Management: whole farm planning
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, hedges - grass, grass waterways, habitat enhancement, hedgerows, wildlife, hedges - woody
- Pest Management: biological control, competition, integrated pest management, prevention
- Production Systems: holistic management, organic agriculture, permaculture
Proposal abstract:
Native insects that attack crop pests are an overlooked resource in agricultural systems. Although vast numbers of such beneficial insects are at work on farms across the world, they are eclipsed in farm education by a comparatively smaller diversity of pest species. Yet, as a large body of research now demonstrates, farmers as diverse as Christmas tree growers in Illinois to blueberry growers in Michigan benefit from natural pest control. The Conservation Biological Control Short Course synthesizes that body of research and offers realistic solutions for enhancing beneficial insect populations on farms. Specific course topics include beneficial insect biology, designing habitat enhancements, pesticide risk mitigation, securing financial support through USDA programs, and real world case studies. This project, the outgrowth of a 6-year research initiative conducted by the Xerces Society and university research partners, for the first time ever presents conservation biological control as an easy-to-adopt framework for multiple crop systems. The audience for this project includes IPM specialists, Extension personnel, NRCS conservation planners, Soil and Water Conservation District technicians, state departments of agriculture, crop consultants, and sustainable agriculture organizations. The project will be promoted through multiple channels, as well as in partnership with relevant agencies and State SARE Coordinators.Qualitative and quantitative post-course feedback from participants will be incorporated on an ongoing basis. Based upon the overwhelmingly successful results of a prior PDP project using this same model (related to pollinator conservation), we are confident this project will foster widespread adoption of course concepts across the region.
Project objectives from proposal:
Native insects that attack crop pests are an overlooked resource in agricultural systems. Although vast numbers of such beneficial insects are at work on farms across the world, they are eclipsed in farm education by a comparatively smaller diversity of pest species. Yet, as a large body of research now demonstrates, farmers as diverse as Christmas tree growers in Illinois to blueberry growers in Michigan benefit from natural pest control.
The Conservation Biological Control Short Course synthesizes that body of research and offers realistic solutions for enhancing beneficial insect populations on farms. Specific course topics include beneficial insect biology, designing habitat enhancements, pesticide risk mitigation, securing financial support through USDA programs, and real world case studies.
This project, the outgrowth of a 6-year research initiative conducted by the Xerces Society and university research partners, for the first time ever presents conservation biological control as an easy-to-adopt framework for multiple crop systems.
The audience for this project includes IPM specialists, Extension personnel, NRCS conservation planners, Soil and Water Conservation District technicians, state departments of agriculture, crop consultants, and sustainable agriculture organizations.
The project will be promoted through multiple channels, as well as in partnership with relevant agencies and State SARE Coordinators.Qualitative and quantitative post-course feedback from participants will be incorporated on an ongoing basis.
Based upon the overwhelmingly successful results of a prior PDP project using this same model (related to pollinator conservation), we are confident this project will foster widespread adoption of course concepts across the region.
The primary output of the Conservation Biological Control Short Course will be a community of more than 350 farm educators, crop consultants, and conservation planners who are empowered with new knowledge and the enthusiasm, motivation, and confidence to share that knowledge with the farmers they support. The course curriculum that will build this community of experts is science-based and practical to implement.
We know this human output is incredibly significant based upon the model of our earlier (pollinator) short courses. In that previous project, attendance typically ranged between 30 to more than 100 participants per event, and we observed, based upon follow-up surveys, that the trainings led to the adoption of specific management practices for pollinators (the direct restoration of native wildflower habitat) on thousands of acres.
Those trainings have also typically increased direct participation in USDA conservation programs such as EQIP, WHIP, and CSP. We have observed an average of 5 new USDA program enrollments that eventually developed as a result of each training event (either through direct farmer participation or through the encouragement and support of farm educators sharing their new knowledge). Using this previous outcome as a target, we anticipate this project yielding dozens of new enrollments in USDA conservation programs.
In addition to large, community-based outputs, we provide direct professional development support to the course participants. For example, where possible, we will work with professional associations and pesticide applicator licensing agencies to offer continuing education credits for participants. (For comparison, in many states, our pollinator course currently offers CEUs to Certified Crop Advisors through the American Society of Agronomy and to members of the Society of American Foresters, the Wildlife Society, and licensed pesticide applicators). Similarly, the course lectures and multimedia files are shared with participants after the course, along with information on where they can obtain handouts and publications to use in their own outreach work.
Finally, this project uses an instructional method and event format that is intentionally designed to facilitate networking among participants. Using dialog-style lecturing, a facilitated group exercise, and local expert co-presenters, we work to foster conversation among peers and to build the foundation for ongoing communication and collaboration among participants.
Beyond these outputs, we constantly provide ongoing follow-up support and referrals to the educators and farmers we serve. We do this as an organizational policy, far beyond the completion of any single project.